This story collection has a lot going against it in terms of me liking it. For one, it’s a whole New Kid in Town, NYC scene, heavy promotion by writers who I DO NOT TRUST (eg Lena Dunham, but she’s not alone on this one). It’s possibly topical. So for example, I read no fewer than three novels last year about trans-racial adoption especially by Asian-American writers. And so sometimes, the hop new thing and topical writing forces young/up and coming writers into a kind of pigeon-hole, and this also especially can affect writers of color, who are repeatedly told not to branch too far out from their “comfort zones” in order to fit the marketplace. It’s a complicated conversation that has the uncomfortable situation of mostly rich White liberal-minded industry types both denigrating “ethnic” writing, while also “championing” it in the sense of forcing writers to work within that sub-field. So sometimes the writing that emerges, separate from quality, is not necessarily the writing that those writers would have otherwise wanted to be putting out there. Also, there’s often a danger than young writers themselves become their brand and not their writing, so a hip young writer is the marketed product, not the actual work.
That’s not the case here. These stories are just GOOD, without a doubt. There is incredibly strong writing, a devastating at times, but earnest voice, and a clear sense of language and character. The young girls who narrate or populate these are so real feeling, that I am of course tempted to suggest they are all stand-ins for the author, because however else could you create such fully rendered people? But whether they are or not doesn’t matter.
I read a really bad review of this collection (kind of novel in a way) that suggested they were turned off by the sarcastic tone. I was confused but while there’s some sarcasm in this book, the narrators themselves are often in pain and yearning for relief and understanding against an otherwise confusing and often cruel world. And the result is just a heavy, but very rewarding set of writing. There’s even some accidental and purposeful humor at times….the little kids yelling scatological insults at each in full-throated passion stand out. I don’t know that it’s for everyone, but this is absolutely the real deal.
(Photo by Jenny Zhang)
“the hop new thing”
I interpret this as either “hot new thing” or “hip new thing”, but since both work, I think “hop” is a legitimate portmanteau. Well done, vel veeter, for adding to the lexicon.
I’m waiting for Nicole Chung’s book about being a South Korean adoptee to come out later this year.