Funeral

by Vi Khi Nao, Daisuke Shen

Written using prose, images, lists, diagrams, songs, and plays, the novella Funeral follows Eddie from the 1969 film Funeral Parade of Roses in her descent to Hell. In Hell, Eddie meets and falls in love with Madame Rose during lunch. They spend their days creating Hell's first boba shop and cheering on Hell in the final pingpong match against Heaven, but their relationship soon falls apart. When Xing returns home to Shanghai via Hell's bullet train, Eddie sets out on a journey to win her back, accompanied by her friends Tony Leung, the god Tu'Er Shen, the moon, Mary Poppins, and her over-talkative Uber driver, Jimin Park. In this co-authored novella, DAISUKE SHEN & VI KHI NAO explore the depths of morality, pain, and queerness with irreverent humor and unflinching honesty.

Like two dreams of the underworld playing exquisite corpse with each other. And Tony Leung is in it. - Sebastian Castillo

I read this and immediately wanted to riot in the streets, by virtue of how good it was. I also learned a lot of facts about public figures like Awkwafina and Michelle Obama . - Jesi Gaston

This book brings out my ego because I tear up and/or giggle while reading it, feeling like it was written just for me. The film Funeral Parade of Roses—the story that Funeral continues—is an urban retelling, but all the trappings of stylization aren’t there’s no enforced grittiness; the lights are very bright, the blood flowing very freshly. This book by D[aisuke] and V[i] captures the same materials do not shield or dictate shape, they stagger and drape. Sometimes in the movement a secret color flickers. But more than just sensory development, an inexorable sequence of events. More than an allegory or satire or retelling, more like documentation of being entrenched in the universe and all the gossipy deadpan jokes to be made while trying to love sweetly in the face of cruelty’s differentiation. When everything feels impossible, maybe you have mistakenly presumed ethereality. D[aisuke] and V[i] show that what animates aftermath is without boundaries. - Ginger Ko

101 pages, Paperback

Published January 31, 2023

About the author

Vi Khi Nao is the author of many books and is known for her work spanning poetry, fiction, play, film, and interdisciplinary collaborations. Her forthcoming novel, The Italian Letters, is scheduled for publication by Melville House in 2024. In the same year, she will release a co-authored manuscript titled, The Six Tones of Water with Sun Yung Shin, through Ricochet. Recognized as a former Black Mountain Institute fellow, Vi Khi Nao received the Jim Duggins, PhD Outstanding Mid-Career Novelist Prize in 2022.
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Reviews

[juch · Rating 5 out of 5]

crazy and inspiring

[Sarah Cavar]

Holding off on a star rating until and unless I see the film this is drawing its inspiration from. Overall, this experimental novella is thick with references, broadly historical and pop-cultural, and also specific to the Asian-American cultural milieu. I enjoyed a lot of what this book did, was confused by some, and overall left interested in checking out the film it was based on.

[Carlos · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can’t wait to go to hell

[Haolun Xu · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really loved how dynamic this collaboration was— it was experimental and daring without losing even an ounce of a strong, robust voice. Amazing and vibrant language.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Innovative. Re-constructive fiction. Romantic, sardonic, and wildly humorous with a visceral wisdom.