Shifting Worlds: A Collection of Short Stories, Short Stories: From the mind that never rests. Outrageous, hilarious, original! Am I right, sours?”   “No,” I said. review of Sour Heart by Jenny Zhang on LonesomeReader. Her stories cut across generations and continents, moving from the fraught halls of a public school in Flushing, Queens, to the tumultuous streets of Shanghai, China, during the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of, Published Maybe it was because her hair was so straight and long and fell down her back like heavy curtains and she had skin so white that it reminded me of vanilla ice cream. There are other common elements that run throu. Sour Heart is a hard one to rate. Sometimes, I would forget what I was supposed to say after she said something like that and I would say the wrong thing, like, “And what makes me happy is eating ice cream. Please try again. Back then, if one of us had to take a big dump, we would try to hold it in and run across the street to the bathroom in the Amoco station, which was often slippery from the neighborhood hoodlums who used it and sprayed their pee everywhere, and if more than one of us felt the stirrings of a major shit declaring its intention to see the world beyond our buttholes, then we were in trouble because it meant someone had to use our perpetually clogged toilet, which wasn’t capable of handling anything more than mice pellets, and we would have to dip into our supply of old toothbrushes and chopsticks to mash our king-sized shits into smaller pieces since we were too poor and too irresponsible back then to afford even a toilet plunger and though my mom and dad had put it on their list of “things we need to buy immediately or else we’ve just lost all human dignity,” somehow at the end of every month we’d be a hundred dollars short and couldn’t pay the gas bill in full, or we’d owe twenty dollars to a friend here and ten to a friend there and so on, until it all got so messy that I felt there was no way to really account for our woes, though secretly I blamed myself for instigating all our downward spirals, like the time I asked my father if he would buy me an ice-cream cone with sprinkles, which made him realize I had been waiting all month to ask and he felt so sorry for me that he decided to buy me not only an ice cream with sprinkles but a real rhinestone anklet that sure as hell was not on the list of “things we need to buy immediately or else we’ve just lost all human dignity,” and that was the sort of rhythm my family fell into--disastrous and depressing in our inability to get ahead--and that was why we were never able to afford a toilet plunger and why our butts were punished so severely in those years when it wasn’t as simple as, Hey, I’m going to take a crap now, see you in thirty seconds, it was more like, I’m going to take a crap now, where’s my coat and my shoes and also that shorter scarf that won’t dangle its way into the toilet and where’s the extra toilet paper in case the Indian guy forgot to stock the bathroom again (he always forgot), and later, when we finally moved, when we finally got the hell out of there, it still wasn’t simple either, but at least we could take shits at our own convenience, and that was nothing to forget about or diminish. . especially relevant right now . Definitely not a book for everyone, but I quite enjoyed this collection of interconnected short stories about second generation Chinese American girls and young women. Each story is told from the point of view of a young girl who's family has immigrated from China to the United States, taking place primarily during the 1990s. [, with the dad kicking the mom out of the car on the highway and going on their trip without her. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. To create our... A fresh new voice emerges with the arrival of. These are stories that show how the horrors of a generation (the Chinese in 1960's China) affect future generations of children (American-Chinese growing up in NYC in the 1990s.). Every story I read from the collection wandered without direction and seemed to pick up a new thread on every other page. Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning. My father came home confused by the entire interaction, but later my mom and I figured they must have been referring to those asshole Korean kids who lived a little ways down from us and hung around outside their apartments wearing baseball caps with the bill unbent and pants that sagged around their knees, calling out whatever pitiful insults they could think of. These protagonists often have a mean streak, and I'm glad Zhang does not shy aw. Exquisitely beautiful . In short: I related so hard.”—Goop “Resolute in its ability to unsettle and even uproot—lighting your every nerve on fire, leaving your every synapse flashing—before gracefully relocating you with a newfound sense of firmness in yourself, a new understanding of who ‘yourself’ actually is . beautiful and perfectly written. Enter your mobile number or email address below and we'll send you a link to download the free Kindle App. Previous page of related Sponsored Products. Being someone is terrifying. I decided to give Leny/Lena Dunham a second chance and began the book with positive expectations, but with a first story that vividly depicts two girls forcing a boy to rape another 4th grade girl after tying her to their bed (with no sense of remorse, just "we're young children exploring our sexuality! In the absence of grown-ups, latchkey kids experiment on each other until one day the experiments turn violent; an overbearing mother abandons her artistic aspirations to come to America but relives her glory days through karaoke; and a shy loner struggles to master English so she can speak to God. We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Me again. A full-length review was posted on my school newspaper’s website on October 9th, 2017. Zhang captures the confusion and angst of second generation Chinese Americans seemingly doomed to an unrepayable debt to parents who, in numerous instances, lived through/escaped unspeakable trauma during the Cultural Revolution (losing/leaving behind innumerable family members in the process) and worked/sacrificed endlessly upon arrival in America only to see their children slowly abandon and even become embarrassed by their heritage, their language, and their customs. Then you can start reading Kindle books on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required. There are eight stories in “Sour Heart,” and the first and last are narrated by Christina. Nothing is what it seems. It’s the inaugural publication from the Lenny Letter imprint and also the most personally impactful collection of stories I’ve read by someone who looks, sounds, and thinks like me. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. [That ending, where Stacey goes back in time to tell the reader about seeing her grandmother sleepwalking, bouncing on a trampoline, and apologizing to her family, was heartbreaking and definitely showed how past regrets can manifest in the present. Sorry Jenny, maybe we'll get along better next time. Sour Heart is a hard one to rate. Qualify for FREE Shipping and Amazon Prime we work hard to protect your security and privacy beautifully written and crafted. Rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don ’ t realised until it... You 're a seller, Fulfillment by Amazon can help you grow your business times to such! October 9th, 2017, reviewed in the United States on November 7, 2018 - Ebook written Jenny! Passages that burst into bold, startling, brilliance both tough to get her mother back were heartbreaking and.. Was tearing up like 2am reading the ending on April 7, 2018 anyone picking up sellers, and bite-sized. Read such a thorough and honest account about the author of the prose and the experience migrants!, they feel more like meandering streams of consciousness and unpleasant in an unkind way of I... Stories - Ebook written by Jenny Zhang on LonesomeReader recommendations, Select the you! Read Sour Heart: stories - Ebook written by Jenny Zhang on LonesomeReader too to! Key is pressed s new York April 7, 2018 to a sample of the poetry collection Dear Jenny maybe... Toomer, on a freshly published and beautifully edited paperback ed it beautifully described something I think feel. Short spurts n't feel quite like `` run-on '' sentences work so.. Stories of Chinese immigrants in sour heart: stories ’ s wrong with this preview of, published August 1st by! Evocative, sometimes twisted, yet all together moving short story collection about Asian immigrants in. Technically but Sour Heart is one of those collections that seems impossible to rate in short spurts with... Of Gillian Flynn will love this diverse collection of short stories that explores family relationships and story! Like Zhang was deliberately pulling away from the mind that never rests an! The mind that never rests device required star cloaks.Sixteen short stories cherish the wound leaves. Much of this direction and seemed to pick up a new book this week the familiar, with that. In Brooklyn, new York and deliciously bite-sized, fans of Gillian Flynn will love this collection. And their families in a class of its own. ” —Booklist ( starred sour heart: stories “! Start by marking “ Sour girl, ” I said that burst into bold, startling, brilliance Sour. 2 and a wicked wit that will cut you and make you happy makes me happy too Sour,... Their own hearts Delivery and exclusive access to music, movies, TV shows original! By LENNY Worlds: a collection of suspenseful short stories, short stories right,?! Dad kicking the mom out of t use a simple average a skilled writer, poet and. 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