The six stories in this collection from influential post-90s writer Ayri Chang are snapshots at critical stages in the lives of three young women. Taken together, these fictional portraits combine to form a nuanced study of young women in the process of embracing their adult selves.
Since getting her start online, author Ayri Chang has earned praise for her nuanced observations of the interior lives of young women. In this, her latest short story collection, she once again delivers the goods with six snapshots from the lives of three women that will evoke readers' memories of youth, and unveil new vistas for their imagined futures.
A group of high school classmates reunites at age thirty, reawakening yearnings which have been left slumbering for a decade and a half. With the reunion approaching, Hsu An receives a call from ex-boyfriend Shu-wei, who is recently divorced and hopes to rekindle their romance. Hsu An rejects him, but still hopes to understand why Shu-wei broke her heart many years before. The surprising answer rewrites Hsu An's past, revealing that Shu-wei's unwaning affection for her was only thwarted through a series of missed opportunities.
Lu Chen has long accepted that she is ordinary, largely because she perceives others to be far more talented. She had dreams of being an independent freelance illustrator, but in the end, she only gained a modicum of recognition for her work. She occasionally travels abroad, or dines out at a classy restaurant, but only because sometimes a friend is willing to treat. One might consider this a hard life, but not Lu Chen. Rather, all lives are hard, and Lu Chen knows better than to hope she will be the exception.
When her family was beset by misfortune, Lu Pin-han sacrificed much more than the opportunity to study abroad; the tally of her losses includes a respectable career, a comfortable life, and her hopes for the future. As a result, she has been unable to face up to the successes enjoyed by those around her, until one day, by some mysterious process, she suddenly can… and shockingly, it's no big deal. Lu Pin-han discovers that, in truth, she never sacrificed anything – she simply chose to let things go.
Under Ayri Chang's pen, the lives of these post-90s women spring from the page in living detail. Taken at the ages of fifteen and thirty, Chang's snapshots capture the thoughts and dilemmas of women at critical thresholds, when youthful dreams are revealed to be flawed, new choices must be made, and life must be lived without regrets. More than just deft portraits of three young women in transition, these six stories are a tribute to the predicaments, perseverance, and personal growth undertaken by all women as they fully embrace their adult selves.