In 10 short stories set in contemporary China, Te-Ping Chen evokes the lives of various characters, from an anti-government blogger and her twin brother, a competitive gamer, to a call-centre worker and a young woman thwarted in her real ambition and working as a florist. The stories mix sharp social observation with magical realism. The LA Times describes the debut story collection as "wildly inventive" and "elegant". Chen's stories are "magistic and elemental, a reflection on how we all live, no matter where we live. The logic of her observations can be terrifying". (LB)
