Self-Portrait with Ghost

Starred review from May 9, 2022
Jin (Little Gods) returns with a provocative magical realist collection in which women fall in love, grieve, and figure out what to make of their lives amid constant changes. Many of these engrossing entries take inspiration from contemporary events such as the Covid-19 pandemic and the Trump presidency. The protagonists of “The Odd Women” deal with a mysterious virus on top of the onset of puzzling superpowers, such as the ability to make themselves immaterial, change identity to match others’ expectations, and divide parts of themselves into “distinct entities, one to confront each aspect of the divided, complicated world.” Meanwhile, “In The Event” features a woman reflecting on the “obscenities of the new president,” which make her feel like she’s living in a badly written novel. Even the stories that focus on timeless themes—such as formative relationships in “Phillip Is Dead” and “First Love,” and the aftermaths of loss in “Suffering” and “Self-Portrait with Ghost”—take on a strangely elusive tone. Throughout, Jin toys with the concept of reality, which in the title story is malleable for its writer protagonist (“My novel was all about subjectivity, I said. Each character tells their version of reality and the various realities add up to something that looks more like unknowing than a solution,” the writer recounts of a conversation with the ghost of a Chinese aunt, who speaks in English despite never having learned the language). Throughout, there is beauty, wit, and pathos. This mystifying collection is a testament to Jin’s talent and versatility. Agent: Jin Auh, Wylie Agency.

Starred review from June 1, 2022
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. Death haunts the first three titles. 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. The unforgettable, living or not, appear in "First Love," about a caregiver who pays more attention to her amorous obsession than her young charge, and in "With Feeling Heart," in which a hungry old man haunts across geographies and time. "Selena and Ruthie" traverses the intimacies and partings of a best friendship that begins in middle school. All manner of planning can't account for every precaution in "In the Event." Luminaries Vandana Singh, Ursula K. Le Guin, and Octavia Butler inspire the superpowered protagonists in "The Odd Women." 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.

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