Status Updates From Solo Dance

"They took the chance to try a variety of dishes: jipai, huge pieces of deep-fried chicken almost as large as their faces; dachang bao xiaochang, sausage meat wrapped in a glutinous rice bun"

From "Solo Dance" by Li Kotomi.

Read more on Everand: https://www.everand.com/book/545128118

Imagery I liked:"Feng Chia Night Market was over an hour by bus from their school, which meant they hardly ever went, but lured by the idea of eating street food and walking around the market stalls they decided to go. The rush-hour bus was so crammed the two of them could barely move an inch"

While the general themes - immigration, living alone from high school age - and glimpses of life in Japan as a foreigner are interesting, the writing is somtimes too melodramatic:""To keep herself safe from pain, she needed to continue to watch her step. She would have to keep on dancing alone in that complete and utter dark."

“I'm sick of hiding in my shell. It's this glass shell that has distanced me from the world, protecting me from it. If l avoid interacting with people more than I need to, then I can avoid getting hurt more than I need to as well.”
feeling #called-out