Little Pink Book: A Bad Bad Novel

by Olivia Kan-Sperling

Limei is a sensitive, romantic, and artistic girl living all alone in Shanghai. She spends her days making latte art and her nights expressing herself on her personal blog. For now, sadness is her favorite food. But when will her love-life finally find her?!? After drawing the attention of a powerful, handsome, and cruel stranger, the plot thickens…and evaporates into fantasy. What does Limei want from us, what do we want from her, what really happened that night on the rooftop—and how bad can a book really get?

A classic coming-of-age story written somewhere between polaroid and porn popup; proverb, pop lyric, and propaganda, this is a novel for getting stuck in your head. Originally conceived to accompany an installation by Diane Severin Nguyen at the Rockbund Museum in Shanghai, Little Pink Book is a labor of love, a perverse mistranslation, an exercise in humiliation, and a cautionary tale about writing itself. And somewhere in there…lies Limei’s bleeding-pink heart.

Genres: Novels, Fiction

164 pages, Paperback

Published August 5, 2025

Reviews

[Maddie · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars rounded up for Goodreads. Thank you to the publisher for my gifted copy! Full review to come 💗

[Jack Skelley · Rating 4 out of 5]

What is it? A meditation on a color. A bilingual fable. A confection of cuteness. A yummy gummy romance. A takedown of Asian girl-pop machinations. Little Pink Book is also something impossible: an exaltation of the power of “sentimental” melodies/lyrics. (Have you ever had a sappy song trigger a deep cry?) Pretty word-worlds cuddle you weirdly: “Having been injected into this bubble-gum bubble, Limei felt cold, slow, sticky. This usually sweet and nice shade – the color of girls and fun – felt, suddenly, claustrophobic. Pink was also the color of insides, and this was too much, too much inside.” Amid the mash of forms is narrative, complete with horny/porny parts. Is it all in little Limei’s mind? Kan-Sperling is a virtuosa of multiple styles. (From my review in XRAY Lit Mag: https://xraylitmag.com/word-horny-jac... )

[Michelle Nigro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very unique as my sister told me. Reminded me of reading Anne Carson for the first time in a good way. Challenged the traditional writing structure as we know it but in a way that was interesting and not up its ass. Loved it. Finished it cover to cover in 3 commutes.

[Quin · Rating 5 out of 5]

She wrote this for me!!!

[Hilly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wong kar wai ass book

[Evan Femino · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this through and through. New things are still possible in writing and this book gets to it. Limei as a main character and vessel that whisks us through lifes' little scenes. A romantic interest, a job opportunity, a life changing chance. Structuring to this compelled me forward, a book that feels like multiple readings would feel new each time, sorting out the seemingly simple plot and meta layers going on all sides of the writing.

Felt similar in a good way to me with Mike Kleine's books, especially Karaoke Night at Daisuke's.

[Noa Jakubowski · Rating 2 out of 5]

En novell utklädd till inte-novell. Inte usel men inte långt ifrån! Vinner en stjärna på formgivning och format, verkligen toppen att hålla i handen och fin att vila ögonen i.
Citat:

Her hair seemed shorter than it needed to be.

For Limei, people were often written in a language she could only see, not read.

Lo-fi Limei

[Mcbean · Rating 3 out of 5]

maybe best contemporary fiction i’ve read recently? it’s doing something interesting w form, the irony has a function, and the language is really lush, edible. cinematic. like a good first year animation final or like if lynch was a small chinese girl born in 1997.
plus the paper quality is very satisfying.

[Libby Hays · Rating 5 out of 5]

Essential essentialist lit! We don't need to excavate our symbols via the (tired, dingy) hermeneutics of suspicion. We can let them glitter, gleam and bubble to the surface with all of their poetic resonance intact!

[nineinchnovels · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just further proof that a woman must trust no man.

[Anika Jade · Rating 5 out of 5]

genius

[Aerie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Confusing, but an interesting and atypical book. Honestly couldn't tell if it was English translated into Chinese or Chinese translated into English

[Sara Jarvie-Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

My bread and butter - gobbled up in one sitting at the shoe shine … seems fitting 4.5 stars <3

[Nicole Nigro · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unique

[Marc Librizzi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really interesting writing style, I’m not sure I fully know what to make of it but something about it really clicked with me

[Kali · Rating 3 out of 5]

New concept

[kaylin · Rating 4 out of 5]

weird asl. just how i like ‘em.

[Sam Markel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Indeed, a bad bad novel.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

it was just ok