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There’s a kernel of gold in the story but it’s unpolished. The POV is teenager first person but reads like a fourth grader’s diary entries.

The only thing that keeps me reading is an interest in learning more about Hawaiian culture and folklore.

V strong first sentence. Quite excited for this.

"When a day that you happen to know is Wednesday starts off by sounding like Sunday, there is something seriously wrong somewhere."

This book is something. The Laura chapters are certainly the strong point, seemingly straightforward but nonetheless compelling characterization. Haunting in its description of the haunting of war. It does have a trope im not fond of so not sure if I’ll keep on.

‘Tomorrow’ wasn’t my favourite (maybe cause I was sat cringing half the time) but I get it.

Wow ok. ‘Peking duck’ hits. About stories and framing and reframing. And immigrant stories and mother/daughter relationships. And. And. I’m crying. This should be mandatory reading for any writer writing, in any form, about Asian immigrant experience/characters. Especially in terms or inclusion of parent-child perspectives.

How can I say that “Returning” is about waking up to ‘what wasn’t enough’ is and ‘what once served’ is no longer and that is ok. And much of what we think we know is an illusion and release is more than a pretty word.

Ma’s writing is admirable in its pursuit of describing tangled emotions and tensions that are difficult to articulate. It’s the pause between paragraphs to understand, there is a feeling there but elusive. A call (marco) to the reader’s soul (polo). One day, be it while packing or vacuuming or driving or changing; clarity comes home. The “Returning” is my fav short story in this book so far.

Note: interesting article about the book and author. Last para has useful advice from Ma on writing

https://southsideweekly.com/blissing-...

The short story “G” is the unstabling, gets-under-your-skin story in this book so far. It’s like an ouroboros that give up to inertia or just give up. The striving apathy giving up to inevitability unique to second-gen Western Asian immigrants.

A series of short stories that are different from Severance (which I adored and took hold of me; like being sucked in a hurricane from pages first to final) but the dreamscape-like style is still there and still what makes these stories uniquely Ma’s.

The first two were like a pressurized bottle slowly being released.

Jeeves/Wooster is my favourite Wodehouse duo but Bodkin/R. Tennyson is coming up quite close behind. (And now I gotta give mention to Lord Clarence Emsworth from Blandings as one of my fav characters).

"And this is why I would submit that TB in the twenty-first century is not really caused by a bacteria that we know how to kill. TB in the twenty-first century is really caused by those social determinants of health, which at their core are about human-built systems for extracting and allocating resources. The real cause of contemporary tuberculosis is, for lack of a better term, us." (Ch23, p6)

"It reminded me that when we know about suffering, when we are proximal to it, we are capable of extraordinary generosity. We can do and be so much for each other—but only when we see one another in our full humanity, not as statistics or problems, but as people who deserve to be alive in the world." (Ch22, p17)

"“This is a human-manufactured problem that needs a human solution. If medications were a public good, the burden of disease would drive the priorities of the industry and TB treatment would be varied and plentiful.” And so we must fight not just for reform within the system but also for better systems that understand human health not primarily as a market, but primarily as a shared priority for our species."

“I know the social impact of a child sleeping in the hospital every night for over a year. I understand this anger, this lack of trust in medicine. I understand. Maybe if it was my child, I would do the same thing.”

"A child born in Sierra Leone is over one hundred times as likely to die of tuberculosis than a child born in the United States. This difference, as Dr. Joia Mukherjee writes, is “not caused by genetics, biology, or culture. Health inequities are caused by poverty, racism, lack of medical care, and other social forces.”" (Ch20, p3)

"All of this happens because of what Dr. Mitnick describes as “a failure of imagination.” “There is this continued mentality of scarcity in TB,” she explained."

'failure of imagination' - i've come across this concept expounded in different contexts (mostly in development books describing sports breakthroughs or learning to see past your self-imposed limit). But applied to public health & society, truly interesting

"Covid remains a serious public health threat in 2025, and a major driver of death and disability, but the situation is different from 2020 because of the research money poured into responding to the disease. If TB became a problem in the rich world, attention and resources would rain down upon the illness until it ceased to be a problem for the rich, powerful, and able-bodied." (Ch18, p3)

"Dr. Girum later told me, “Yes, I know, it’s just one patient. There are so many patients, and Henry is just one. Why should we move mountains to save one patient? Because he is one person. A person, you understand? And anyway, what if he can be the first of many?”" (Ch17, p8)

*cries because what else can we do for the man beside us but what God commanded to love your neighbour as yourself*

“My friend lost his life. And after he died, something told me: ‘You are next, Henry. You are next.’ ” Henry felt certain that his death was imminent. He found himself crying more, and leaving his room less. When Isatu visited with food, he wouldn’t eat it. He had no appetite—although the doctors couldn’t say whether it was due to depression or tuberculosis. To Henry, they were inseparable.

"The light that had once shone brightly in my eyes was now dimmed,” he wrote. “As the months went on, the isolation grew more profound.” (Ch16, p6)