3.5
Home Remedies
By Xuan Juliana WangPublisher Description
A FINALIST FOR THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY YOUNG LIONS FICTION AWARD • SHORTLISTED FOR THE PEN/ROBERT W. BINGHAM PRIZE FOR DEBUT SHORT STORY COLLECTION • WINNER OF THE CALIFORNIA BOOK AWARDS GOLD MEDAL IN FIRST FICTION • WINNER OF THE JOHN ZACHARIS FIRST BOOK AWARD • LONGLISTED FOR THE STORY PRIZE • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY LIBRARY JOURNAL
“An urgent and necessary literary voice.”—Alexander Chee, Electric Literature
“Tough, luminous stories.”—The New York Times Book Review
“Spectacular.”—Vogue
Xuan Juliana Wang's remarkable debut introduces us to the new and changing face of Chinese youth. From fuerdai (second-generation rich kids) to a glass-swallowing qigong grandmaster, her dazzling, formally inventive stories upend the immigrant narrative to reveal a new experience of belonging: of young people testing the limits of who they are, in a world as vast and varied as their ambitions.
In stories of love, family, and friendship, here are the voices, faces and stories of a new generation never before captured between the pages in fiction. What sets them apart is Juliana Wang’s surprising imagination, able to capture the innermost thoughts of her characters with astonishing empathy, as well as the contradictions of the modern immigrant experience in a way that feels almost universal. Home Remedies is, in the words of Alexander Chee, “the arrival of an urgent and necessary literary voice we’ve been needing, waiting for maybe, without knowing.”
Praise for Home Remedies
“A radiant new talent.”—Lauren Groff
“These dazzling stories interrogate the fractures, collisions and glorious new alloys of what it means to be a Chinese millennial.”—Adam Johnson, author of the Pulitzer Prize–winning The Orphan Master’s Son
“Home Remedies doesn’t read like a first collection; like Jhumpa Lahiri’s Interpreter of Maladies, the twelve stories here announce the arrival of an exciting, electric new voice.”—Financial Times
“Stylistically ambitious in a way rarely seen in prose fiction . . . Writing like this will never stop enlightening us. [Wang’s] voice comes to us from the edge of a new world.”—Los Angeles Review of Books
“An urgent and necessary literary voice.”—Alexander Chee, Electric Literature
“Tough, luminous stories.”—The New York Times Book Review
“Spectacular.”—Vogue
Xuan Juliana Wang's remarkable debut introduces us to the new and changing face of Chinese youth. From fuerdai (second-generation rich kids) to a glass-swallowing qigong grandmaster, her dazzling, formally inventive stories upend the immigrant narrative to reveal a new experience of belonging: of young people testing the limits of who they are, in a world as vast and varied as their ambitions.
In stories of love, family, and friendship, here are the voices, faces and stories of a new generation never before captured between the pages in fiction. What sets them apart is Juliana Wang’s surprising imagination, able to capture the innermost thoughts of her characters with astonishing empathy, as well as the contradictions of the modern immigrant experience in a way that feels almost universal. Home Remedies is, in the words of Alexander Chee, “the arrival of an urgent and necessary literary voice we’ve been needing, waiting for maybe, without knowing.”
Praise for Home Remedies
“A radiant new talent.”—Lauren Groff
“These dazzling stories interrogate the fractures, collisions and glorious new alloys of what it means to be a Chinese millennial.”—Adam Johnson, author of the Pulitzer Prize–winning The Orphan Master’s Son
“Home Remedies doesn’t read like a first collection; like Jhumpa Lahiri’s Interpreter of Maladies, the twelve stories here announce the arrival of an exciting, electric new voice.”—Financial Times
“Stylistically ambitious in a way rarely seen in prose fiction . . . Writing like this will never stop enlightening us. [Wang’s] voice comes to us from the edge of a new world.”—Los Angeles Review of Books
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communities32 Reviews
3.5
Alice Ye
Created 8 months agoShare
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Marie
Created 11 months agoShare
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“I chose this book based on the cover in the library. I had no idea it was short stories but cover and the title caught my attention so I went for it.
Usually short stories are hit or miss for me. I lose interest if stories don't get better and better as I read. I found this one quite dull at first as first as "Mott Street in July" was not really that thought provoking. However some later stories were better so I kept reading.
Writing style was quite good and I enjoyed how author would change the structure of the story or the storytelling itself. That being told, I found "Home Remedies for Non-Life-Threatening Ailments" entertaining. I believe, diary/note style writing was the reason I liked it and still remember parts of it.
"Vaulting the Sea" was another highlight of the book. I loved the story of Taoyu and Hai and I could feel the pain Taoyu faced when he heard the words "You're my best friend" but even with this story, I wished it was more about showing me what Taoyu goes through, instead of describing it.
The story that I personally disliked was "For Our Children and for Ourselves". Xiao Gang was such a revolting character, I did not want to read anything about him.
Overall it was an okay read but I don't think it will remain with me for long”
Lewis Fisher
Created about 1 year agoShare
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“diaspora stories are fun, with the titular being a standout”
zell
Created over 1 year agoShare
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yuzureads
Created over 1 year agoShare
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About Xuan Juliana Wang
Xuan Juliana Wang was born in Heilongjiang, China, and moved to Los Angeles when she was seven years old. A Wallace Stegner Fellow at Stanford University, she received her MFA from Columbia University. Her work has appeared in The Atlantic, Ploughshares, The Best American Nonrequired Reading and the Pushcart Prize Anthology. Her debut collection of short stories, Home Remedies, was published in 2019 and hailed as the arrival of ‘an urgent and necessary literary voice’ by Alexander Chee, and ‘tough and luminous’ by The New York Times Book Review. Home Remedies was named as one of the Most Anticipated Books of 2019 by Nylon, Electric Literature, The Millions, and LitHub, and one of the Best Books of the Season by Elle, Publishers Weekly, The Daily Beast, and New York Observer. She currently teaches creative writing at UCLA.
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