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Chang-rae Lee’s Global Revision of the Suburban Novel Credit.Mark Wang By Alexander Chee By Chang-rae Lee I can’t say exactly where much of Chang-rae Lee’s newest novel, “My Year Abroad,” is set, because the narrator, Tiller Bardmon, can’t tell us either. Ad hoc consort and au pair to a 30-something woman we know only as Val, Tiller lives with her and her young son, Victor Jr., in a smallish American suburb he calls “Stagno.” Val and VeeJ, as the boy is nicknamed, are in a witness protection program because of her disappeared husband’s “dealings with a gang of New Jersey-based Tashkentians that involved Mongolian mineral rights, faux sturgeon eggs and very real shoulder-mounted rocket launchers.” Tiller met her in a Hong Kong airport as he was escaping what was perhaps the biggest mistake of his life, and we soon learn that Val was doing much the same.

United statesHong kongNew jerseyPearl riverMichelle branca leeJohn cheeverJohn updikeVictor jrChang rae leeYear abroadTiller bardmonNew jersey based tashkentiansJohn hughes styleAmerican everymanMichelle brancaPearl river delta