The Underdogs - Book Tour

 

Contemporary Fiction

Date Published: 9/26/24

 

 

The Underdogs was inspired by my time building a tech startup during the golden era of San Francisco, when Uber and Lyft were just getting started and battling it out. It’s a coming-of-age, immigrant story following a set of characters who are all trying to create a better future for themselves, for society, and escape their pasts.

Readers have shared that this story reminds them of The Prestige. Two geniuses, who came from nothing, competing against each other in a market that preys upon those who also come from nothing. Others have reflected on the story as a cautionary tale that stands the test of time — How “the few, the chosen” may end up taking advantage of the very same people who they grew up with.

My Review

Underdogs is a book of many things or maybe I should say many people’s lives. Some living in squalor, others in the lap of luxury. Is it luck or hard work or did a few just get a break? I think that’s part of what this is about.

Before I tell you what I had a hard time with, let me say that Kan is particularly good at character description. There’s no question as you read that you begin to know “who is who,” so to speak. This book covers a span of four months plus chapters for many years ago, and so forth. The chapters are often different characters from the cast of characters in the story, people who are coders developing big tech businesses to people who are druggies.

I had a difficult time with this. I’m never crazy about jumping from chapter to chapter to a different character in a different time and place. It’s jarring to me. Then again, it is not badly written. Maybe it is just over my head. It’s worth reading to see what you get out of it.

About the Author

Purchase Link

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