4/5 stars
What's it about? In this debut collection of short stories, Yoon Choi delves into the joys, disappointments, and secrets within relationships. Each of the eight stories is a tender and intimate portrait of family, the Korean diaspora, and the American experience.
How’d I find it? I obtained this copy from Politics & Prose, a happy purchase with a gift card. Is there any better gift card than a bookstore gift card?
Who will enjoy this book? Literary short story lovers (think The Best American Short Stories) and readers who enjoy Jhumpa Lahiri, Alice Munro, and Karen Tei Yamashita's Sansei and Sensibility
What stood out? Choi's writing is elegantly restrained, clever, and absorbing. You will root for her characters and wish you had more time with them as each story comes to a (sometimes abrupt) close. I found myself enveloped by Skinship's microcosms. "A Map of the Simplified World" and "The Loved Ones" were particular bright points. As a nurse, I chuckled at how perfectly Geneva, the hospice nurse in "The Loved Ones," was written. Of course she has two tuna sandwiches. Of course.
Which line made me feel something? From "Solo Works for Piano" (which reminded me of Kazuo Ishiguro's Nocturnes), when Albert is questioned about his happiness: "She demanded evidence. What evidence? Here is his life. It wakes in the morning and sleeps in the night. It has its routines: the appointments it keeps, the paths it travels. It has meaning, whether or not that meaning can be articulated. It does. It has."