Status Updates From The Sorrows of Others

julia is an intimate piece about female friendships, closure, and what it means to grow into adulthood.

i loved how zhang took us through space and time, weaving julia from her past in texas into her present in new york; how her homage to her first NY apartment took us elegantly through the flowering and eventual breakdown of her friendship with julia, in perfect synchrony

not a single word in this story is wasted.

liking zhang’s writing more!

propriety is easily one of my favorite short stories. loved the sensory details of everyday objects. many sentences worth savoring. the ending!!!

silence is a tale of how, well, silence is passed down through generations. not sure if i like the restraint that seems to come every story set in china, but i love stories that decode information between the lines of a conversation.

finished the first 2 stories.

ada zhang is a lot easier to read than duras. but i found there to be less to savor from her words - perhaps it’s because she depicts emotions very literally. one of the greatest joys for me in reading is actively filling in the gaps, and i find less room to do that in zhang’s writing.

Predictable

Who even are these stories for…

Too contemporary. Getting pissed

Customary WMAF story

“I knew she wanted something more precise, something quantitative, but I had learned from her how to withhold, the silent authority that came from keeping always a part of yourself, no matter how small, back.”