Dick is a South Korean immigrant who moves to the United States in 1964.
New Doctor on Maple Street presents a collection of tales exploring the life of this fictional figure as he adapts to a new culture, struggles to settle down in a small American town, and builds a family, experiencing a variety of issues along the way. These tales share the details of those Dick encounters along the way, from a cop who pulls him away from a family vacation to bring him back to the ICU, to his wife, who comes to work in the office to alleviate her boredom. There’s also Charlie, a middle-aged physicians assistant who has always wanted to be a doctor, and a patient dying of cancer who longs to savor food and wine before she dies. Despite the difficulties and changes that his adopted country offers, Dick finds immigrant life in the United States to be less traumatic and more peaceful than the chaos that marked his formative years.
This collection of short stories and essays offers an intriguing look at the United States and Korea through the eyes of a rural doctor from South Korea.
