A searing look at depression, loneliness, and the hollowness of a culture that worships vitality while sucking people dry, Song’s (Chlorine, 2023) second novel is a high-stakes, slowly unfolding examination of what makes life worth living, offering dark comedy and a dash of hope amid despair.
Intense ... Song's fiction clearly benefits from their filmmaking/artist background; the camera-ready scenes are rife with exquisite visual details ... They write with unhindered vulnerability, of course about death, but also about exhaustion and tenacity, resignation and struggle, abandonment and trust.
For patient readers the ending will give catharsis, but the plot can get muddled in the serpentine musings about depression. Still, many will be eager for Song’s second book and will relate to Vicky’s struggle to attain happiness under capitalism.
Starkly depicts the effects of untreated mental illness, social isolation, and the social and economic pressures of today’s U.S. The hope that gleams through the pages is well earned ... A primal scream-meets-love letter to a generation struggling to survive late-stage capitalism.
The arresting story of a young woman struggling to stay afloat in New York City ... Song writes beautifully of a young woman’s aching heart as she faces the challenges of big city life. This one strikes just the right balance between melancholy and hope.
