RaveThe Chicago Review of Books\"Chou is consistent in her ability to create an eerie, uncanny version of circumstances we could expect in real life. Each story ends in a way that makes you tip your head back in bewilderment, a reminder that there is no base reality on which everyone’s narrative is built ... sparkles in the way it infuses dark concepts with whimsy and detail. Chou seems less invested in establishing a firm stance on anything and more about unsettling assumptions and questioning the first version of the story that you hear—her answer to the titular question is infinitely more questions.\
PositiveChicago Review of BooksPlodding along in an intimate, often banal story of one family’s tragedy in the first half of the novel, the pacing can seem to drag but the form also evokes how memory can linger in vivid detail ... Choi is able to weave personal stakes, under-discussed history, and geopolitical forces together to form a propulsive second half ... The characters in Flashlight are complex, sometimes stuck in their ways. Each carries their own shard of a bigger story, accidentally cutting themselves and others on the sharp edges. Putting the pieces together wouldn’t render a complete picture, but it can form a beautiful mosaic.
Weike Wang
PositiveChicago Review of BooksWang’s depiction is intimate and practical ... There is endless material emerging sideways from the intersecting conflicts of both Keru’s and Nate’s families. Like a real-life marriage, not everything can be easily dissected, explained, and analyzed; rather, sometimes people say things, sometimes people throw things, and Nate and Keru just get on with it. Whether that’s beautiful or deflating may depend on your personal associations with matrimony.
Jane Wong
PositiveChicago Review of BooksLike the stars in the sky, all kinds of shapes and stories can be crafted through the non-chronological format of the book, which made rereading sections of it after finishing all the more powerful ... The most poignant and humorous moments are those shared between Wong and her mother, a fiercely loving and exceedingly wise woman ... Healing is not some enlightenment where the anger evaporates and the universe is magically in balance. Instead, it’s an allocation of energy towards care and real love.
