Book reading: The Measure of a Man by JJ Lee

Saturday, November 16 from  2:00 to 4:00 pm
in the Hall of One Hundred Rivers (entrance on Carrall Street)

Part personal memoir, part social history of the man’s suit, it is a deeply moving and brilliantly crafted story of fathers and sons, love and forgiveness, of fitting in and standing out — and discovering what it means to be your own man.

As JJ moves across the surface of the suit, he reveals the heartbreaking tale of his father, a charismatic but luckless restaurateur whose demons brought tumult upon his family. He also recounts the year he spent as an apprentice tailor at Modernize Tailors, the last of Vancouver’s legendary Chinatown tailors, where he learns invaluable lessons about life from his octogenarian master tailor. Woven throughout these two personal strands are entertaining stories from the social history of the man’s suit, the surprising battleground where the war between generations has long been fought.

With wit, bracing honesty, and great narrative verve, JJ takes us from the French Revolution to the Zoot Suit Riots, from the Japanese Salaryman to Mad Men, from Oscar Wilde in short pants to Marlon Brando in a T-shirt, and from the rarefied rooms of Savile Row to a rundown shop in Chinatown. A book that will forever change the way you think about the maxim “the clothes make the man,” this is a universal story of love and forgiveness and breaking with the past.

“A graceful, compelling memoir… A thoughtful, loving and honest narrative, elegant in its clarity and observation.”—Minneapolis-Saint Paul Star Tribune

Copies of The Measure of a Man will be available for purchase during the event.
For more information, please contact the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden at 604-662-3207 ext 206.