Where Are You Really From

by Elaine Hsieh Chou

A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY TIME, NPR, AND ELECTRIC LITERATURE • A 2026 CALIFORNIA BOOK AWARDS FINALIST • A 2026 NOTABLE BOOK BY THE AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION • A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF 2025 BY LIT HUB, THE OC REGISTER, THE MILLIONS AND MORE • NAMED A BEST BOOK OF AUGUST 2025 BY PEOPLE MAGAZINE • NAMED A MUST-READ BOOK BY THE CHICAGO REVIEW OF BOOKS • THE STRAND’S AUGUST 2025 PICK-OF-THE-MONTH

“Dark and mesmerizing. In Chou’s signature razor-sharp style, these stories examine loneliness, projection, redemption and revenge—all while being masterfully funny and unexpected.” —NPR, Best Books of 2025

Doppelgängers. Mail order brides. Not-so-happy endings. From the criti­cally acclaimed author of Disorientation comes a genre-bending story collection where nothing is stranger than the truth.

A mail order bride from Taiwan is packed up in a cardboard box and sent via express shipping to California, where her much older husband awaits her. Two teenage girls meticulously plan how to kill and cook their downstairs neighbor. An American au pair moves to Paris to find herself, only to find her actual French doppelgänger. A father reunites with his estranged daughter in unusual circumstances: as a background actor on the set of her film. A writer’s affair with a married artist tests the line between fact and fiction, self-victimization and the victimization of others.

In these six singular stories and a novella that pivot from the terrible to the beautiful to the surreal, Elaine Hsieh Chou confronts the slipperiness of truth in storytelling. With razor-sharp precision and psychological acuity, she peels back the tales we tell ourselves to peer beneath them: at our treacherous desires, our self-deceptions and our capacity for cruelty, both to ourselves and each other. Expansive and provocative, Where Are You Really From is a visionary achievement.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Horror, Contemporary, Literary Fiction, Audiobook, Adult

Audible Audio

First published August 19, 2025

About the author

Elaine Hsieh Chou is a Taiwanese American author and screenwriter from California. Described as “the funniest, most poignant novel of the year” by Vogue, her debut novel Disorientation was a New York Times Editors’ Choice Book, New York Public Library Young Lions Fiction Award finalist and Thurber Prize finalist. A former Rona Jaffe Graduate Fellow at New York University, her Pushcart Award–winning short fiction appears in Guernica, Black Warrior Review, Tin House Online, Ploughshares and The Atlantic, while her essays appear in The Cut and Vanity Fair. She is a Fred R. Brown Literary Award recipient, a Sundance Episodic Lab Fellow and a Gotham Series Creator to Watch. Her work has been supported by the Harry Ransom Center, the New York Foundation for the Arts and Hedgebrook’s Writers-in-Residence Program.

Reviews

[emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

all the authors i like should drop short story collections.

doing mini reviews for every story:

CARROT LEGS
halfway through this i forgot it was a short story collection and thought this was the beginning of a novel. we are off to a rip-roaring start.
rating: 4

MAIL ORDER LOVE
how are these short stories making me feel more things than most full-length books?
rating: 4

YOU PUT A RABBIT ON ME
sorry to our protagonist, but if i had a cool french doppelganger who was also my best friend we would never have a falling out. that's a generational ego boost and i would never let it go.
rating: 3

FEATURED BACKGROUND
after a short and strange parisian intermission, we are back to insane emotional impact and investment in characters. she can't keep getting away with this!
rating: 4

HAPPY ENDINGS
i really enjoy violent female rage.
rating: 3.5

THE DOLLHOUSE
fun concept but it got annoying. which is how ultimately i always feel about strong style choices.
rating: 3

CASUALTIES OF ART
this is painfully good at embodying its repugnant male narrator. maybe less good at the style choice of having a billion different endings.
rating: 4

OVERALL
an extremely varied collection with some stories i will remember forever and some i have already forgotten. i recommend.
rating: 3.5

(thanks to the publisher for the e-arc)

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short stories can be a drag to read though the ones in this collection were entertaining. Props to Elaine Hsieh Chou for crafting short stories with engaging scenes and dynamic premises. The topics are timely and thorny such as body image for Asian girls living in different countries, sex work in Asia, and internalized racism in dating and relationships. Chou is a clever writer and she approaches these topics in nuanced ways, while at the same time conveying the seriousness of these issues and imparting important social messages.

My main constructive critique of this collection is that at times I felt like these stories were more about conveying societal messages than developing three-dimensional characters. The stories didn’t feel overly didactic, though I still felt that many of the characters could have been written with more emotional depth. That said, while I was going to give this collection a 3.5-star rating, the novella at the end “Casualties of Art” flipped it to a four-star rating – this story truly felt like Chou’s debut novel Disorientation except from an Asian American man’s perspective. The story contains biting themes related to misandry and the intersection of race and self-worth. I was hooked on the plot and I’m glad Chou gave us a happy (though realistically bittersweet) ending. Overall, Chou is a writer to watch and I’m looking forward to whatever she publishes next.

[Rebekah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I skipped sleep last night to read this and it was the objectively correct decision. This collection is straight fire. I do not regret a thing

[Nel · Rating 3 out of 5]

the first 3 stories held my attention, but the rest i skimmed.

[Queralt✨ · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting short-story collection by Elaine Hsieh Chou. The stories are sort of Black Mirror-esque with a focus on feminism, criticizing capitalism, and migration/diaspora. Themes I enjoy but I found this to be a mixed bag for me. Overall, great social commentary but I struggled with the pacing, plot, and characters of the majority if the stories.

-Carrot Legs: Satire on beauty culture and the grotesque lengths of self-modification in Taiwan. The imagery (the body as consumable) is weirdly literal. I loved the social commentary and how the story regurgitated the message that beauty is a choice, thus “the good should only favour the beautiful.” 10/10 commentary but I didn’t care about the plot or the characters. 2.5 stars.

-Mail Order Love: Dark humor meets horror realism. A man makes two purchases from different catalogues in a single breath: a migrant wife and a ring. The woman arrives inside a Styrofoam box which is a perfect start for a story that covers the commodification of women and marriage as logistics. The sentimental happy ending ruined it for me. My favorite aspects in the story were how it deals with capitalism and feminized migration (through unethical means). 3.5 stars.

-You Put a Rabbit on Me: US-born Elaine moves to France to be an au pair and discover herself. There, she meets her doppelgänger: France-born Elaine. It’s an identity crisis in stereo. It’s not really about France, it’s about being two versions of yourself and hating both. The surrealism works but I had issues with the pacing. Loved the more “thrilling/urgent” bits at the end more than the sapphic aspects of it (it was just weird cuz of the doppelgänger situation lol my brain registered them as identical twins). 4 stars.

-Featured Background: An estranged dad sneaks into the film set of his daughter’s new movie, which has… questionable ethics. It’s basically a movie with a 40min scene of an actress that looks like the daughter getting raped. Deals with exploitation, generational trauma, and parenthood. It’s an ugly story with no good guys. 3 stars.

-Happy Endings: Forgot it the second I finished it. 2 stars?

-Dollhouse: Dystopian allegory about immigration and bodily autonomy disguised as surreal dream logic. The dollhouse workers deciding fates of the dolls alludes at how bureaucratic gods decide who gets a visa or a scholarship or proper reproductive care, etc. 4 stars.

-Casualties of War: A story about an affair. I found the main character so annoying. I could not give a shit about it because the dude annoyed me 🫠 1.5 stars?

[Cindy Pham]

- among this short story collection, my fave was the mailorder bride who was super independent with her own friends & hobbies, much to the chagrin of her husband
- the last story about the MRAsian was compelling to read as well because he's such a realistic asian man with a chip on his shoulder, but i felt like the ending was a lil tacked on (i read the ARC, so i'm not sure if this ending has changed in the final copy)
- the story about the formerly alcoholic dad helping his director daughter "exploit" (?) asian hate crimes so she could control her environment was the most nuanced
- overall a lot of interesting concepts to explore!

[em · Rating 2 out of 5]

at what point is writing short stories just a cop out because you can't make a full-length novel that's interesting enough?

here i am again, the world's biggest short story hater. i only picked this new book up by chou because i really enjoyed her previous novel, disorientation. because of that i feel i'm justified to my abhorrence here.

each story was derivative, one thinly-disguised commentary on some societal ill (i.e. capitalism, immigration problems) after another, but that's where the critique ended. since each story was not commenting on anything particularly new about society, i thought for sure there would be a larger, overarching theme at work here that connects each story. NOPE. we didn't even get a motif worth mentioning. at least expand on the title of the work-- where the inspiration comes from, why it matters, make that a theme! instead it all fell flat.

ALSO maybe this is a me issue, but since when are short stories 70, 80, 90+ pages long? that is not a short story. i fear we may be a bit confused.

the only story even worth a damn was "mail order love". that one was brilliant! i could've read an entire book based around that concept. that was a plot worth exploring and the others should've been left on the cutting room floor.

each story was disjointed and ultimately, in my opinion, uninteresting.

[Sam Cheng · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chou, I’mma newly minted fan.

One novella, six short stories, and ongoing encounters with intriguing premises and complicated characters to grow an attachment towards. Chou initially crafted these stories during her MFA program, and there’s nothing anodyne here. The author’s writing style is edgy; her observations, incisive; and overall, the project feels wonderfully even. To name several settings, Chou takes readers to a dumpling shop in Taipei, a cramped apartment in Paris, an AI-serviced brothel in HK, and a lodge hosting fellows in an artists’ residency program in America. I believe Carrot Legs and Featured Background are the only stories that aren’t speculative fiction, and the latter is the story I enjoyed the least, but I truly relished them all.

If pressed to choose a favorite, The Dollhouse stands out because of how Chou quick-shifts the narrator. The unnamed mom plays with her daughter, and the dolls in their game turn into characters within a story the mom invents. The mom speaks and thinks as the unnamed character (i.e., in first person) to her daughter. Similarly, Chou passes the narrative role from one character to another in Mail Order Love, Featured Background, and Happy Endings. The story begins with a “protagonist” I would learn and with whom I sympathize. Then, Chou raises a counterpoint’s perspective from obscurity without returning to the former; suddenly, I change my allegiance. Chou organizes this pattern of rearrangement to flow smoothly and effectively. Maybe this is called experimental—I’m not sure. However it’s categorized in the lit. world, it exemplifies a tactic of framing references that I aim to teach students to embrace in their epistemology.

This is my first time reading Chou’s work, and I am primed for more. That said, Penguin Press denied my request for an ARC, so this is my informal request to Chou and her future publisher(s) to please reconsider sending me a galley proof in the future.

I rate Where Are You Really From 4.5 stars.

[Amy ☁️ (tinycl0ud) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a five-star read to me. I didn't expect the stories to be so varied given that they belong—very broadly—under the same thematic umbrella, but this collection of seven short stories felt like an authorial flex, a taster of her range. It made me excited to see what the author was going to publish next. Would it be SF? Litfic? Horror? It seems she can do it all.

'You Put a Rabbit on Me' was my favourite. It's about an Asian American woman who dreams of finding herself in France, a country she romanticises. She gets a job in Paris and runs into her doppelgänger, except this other her grew up in France and is much closer to her concept of her ideal self. It's a trippy, unhinged narrative about inferiority, unstable identities, and how one's biggest obstacle is invariably the self.

'Mail Order Love' subverted expectations of the power dynamic between an older White man and his mail-order bride from Taiwan, a woman younger than his daughter. It focussed on the reasons why a foreign woman might choose to move to the US and was surprisingly charitable in its depiction of the man as someone who was just lonely, not lecherous at all. It's difficult to say who had power over/ used whom, or how meaningful such an approach would be when neither character can be reduced to stereotypes.

'Happy Endings' had bite and did not shy away from exploring the intersection between gender and race, dramatising how East Asian women get reduced to mere sex objects by white men no matter how advanced the society. 'The Dollhouse' emphasises how little power women actually have over the scope of their dreams and their own reproductive futures. I really loved the endings to both stories. 'Casualties of Art' reminded me of Tulathimutte's 'Rejection' in the best way.

[Dee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I find it hard to star rate a collection of short stories because they were not all created equal. However, it was the art of storytelling that will take the cake here and what I love the most. And tell some stories she did.

This was like going to the park on a chill day to eat lunch and people watch. You see something that makes you cringe, you witness an incident that makes you laugh out loud and then you see something that literally makes you go WTF!! After you are done you throw away your trash and go home. Yeah, that’s what it was like. Beautifully written…thank you!

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love short story collections, but it's rare to come across collections without a dud or two thrown in. Five star short story collections are something to be treasured. This collection (which includes a novella) was just that. Every story was just as great as the last, and the writing was stellar as well - so wonderfully descriptive while still being quick.

Highly recommend the audiobook, but I plan to pick up the physical as well. Can't wait to dive into the author's first book, Disorientation, too!

[Ming · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a singularly imaginative collection of innovative stories. Each took a stab at two key aims 1) be unique unto itself as well as its siblings, and 2) tread a fine line where you can’t tell if a parody is being made or if cutting social commentary has been presented (in my opinion, that tension is intentional).

I liked all the stories and the novella. I usually list a few favorites but won’t here; I would say that Carrot Legs, the first short story, was my least favorite. Each story is unique, has varied perspective voices (men, women, Asian, white) and represents some aspect of the Asian American cultural/political experience (eg. Korean adoptee, mail order brides, Asian American representation in the arts (movies and literature), etc.). The author firmly and artfully places these topics into fiction. With these themes, the stories feel "natural" and the “Asian American” factor appears incidental. And that's the beauty of it.

Chou is funny and insightful (and very creative). I still recall the "Lucy and Ethel" hijinks in Disorientation

I would definitely read Chou’s future titles.



Several quotes:

She looked both smartly put-together and devastatingly casual. In other words, she looked perfectly…French.

He had plenty to be grateful for, all things considered. But Athena—she refused to acknowledge that her accomplishments, all the awards and fellowships and titles, had been made possible through an unbroken line of others suffering more than she ever had. A line drenched in unspeakable terror and bloodshed, all so Athena could make derivative art about it from the comfort of her tastefully decorated apartment. In her “body of work,” she never failed to adopt their suffering as her own. He sometimes wondered if Athena secretly hoped a horrific event would befall their community because, should tragedy’s well run dry, what else would she write about? If such a thing as a surrogate of misery existed, that was his daughter.

He was said to be the next (the first?) great Asian American actor of their time, the one who’d raise them from obscurity into, well, something beyond obscurity.

But beneath my smile, my jaw clenches. Sophia is the worst kind of woman. The kind who rails against white men and everything they represent but goes ahead and marries one anyway, as if she should be applauded for her performative self-awareness.

We found a compromise where we’d write in my single’s dorm room, back to back so we couldn’t distract one another. I came to love the ritual, the way I could feel her concentration through every ridge of her spine.

The entire festival reminds me of an autumn-themed candle sold at the mall.

I never thought my life was important enough to merit its own fictionalization.

That no one ever thought I was anything but Chinese. That I was so knowable by virtue of my face. Everyone felt they had a right to the story behind it and when I didn’t share it, they went ahead and read it anyway. So this was my poor device, my measly attempt at showing them up and proving, no, you can’t know me, I’m as unreadable as you are: I’m not Chinese. Which was true. Partially.

Another part of my dislike: Jacob’s desire for validation is so obvious, it rolls off of him in pungent waves. The way I worry my own desire does.

[angela · Rating 5 out of 5]

one of those rare short story collections where i liked every one. :’) sits somewhere between the short stories of tony tulathimutte and ling ma.

i liked this so much that when i was reading this earlier today and suddenly felt the pressing urge to go 💩 myself, i contemplated bringing this book into the bathroom w me. that’s a RARE occurrence. anyway if ur reading this elaine i did not desecrate ur book ok bye !!!! 💖

[zai · Rating 4 out of 5]

rtc

[ari · Rating 4 out of 5]

loved every story.

[Rainbow Unicorn · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF.

[Autumn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Man, what a personally banger year for short story collections!

To be honest: the thing that caught my attention is the cover. The neon, vaporwave-y color palette and distinctly liminal space feel really drew me in immediately.

However, a cover only goes so far, and I am delighted that the stories in this collection played into the feeling of "not-quite-rightness" that the cover hints at. I enjoyed every story in this collection and found their Black Mirror-esque eccentricities immensely entertaining.

There were a couple that stood out to me as deeply moving and emotional: Mail Order Love and The Dollhouse. I legitimately started crying at the end of Mail Order Love as its portrayal of love lost, grief, and loneliness hit me right to my center.

Overall, its a great read! I didn't dislike any of the stories and would recommend this to everyone I can!

[Sarah Reiff]

Ok I really liked this and thought the order of stories had great momentum. Novella at the end was definitely my favorite, and the Dollhouse I also especially enjoyed. Love short stories fr

[Kara Cecchi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Elaine Hsieh Chou’s Where Are You Really From is a masterclass in blending biting satire with aching humanity. Across this collection of short stories, Chou dissects the strange, dark corners of modern life, where absurdity and poignancy often coexist. Her characters, flawed and painfully human, stumble through eccentric and often surreal worlds that feel at once bizarrely exaggerated and uncomfortably real.

Each story feels like entering a new reality, some speculative, some eerily familiar, all united by Chou’s incisive social critique. There’s the heartbreaking portrait of an alcoholic, neglectful father that refuses to flatten its subject into cliché; a chilling, near-futuristic tale of revenge that could’ve been ripped straight from Black Mirror; and a speculative exploration of anti-immigrant rhetoric in an America where capitalism has run completely unchecked. Elsewhere, Chou ventures into magical realism, where a woman’s journey abroad to “find herself” becomes unsettlingly literal, blurring the line between self-discovery and self-duplication. Every morning, I wake with thoughts of this story, weeks after reading.

But despite their wildly different settings, from dystopian techscapes to intimate domestic spheres, these stories share a throughline: Chou’s sharp, fearless commentary on identity, power, and belonging. Her satire is razor-edged but never cruel, and beneath every absurd twist lies an undercurrent of empathy. The result is a collection that’s at once haunting, hilarious, and deeply human.

Chou’s ability to balance emotional depth with biting humor makes these stories impossible to put down. She invites readers to laugh, cringe, and reflect, often all within the same page.

[emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

wacky girl lit, asian edition
personal favs were The Dollhouse and Happy Endings

[Chloe · Rating 5 out of 5]

The world needs more sexy and creative Asian American feminist literature

[Melody Morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A strong collection of stories from an enormously talented writer.

“Carrot Legs” — A weird story about pseudo-sisters and how family can disappoint you.

“Mail Order Love” — Surprisingly heartfelt in its complexity. I really liked this one.

“You Put a Rabbit On Me” — This one is disconcerting in the best way.

“Featured Background” — I think this one reminded me the most of Disorientation. Darkly satirical. Cutting.

“Happy Endings” — Feminine rage. Yes.

“The Dollhouse” — Perhaps my least favorite voice of the collection. Still engrossing.

“Casualties of Art” — I love a story where I can root this hard against the main characters.

Elaine Hsieh Chou is doing incredible work. Being on the next one.

*ARC via NetGalley*

[angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5
this short story collection felt thematically cohesive, though different enough to have each read feel new and fun.

mini reviews:
carrot legs: 2.5/5, weak start, not memorable

mail order love: 3.5/5, fun, if corny and predictable premise weakened by a feel good ending. i understand that this is comedic but i can’t muster up any empathy for men who are weird about women

you put a rabbit on me: 4.5/5, this is like if olivia rodrigo wrote lacy about herself and then became fixated on getting revenge. sooo fun and delicious

featured background: 3.5/5 if this was an AITA post the consensus would be ESH. appreciated reading about child of immigrants struggle from the parental POV for once.

happy endings: 2/5 this one felt juvenile idk. men who are weird about women p2

the dollhouse: 4.5/5 mommy issues and being american 😍

casualties of art: 3.5/5 men who are weird about women p3 (but he's asian!!!) tired of reading about this... feels strange to me that the most decent man in this entire collection is Just a White Dude...

[Patricia · Rating 5 out of 5]

After now having read two of her books, I can safely say I’m a fan of Chouh’s writing. She places eccentric, flawed characters in bizarre or interesting settings in these short stories, but she writes them with such subtle detail and realism that the stories feel both uncanny and true-to-life. I loved this mix in her other book Disorientation as well. I’ve seen people in the reviews compare this book to Black Mirror, and I have to agree. I don’t necessarily have a strong favorite story, I just loved the different tone and messaging of each one. Can’t wait for more of her work!

[V (working on thesis, still reading) · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who felt this way, but the 'short' stories in this book felt way too long for me. They often felt like I was reading a novel, not short stories. I kept expecting them to end, but they just kept going. The last one literally has 'a novella' in the title, so yeah ... But still, the concept for each short story is unsettling but great.

[Quill (thecriticalreader) · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars

Where Are You Really From by Elaine Hsieh Chou is a collection of thoughtful, unsettling short stories that showcase Chou’s range and writing capability.

This book contains seven short stories by Elaine Hseih Chou that span multiple genres and tones. Each story is distinct, but they all contain a dark surrealist bent that allows the author to put a twist on her explorations of race, gender, and sexuality. Chou’s writing is clever and daring; she refuses to bend to simplistic narratives.

“Carrot Legs”—3.5 stars
Literary Fiction
Transgressive and off-putting, this story about a young girl obsessed with her beautiful cousin speaks to how cultural norms and beauty standards warp erotic longing and identity formation.

“Mail Order Love”—4
Speculative Fiction
This story follows an aging widower who orders a literal mail order bride called “Bunny.” It bluntly criticizes the colonial, sexist, and capitalist logic behind such schemes while humanizing its participants.

“You Put a Rabbit On Me”—4.25
Horror/Thriller
A compulsively readable tale of a woman named Elaine who moves to Paris to “find herself,” only to literally find herself—an identical French woman also named Elaine. This creative story features some of the best prose in the collection.

“Featured Background”—3.75
Literary Fiction
This rather bleak story follows a Gene, a father estranged from his daughter, a successful movie director known for her commentary on the “intersection of race, sex, and violence” through film. Gene works as a background extra on her latest movie set in an attempt to get close to her. This story challenges simplistic narratives we absorb and create in our efforts to navigate identity and interpersonal relationships.

“Happy Endings”—1.25
Science Fiction
A rather ham-fisted critique of how technology feeds into the racialized fetishization of East Asian sex workers. The science fiction worldbuilding in this story is a bit derivative.

“The Dollhouse”—3.75
Literary Fiction
Chou employs a rather risky storytelling device that pays off with a punchy ending.

“Casualties of Art”—4.25
Literary Fiction/Experimental Fiction
Chou exposes the toxicity and immaturity of an elite creative writer’s retreat while employing some pretty effective creative writing and commentary of her own.

[Misha · Rating 4 out of 5]

(rounded up from 3.5)

I wish every author I enjoy tried their hand at short stories because I'm sure lots of them have cool ideas that aren't quite right for an extended novel treatment, but would be interesting little dips into fun little worlds and scenarios.

My enjoyment rate on these stories (including the novella-sized one at the end) was slightly better than 50-50, but even with the short stories that I didn't really enjoy, I did still find them engaging enough to read through.

My favorite, I think, was the final story, mostly because I enjoy deeper characterisation, and the final story was the longest one and therefore offered more of an opportunity for examining the motivations of these enigmatic characters.

[Sarah M. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Chou’s novel Disorientation so much I have read it multiple times now so was so excited to pick up her short story collection. This might be the best short story collection I’ve ever read! Chou is so so good at warping and distorting stories and materials in a way that makes them so interesting.

[Gabrielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was fine but I hate short story collections. It was probably more like a 3.5. I should not read short story collections lol

[Daria Ageeva · Rating 4 out of 5]

✨The Pessimistic Page Turner’s Book Club of Brutal Judgements! ✨

📚Book Club Pick #6📚

Disclaimer: spoilers ahead read at own risk.

Carrot Legs: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
-A teenage girl goes to Taiwan for the summer and she spends most of her time with her cousin LaLa and they bond over their plans on cooking Ayi (their grandparents worker) in a soup because they believe her legs look like white carrots.
-A short story but there’s a lot to unpack in this one. The beauty standards and cultural clashes between America and Taiwan, how beauty standards are part of societal norms and the pressure for young (especially girls) to conform. When she’s unable to purchase any clothes because the biggest size is M and later on we’re told she’s in a men’s outfit. How quickly you can make connections when you’re outside your comfort zone and how you worry that these connections will break if they find about the ‘true’ you. She lies to LaLa about how things are back home, that she’s only got one friend and is more a bully to her than the victim that she portrayed herself as.
-How mean can people become when they encourage each others poor behaviours, neither really saw Ayi as a person, instead more of a thing to boss about and when finished with potentially kill, making that distinction between beauty standards and your worth, that Ayi didn’t deserve love or compassion because of her legs. Immaturity at its finest.
-How family connections are more than just blood, despite Ayi revealing that LaLa is not biologically her cousin, the girl decides that her loyalties still lie with LaLa and she doesn’t change her behaviour or treatment of her, instead if anything just believes Ayi is lying.
-Feelings of abandonment and loneliness LaLa has to start school and she spends less time with her and there are days she doesn’t even come home, however she internalises it and still holds her up on a pedestal, missing her flight waiting for her.

Mail Order Love: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
-Frank orders a mail order bride from Taiwan called Bunny. Bunny arrives and on the same day they get married. Bunny is 25 and Frank is in his 70s, Frank is also not over his ex wife Susan, so when Bunny arrives he doesn’t put pressure on her to be the perfect wife for him. Bunny makes a decision to sleep in a separate room from Frank and decides she wants a GED, a car and a job. Frank supports her in her endeavours however is missing having the company of watching films, sharing popcorn and adopting a cute dog.
-Frank you’re looking for companionship, but surely you must understand a 25 year old would never want to just stay home and watch films with a 70 year old, was there no one older available? Frank seems confused why she’s out every night and experiencing life, instead of sitting at home reminiscing with him about his (late) ex wife. I think that Frank needed therapy instead of a mail order bride.
-Bunny didn’t even want to ‘escape’ or move away from Taiwan and only signed up to the bridal service because American borders were stricter on immigration, almost like that saying don’t tell someone to think of a big red bus and all they can now think about is a big red bus. Bunny didn’t like that the ‘choice’ of going to America was taken away from her so signed up for the service to get her foot through the forbidden door. I feel like Bunny stood her ground and lucky she was with an understanding man, however she was disrespectful and childish at times like coming home late and using his car without permission, being annoyed her kept the receipt. You ok babe you didn’t quite live up to his expectations. However she still didn’t realise the vulnerable position she was in when that woman had handed her the flyer about being involved in sex trafficking she dismissed it. Though her and Frank never had anything sexual, she must of understood that this bride ordering wasn’t normal.

You Put A Rabbit On Me: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
-Elaine goes to Paris to work as an au pair to find herself. However when she gets there she realises the job isn’t quite as fancy as she thought and she’ll soon have to share a studio with a room mate. When one day she’s shopping in a supermarket she spots a woman who looks identical to her, and that’s not the only thing they have in common, she’s also called Elaine, I guess she’s finally found herself.
-First of all love any type of story to do with Paris as I’m just a big Paris fan anyway.
-Hippolyte a true icon ‘do you think this is a party?’ and I wish he was more involved in the story for a 7 year old he’s a big character in this story and I wish he had more involvement.
-Elaine (A) is annoying, isn’t she? She kinda doesn’t do anything apart from wondering supermarkets and then do her job, she apparently tries to learn more French but gets bored and then gets a boyfriend, not very exciting all things you could of done in America. When she finally bumps into her doppelgänger her reaction is boring, just wanting to know if her family are from the same country?
-Elaine A and B turned out to be the room mates, weird coincidence I guess and they become inseparable until they don’t. When Elaine A starts to prioritise her boyfriend B decides to plot against her and I guess ruin her life? Elaine A decides two can play at that game and gets down to the same level B has been playing at and they start just attempting to hurt each other and score points. Elaine A during this realises that she’s finally ‘found her self’ and she cannot let Elaine B get away with destroying her life.
-The family bathroom airport toilet fight? Do I need to say more what kind of airline lets someone with matted hair and blood coming out of the back of their head onto a flight.
-Coming to the end of this story thoughts of ‘when is this gonna end’ did cross my mind.

Featured Background: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
-Gene is a background actor, however not for the fame and fortune but for the opportunity to reunite with his estranged daughter who writes films. When he is finally on set and sees his daughter he is overwhelmed with emotion and breaks his sobriety. Athena (his daughter) is not pleased to see him and believes he’s breaking her boundaries.
-At first I felt sorry for Gene, thinking that Athena has done him a dishonour by casting him aside and choosing to live life without him, however learning that he is a recovering alcoholic and how that impacted her childhood I can completely understand her going no contact.
-Gene I guess was stuck on what to do when she left him at the bus station in Atlantic City, perhaps he was owed a final explanation or at least making it clear why she’s cutting contact and maybe he wouldn’t have then ended up on her film set looking for answers.
-Gene tries to make the reader feel bad for him every step of the way, as if his daughter setting boundaries and enforcing them is out of the question for him and he has this victim mentality where he doesn’t want to hold himself accountable believing that she should care for him just because he’s her father despite all he’s done.
-Though a short story it dwells into parent and child relationships and mixing in grief, that normally ‘family stick together’ not tear apart.

Happy Endings: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
-Sex obsessed but not enough to show respect or build relationships a man is on a journey through Hong Kong to do what he pleases with his cock. He enters a massage parlour recommended by his married but sex obsessed friend. He has at this stage tried all the brothels with both human and robot participants and is looking for a new experience, this parlour specialises in VR. At first he enjoys it everything he thinks of (drinks, food and ‘women’) appear automatically, however he quickly realises that he is unable to pleasure himself and as he goes through every scenario as soon as he is wanting to get sexual there’s a system error, not letting him progress with the sex part of the experience. When he finally wakes up from the experience Eden the worker who massaged him reveals that she’s one of the girls he nearly strangled to death and she’s now punishing him.
-This probably got me more angry than any of the other stories so far, because partially I think this is where the world is going regarding all this AI / VR and sex robots and this impacting women’s rights and treatment further.
-How grotesque he was, and yet when he realised the game was up and what he’d done he was crying for his mummy. Grow some balls and now you’ve made your bed you gotta lay in it honey.

The Dollhouse: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
-A story about mother and daughter, and the importance of choices and feelings of guilt. The mother tells the daughter (Jenny) about her life working in a home where pregnant woman came from a foreign land to give birth in ‘Dreamland’ (assuming America) so that their child would have citizenship and then be able to move to the country and have a better life / the American dream. The mother utilises Jenny's dollhouse and dolls as part of the story so that Jenny can visualise the characters. The mother explains how much of a boring person she is, how she followed the rules the person in charge had set and how she cared for the expecting mothers. The mother focuses in on one of the ‘dolls’ specifically, Fantasy and how she was different from the others they had and how it took her a while to even start up a conversation.
-This story highlighted the sacrifices women made, sometimes spending months away from home pregnant and having to give birth in a foreign land with no support from family or any usual comforts in the hopes of a better future, putting all their dreams and finances into this ‘chance’ at life. Would you be willing to sacrifice so much for an opportunity, not guaranteed either.
-It highlighted indirectly the pressure the next generation would feel, imagine being one of the babies born in the doll house and how much pressure you would feel trying to pay back your mother for such a sacrifice and how you’d likely be expected to feel instantly thankful and happy for the decisions that were made for you without you even being born.
-I wish with this story we’d learnt more about Fantasy and why she chose to do what she did, more about the abuse and what she planned or did after. It annoyed me that she had thrown the letter away because she would never commit a ‘crime’.
-I also wanted to know more about Jennys dad and how that situation came about when the big reveal happened.

Casualties Of Art: ⭐️⭐️
-David wins a place in a writing retreat and when he gets there while the other writers out on the second day he bumps into Sophia, he shortly learns that Sophia is Carters wife and is a painter. David decides he’s never met someone like her and starts to fall in love with her despite Sophia not giving him any strong indication that she feels the same, until one night they all go swimming in the lake and on the way back to his cabin she pulls him into the woods and kisses him. David continues to be obsessed and decides that Sophia is better off with him rather than Carter and tries to explain this to her, she in turn is cold and dismisses him telling him he’s like a child having a tantrum. When they have a short Christmas break and return just before the New Year, Sophia does not return, applaud and shocked David has to figure out what he’s going to do, is he going to go look for her or is he going to let her be?
-David just needs to calm down, he is not only obsessed with Sophia but he’s also low key obsessed with himself believing he’s the muse to his ex, to Sophia and in a way to Lauren. I think he should have focused more on his writing then following around a married woman.
-Sophia was a complex but annoying character David was right when he said she was evasive getting any kind of answer out of her seemed impossible and I felt like I didn’t learn a lot about her and I still didn’t like her, she seemed like the kind of person to do something out of spite, stringing David along because she enjoyed it, being cold to him until she realised that Lauren was also into him, then she was back on him like a mosquito wanting their blood fix.
-Perhaps having sex in a maze and in a van near a waterfall is the best it will ever get for David and so he was excited and not willing to give that up, even if the women he was doing this with was married, she was brining spice to his mundane and bland life. David showed his true self when out with his friends and described the sex he had with Lauren and laughed at it, exactly how Sophia said he is childish.

Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
-These short stories are definitely packed in and brought different emotions out of me that I did not expect, the anger I felt during Happy Endings even I am shocked about.
-The short stories cover a wide range of relevant and import topics, body image (especially in young girls), the use of technology, immigration and relationships / love. Short but powerful.
-And I guess if you do want to find yourself perhaps try a Paris supermarket yogurt isle and see where life takes you.