The Sense of Wonder ~ By Matthew Salesses
Matthew Salesses pens a new novel of a game where the rules are different for some players
(Little, Brown and Company, New York, 2023, ISBN #978-0-3164-2571-1)
Review by Bill Drucker (Fall 2025)
Not that long ago, in the world of American professional basketball, two outstanding Asian players came on the scene, the Chinese superstar Yao Ming and Harvard-educated Chinese American Jeremy Lin. Despite their popularity and winning performances on the court, the media didn’t know how to deal with them. Fans loved them, but there persisted a strong undercurrent of anti-Asian prejudice.
One story about Lin was that when he was at Harvard, he walked across the gym floor, and heard a coach or other staff member snarl, “The science building is across the commons.” Lin felt pressure to constantly prove himself on the court, as a college player and as a professional.
As a player, Lin had outstanding seasons in 2011-2012 as point guard for the New York Knicks. Fans loved him and the enthusiasm was called “Linsanity.” Nonetheless, he was passed over (or snubbed) for the National Basketball Association (NBA) All Stars team. He played other American basketball franchises, and then decided to play in Asia. A six-foot-two-inch, 200 pound player in his prime, known for passing and shooting, Lin was cheered by fans, but razzed by the reporters, opposing fans, and even other players.
Shaquille O’Neal was pressured to make a public apology for one anti-Asian crack. Lin and Tiger Woods, another professional athlete who is also Asian, took the high road and accepted the apology without further fanfare. During the pandemic’s Asian-hate era, his Asian identity was often insultingly thrown back in his face. However, looking back, Lin’s career had many highs and few controversies. His biggest fault seems to have been playing pro basketball while Asian.
Fast forward to 2023. Inspired by the Lin narrative, seasoned novelist (and Korean adoptee) Matthew Salesses has produced a bristling satire of a fictional Asian player (Won Lee, of Korean heritage), and of the NBA franchise with all its bureaucracy and many faults. Salesses throws in for good measure the issues of masculinity, sports role models, fandom, racism, and the the very flawed international K-drama industry.
The author portrays women working in or adjacent to the world of men’s professional sports as (refreshingly) unique individuals. Wives are hardly sports wives (whatever that is). There are no bench warmers or cheerleaders to be found.
The author puts the character of Won as the first person narrator in the first part of the story, as he struggles to position himself in the sports world. Despite his obvious talent and drive, the stubborn team coach browbeats Won and keeps him benched, trying to maintain control over him. However, Won knows the drill. As a newbie NBA player, he needs to take on the role of the token Asian while also being a team player. He is also the coach’s whipping boy. The coach can hold the player’s contract over his head. If Won doesn’t play, his season is over.
The author introduces some other interesting characters to the mix. Won’s significant other Carrie Kang, a TV producer, is smart, sexy, and brutally honest. With Won waffling, Carrie is inclined to knock some sense into him, rather than hold his hand.
There is also a (Korean adoptee) reporter Robert Sung, who is a basketball washout, never having risen through the ranks as a player. He brags to Won early on that he and superstar Paul Burton, the Knicks captain (dubbed Powerball or PB) were teammates in high school. Sung takes Won under his wing, but Won smartly stays on the defensive, perceiving quickly that Sung is an opportunist and known to be vindictive in his writing to those who get on his bad side.
When Won leads the team in a seven-game winning streak (which was also a Jeremy Lin accomplishment), the media and fans go wild. They dubbed him “the Wonder.” It should be his moment, but the coach continues to invest more in the talents of the superstar PB. PB likes the Asian point guard but also holds back; he is aloof as team captain. The rest of the team aren’t acting like Won’s friends either.
Sung writes about Won as a rising star. Sung, in his vindictiveness, both loves and envies PB. He praises fellow Korean Won at first but uses him as a wedge against PB. Sung’s jealousies about the success of his one-time high school teammate undermine Won and eventually destroy PB’s personal life.
Won himself is fan of PB on the court, but his personal drive and competitive nature get the better of him. Instead of treating him as a valuable asset and team member, Won sees PB as a rival. As Salesses portrays it, the game gets to all of them; players, coaches, the sportswriter, and the wives.
After close contact on court with PB, Won injures his leg. Everything he has lived for stops cold in its tracks. Won’s coach and team drop their investment of time and energy in him. Only PB shows some remorse.
Sung uses the incident to go after PB in his writing, and all the years of pent-up aggression against him surface. When Sung can’t get enough satisfaction from blaming the team’s misfortunes on PB, he begins to blame Won for the bad luck. It is an extreme, high-visibility example of how when you win, everybody loves you; but the moment you drop the ball, you are the team’s scapegoat.
Only Carrie Kang continues to support Won. After the Won character is the lead protagonist and first-person narrator, Carrie’s well-developed character takes over as narrator. From her vantage point, Carrie recognizes Won’s many talents on and off the court, his sheer talent, and his maturity in dealing with direct and indirect racial assaults and the many personalities of the world Won inhabits. She also sees his many faults.
Carrie has her own separate issues. Her beloved sister is dying of cancer. Carrie has very different views about confronting the disease compared with her sister’s acquiescing husband and their confused Korean family.
She is also an ambitious K-drama producer, working on both sides of the Pacific. After hooking up with Won, she gets the idea for a new K-drama about the life of an NBA star. In Korea, she deals with the Korean-ness of K-drama production politics and practices. Interestingly, her struggles mirror those of Won, except they are on a different playing field. Carrie sees that she has to play the game, which for her is fraught with extra complications because she is a woman and a Korean American. Won and Carrie are both enduring their own industry’s big egos who attempt to hold them back, frustrating their success and inflicting many irksome microaggressions.
The Sense of Wonder is a briskly-paced, razor sharp, and entertaining read. Salesses is on fire in this story, pulling in diverse topics that create a cohesive narrative that is also wildly funny and insightful. Every page has something to say. He takes sharp jabs at the NBA, American sports fandom, and anti-Asian racism. He throws in a terrific sub-narrative that is like a K-drama 101 lesson chapter. He treats us to his criticism of the Asian American experience, including his observation of the skewed views of Asian masculinity
This author skillfully barrels down the court, treating us to some creative moves in his unwinding of this tale. Original, confident and deftly written, the story is totally readable in just a few sittings.
Matthew Salesses is an award-nominated author of seven books. As a Korean adoptee, he often integrates in his writings the issues of inter-racial adoption, identity, race and racism. Salesses lives in New York City and teaches writing at Columbia University.
