My Korean Deli

Risking It All for a Convenience Store

By: Ben Ryder Howe

Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot

This sweet and funny tale of a preppy editor buying a Brooklyn deli with his Korean in-laws is about family, culture clash, and the quest for authentic experiences.

It starts with a gift. When Ben Ryder Howe’s wife, the daughter of Korean immigrants, decides to repay her parents’ self-sacrifice by buying them a store, Howe, an editor at the rarefied Paris Review, agrees to go along. Things soon become a lot more complicated.

After the business struggles, Howe finds himself living in the basement of his in-laws’ Staten Island home, commuting to the Paris Review offices in George Plimpton’s Upper East Side townhouse by day, and heading to Brooklyn to slice cold cuts and peddle lottery tickets by night.

My Korean Deli follows the store’s tumultuous life span, and along the way paints the portrait of an extremely unlikely partnership between characters with shoots across society, from the Brooklyn streets to Seoul to Puritan New England. Owning the deli becomes a transformative experience for everyone involved as they struggle to salvage the original gift—and the family—while sorting out issues of values, work, and identity.

©2010 Ben Ryder Howe (P)2011 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

“My Korean Deli is…about love, culture clashes, family, money, and literature. Plus, it happens to be very funny and poignant.” (A. J. Jacobs, New York Times best-selling author)

Don't quit your day job to run a deli

If you could sum up My Korean Deli in three words, what would they be?

Multicultural literary entertainment

What other book might you compare My Korean Deli to and why?

No other book is like it.

Which character – as performed by Bronson Pinchot – was your favorite?

Dwayne

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Dwayne's death

Any additional comments?

Running a deli is harder than it looks. And I loved hearing about George Plimpton. Bronson Pinchot's rendering of the upper class New York accent was priceless.

Sometimes Hilarious, Other Times Boring

The book could use some good editing because the author rambles occasionally.

I think that he misses out on what could be some very insightful commentary on Asian culture.

Entertaining

Quite entertaining really, the multicultural clashes are quite interesting. If it's not his mother in-law it's Dwayne the store employee, or even George, his boss, at the Paris Review. The narration is truly excellent, it is hard to believe that Bronson does all those voices.

Good palate cleanser

I was looking for something light and entertaining to lift my spirits - I found it here. The pitfalls and foibles of the couple who go unwittingly into New York deli ownership made me laugh and kept me entertained. The characters are likeable, the anecdotes are believable, and the narrator is Bronson Pinchot (can't go wrong there). It didn't knock my socks off but I don't think that was the point. Overall an enjoyable listen.

Funny, Heart-warming, Unusual Memoir

Any additional comments?

A button-downed, dreamy New Englander marries a driven Korean woman, who feels duty-bound to buy a deli for her mother to manage and run. The husband is the narrator of this wonderful true account of culture clashes and heart meshings. It's also a fascinating inside glimpse of the microcosmic world of the ethnic-run deli---the place all of us New Yorkers depend upon in our various neighborhoods for newspapers, coffee, and snack cakes. There's a drama behind every single one of these convenience items. The narrator is phenomenal, capturing Korean, Black, Middle Eastern, and Boston Brahmin accents with seeming effortlessness. I absolutely loved this book.

A slice of life

This was a fun listen, I think if I had better knowledge of Brooklyn I would have appreciated the setting more. Having lived in NYC I could totally appreciate the intricasies of the bureaucracy the family had to deal with. Bronson Pinchot was a great reader too, his voices and characterizations were right on. This is definately worth a listen.

Great Writing / Even Better Narration

I loved this book. Ben Howe is a terrific writer who captures the culture clash of his family and adopted neighborhood with a wonderfully self-deprecating sense of humor. I'm surprised to see some readers comment that the narration is weak. I think Bronson Pinchot captures these characters perfectly. (As one reader commented, the George Plimpton impression alone is worth the price of admission.) This is a book I can imagine listening to again. Great fun! Highly recommended.

Laughed out loud.

Where does My Korean Deli rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I listened to this one straight through. Although the author is introspective at times, he's funny about it and surrounded by perfectly cast extroverts. Loved the family, the stories from the Paris Review (the narrator does an incredible G. Plimpton) and customers. One of my favorites of the year.

What a blast!

This book works well on several levels: it is almost always gently (and sometimes) hilariously funny, it gives the reader a refreshing view of the interface of two cultures (WASP and Korean), and as its title portends, it is an interesting description of what it is like to run a deli. As a bonus, for some of us older readers, it gives us a glimpse into the bigger-than-life personage of George Plimpton. The reader is very good! Enjoy.

This guy sounds like a jerk

Is there anything you would change about this book?

The story sounded appealing, but it wasn't. I dont know if it was the narrator's snottiness or the story, but