In the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, what it means to be an American has come under scrutiny.

David Mazzotta deals with this identity crisis through the eyes of a Korean-American college student in his first novel, "Apple Pie."

The identity crisis is introduced on the very first page. Mazzotta's protagonist, Alex Kim, says, "I was born in Grosse Pointe, not Seoul. I'm not Korean; I'm American." Indeed, the entirety of the novel is spent exploring the ways he attempts to prove his Americanism.

As a student of the University of Michigan, Kim rejects his childhood girlfriend as an emotionless robot and pursues an angelic co-worker, Naomi, who is white. His pursuit of his new love interest leads him into the strangest of situations, transforming his life and identity in the process.

Mazzotta confronts the issue of the stereotype that all Asians are good at math. The character, Kim, constantly repeats, "My SAT scores were only slightly above average and my grades were equally below ... I overslept regularly and preferred to play ... rather than perform differential Calculus."

Kim's parents, however, have a very different vision of their son. According to them, Kim's future has already been planned out, down to the very woman he was to marry. Even Kim's siblings, who are all doctors or engineers, have a hard time facing a reality other than the traditional Korean life to which they are accustomed.

Mazzotta creates something quite hilarious at times with descriptions of people so vivid that readers can almost smell them. Examples are the "dweebs," Kim's roommates who maintain rituals of maniacal homework discussions mixed with video games and playground name-calling.

Mazzotta writes, "His intellect was inconsequential and his social skills had not progressed since potty training ... His name was Eustace, pronounced Useless … He never got a grade lower than an A-."

Kim lives with these fellow engineer majors until he realizes that they are keeping him from being with his new girlfriend. In return, when Kim moves out, they reject him, if only to maintain the integrity of their dweebiness. Mazzotta is so in tune with this subculture that one can laugh at his insightful portrayal of it.

Yet, Mazzotta has trouble recreating other subcultures, such as when he tries to portray an underground party filled with offbeat poets, transsexuals and environmentalists. Kim's description of them is that they are posers at heart, without true convictions except to project self-importance. Mazzotta never explains the motives of these characters, but keeps them somewhat mysterious and stereotyped.

The dialogue, though functional, often sounds too clever for its own good. The dweebs and Kim's best friend, K.J., speaks with cliches and biting sarcasm, sometimes coming off as endearing but often just being annoying or juvenile. Though Mazzotta tries to develop a dialect for his characters, they end up sounding forced and awkward.

This short novel, one might even say novella, qualifies for some great bedtime reading. Each chapter is like an episode with appropriate cliffhangers, short enough to encourage page-turning but long enough for a moment of satisfaction. If it is not a literary masterpiece, then it is certainly a good way to kill some time.

Overall, the novel reads like an Asian version of  "The Wonder Years." Mostly, it is full of some of the best prose about the current state of college life in America. More than that, the novel narrates the struggle to become an American, despite ethnicity, race and social class.

Indeed, Kim's rejection of the world he is given provides a powerful reminder to current students that they can still change their lives and be themselves, not a carbon copy of tradition.