Book cover of Johnny Delivers

Book description

Eighteen-year-old Johnny Wong's dead-end life consists of delivering Chinese food and holding his chaotic family together in Toronto. When his sweet but treacherous Auntie, the mahjong queen, calls in their family debt, he fears the family will lose the Red Pagoda restaurant and break apart. 

Invoking the spirit of Bruce…

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Why read it?

1 author picked Johnny Delivers as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Johnny Delivers roundhouse-kicks the Johnnyverse up a notch. You don’t have to have read Wayne Ng's previous book Letters From Johnny to appreciate it, but you’ll want to. Same dysfunctional family life in Toronto’s Chinese community in the 70s, new levels of trouble, with Bruce Lee tagging in for Dave Keon as Johnny’s fantasy ally. As always, Wayne has a deep, sympathetic insight into unsettled lives.

If you love Johnny Delivers...

Book cover of These Blue Mountains

These Blue Mountains by Sarah Loudin Thomas,

A moving story of love, betrayal, and the enduring power of hope in the face of darkness.

German pianist Hedda Schlagel's world collapsed when her fiancé, Fritz, vanished after being sent to an enemy alien camp in the United States during the Great War. Fifteen years later, in 1932, Hedda…

Want books like Johnny Delivers?

Our community of 13,000+ authors has personally recommended 7 books like Johnny Delivers.

Browse books like Johnny Delivers

Share your top 3 reads of 2025!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,395

readers submitted
so far, will you?

📚 If you like Johnny Delivers, you might also like...

Book cover of Need to Know: World War II and the Rise of American Intelligence

Need to Know by Nicholas Reynolds,

The authoritative but accessible history of the birth of modern American intelligence in World War II that treats not just one but all of the various disciplines: spies, codebreakers, saboteurs.

Told in a relatable style that focuses on actual people, it was a New Yorker "Best of 2022" selection and…

Book cover of Tsunami

Tsunami by LeeAnn Pickrell,

On the morning of December 26, 2004, an undersea earthquake struck off the coast of Sumatra in the Indian Ocean. The resulting tsunami killed an estimated 230,000 people across fourteen countries, from Indonesia to Sri Lanka to Thailand to the Maldives to India and all the way to East Africa.…