The narrator is embarrassed at a bowling alley as he fails to hit any pins, while his mother comforts him. To his surprise, his mother then demonstrates that she is actually a highly skilled bowler and former champion. The story is written by Ira Sukrungruang, an Asian-American author born outside Chicago who teaches creative writing. It illustrates subverting expectations by revealing the mother is more than just a parent and has hidden talents.

1. Chop Suey
BY IRA SUKRUNGRUANG
PRESENTED BY NICHOLAS ROBERTS

2. The book
 At the age of 10, the narrator didn’t know much about his mother except
that she was his mother and that’s what she was supposed to be.
 is at the El-Mar bowling alley with his mother trying to show off his skills.
He bowls a few times and the ball steers into the gutter. Not one time did
he hit a pin.
 He sits embarrassed next to his mother and she explains bowling is not an
easy game.
 His mother gets up, changes her shoes and begins to bowl. This is where
he learns his mother is a great bowling champion. He learns more about
his mother outside of her being a mom and watches her handle a situation
with a man telling her that she makes great food.

4. Ira Sukrungruang
 Ira Sukrungruang (born 1976) is an Asian writer born outside of Chicago
who teaches an MFA program at the University of South Florida.
 Ira has written sevral memoirs such as “Talk Thai: The adventures of
Buddhist boy” and “In Thailand It is night.”
 When Ira has time he eat McDonald’s plays Nintendo video games and
watches Kung Fu movies.

5. Elements of narrative writing
 By the narrator believing that his mother can’t do many other things
outside of her motherly duties, it surprises the reader along with the
narrator to find that she is an outstanding bowler.
 The author made his mother seem very strict and not a fan of anything
that dealt with American culture but astonished me by her spectacular
bowling skills.

6. What I learned
 After reading this story I learned not to judge a book by it’s cover and to
expect anything in stories. I did not expect his mother to participate and
school her son in how to bowl. I observed how to attract the reader with
facts of a character and show them a behavior that would be out of the
person’s character in a story.

7. Work’s cited
 Sukrungruang, Ira. Chop Suey. Brivety 19.
 http://sukrungruang.com/site/about/