This book of short stories and a novella is excellent, mainstream fiction about Chinese-Americans, Chinese in America, America in Chinese, Chinese in China (a little), Chinese in Taiwan (a little)… Chang’s introduction for discussion groups suggests it’s a book full of stories about types of hunger and how they consume families, which makes sense given the title, but to me, it felt more like a book full of oblique (and not-so-oblique) ghost stories. At times it felt a little bit, oh, I don’t know, too skillful, but there was definitely something very respectable about how Chang wrote these stories… definitely something precise, crafted, and very aware of the power of words. She describes such minute, but absolutely pertinent, details all the way through.
Anyway, a book of hauntings. With it dark so early, and so chilly outside, it really is exactly the kind of book for the season.