From the author of Little Gods, comes a story collection that explores self-construction, female resilience, and migrations both literal and transformative.
... a knockout short story collection ... fires on all cylinders. Hopscotching from San Francisco to China, each one of these 10 dizzyingly immersive stories offers up a heady and visceral portrait of what ails us, from isolation and self-doubt, to unrequited love and regret over what might have been, to what it means to be (and to be considered) an American ... What’s most impressive about Jin’s collection is the way she confidently moves from timeless theme to complex idea — even within stories — without missing a beat ... isn’t an uplifting read by any means, yet it is both bittersweet and beautiful. Jin’s stories are at once pungent and claustrophobic yet rife with clear-eyed observations about humanity’s flaws and failings, our insatiable need, our capacity to inflict pain and bestow joy upon others.
... intoxicating ... united by a deadpan preoccupation with catastrophe ... Other stories are more expressive, piercing through to the beating heart of dysfunctional human bonds ... Allegorical and delightfully weird, the story reflects the inescapable paranoia of modern times ... Sentimental or not, the stories contain moments of undeniable tenderness ... Still sharp, full of Jin’s humor, these stories left me yearning for more from the characters — a testament to Jin’s ability elsewhere to evoke sincere emotion in her reader. This is a poignant and immersive collection by a writer with fine-tuned sensibilities and an elegant artistic vision.
Following her extraordinary novel Little Gods (2020), Jin presents a fascinating 10-story collection...One-line drawings of profiles interrupt, switching directions as if cleverly reminding readers to shift perspectives...In 'Philip Is Dead,' the narrator insistently does not mourn a manipulative ex-lover...In 'Suffering,' a widow can’t trust her dead husband, her pretentious sister, or 'old and ugly' Mr. Fu, who wants to take care of her...In 'Self Portrait with Ghost,' a paternal aunt who was 'crazy' in life posthumously returns to talk books outside a library with her writer niece... Jin effortlessly navigates across generations, cultures, and borders to expose inequities, misunderstandings, and 'this America . . . in these "unprecedented times"'...The result proves deftly imaginative and brilliantly interrogative.
