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Gods of Want: Stories
Startling stories that center the bodies, memories, myths, and relationships of Asian American women, from the National Book Award “5 Under 35” honoree and author of Bestiary
In “Auntland,” a steady stream of aunts adjust to American life by sneaking surreptitious kisses from women at temple, buying tubs of vanilla ice cream to prepare for citizenship tests, and hatching plans to name their daughter “Dog.” In “The Chorus of Dead Cousins,” ghost-cousins cross space, seas, and skies to haunt their live-cousin, wife to a storm-chaser. In “Xífù,” a mother-in-law tortures a wife in increasingly unsuccessful attempts to rid the house of her. In “Mariela,” two girls explore one another’s bodies for the first time in the belly of a plastic shark while in “Virginia Slims,” a woman from a cigarette ad comes to life. And in “Resident Aliens,” a former slaughterhouse serves as a residence to a series of widows, each harboring her own calamitous secrets.
With each tale, K-Ming Chang gives us her own take on a surrealism that mixes myth and migration, corporeality and ghostliness, queerness and the quotidian. Stunningly told in her feminist fabulist style, these are uncanny stories peeling back greater questions of power and memory.
In “Auntland,” a steady stream of aunts adjust to American life by sneaking surreptitious kisses from women at temple, buying tubs of vanilla ice cream to prepare for citizenship tests, and hatching plans to name their daughter “Dog.” In “The Chorus of Dead Cousins,” ghost-cousins cross space, seas, and skies to haunt their live-cousin, wife to a storm-chaser. In “Xífù,” a mother-in-law tortures a wife in increasingly unsuccessful attempts to rid the house of her. In “Mariela,” two girls explore one another’s bodies for the first time in the belly of a plastic shark while in “Virginia Slims,” a woman from a cigarette ad comes to life. And in “Resident Aliens,” a former slaughterhouse serves as a residence to a series of widows, each harboring her own calamitous secrets.
With each tale, K-Ming Chang gives us her own take on a surrealism that mixes myth and migration, corporeality and ghostliness, queerness and the quotidian. Stunningly told in her feminist fabulist style, these are uncanny stories peeling back greater questions of power and memory.
224 pages, Hardcover
First published July 12, 2022
305 people are currently reading
20555 people want to read
About the author
K-Ming Chang
12 books668 followersK-Ming Chang is a Kundiman fellow, a Lambda Literary Award finalist, and a National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 honoree. She is the author of the debut novel BESTIARY (One World/Random House, 2020), which was longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize and the PEN/Faulkner Award. Her short story collection, GODS OF WANT, is forthcoming from One World.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 429 reviews
May 3, 2025
My whole idea of short stories collection has been elevated by K-Ming Chang and that is the kind of praises I do not often tell, especially to someone who wrote my least favourite genre. I often find short stories lack the depth and substance needed in comparison to full fledge novel. That being said, K-Ming Chang turned the table by maximizing what is needed to have a complete transitory story with meaning and purpose.
Gods of Want is made up of 16 short stories that highlight the immigrant experience — forms a boundary between the old and new worlds with a concern for Chang own identity categories. In these tales, there is a compelling consideration of exodus and how frequently the reality does not produce a good ending, particularly for immigrants.
I have read a fair share of quirky Asian literature but quite simply, Chang has presented me with the best experience by fusing imagination with analytical intelligence, and situates the present in relation to historical value —offering the most profound and long-lasting representation of civilizations. I am bewildered at how much the first story has gotten me hooked and I have to say "Auntland" is one of my favourites.
Chang challenges the constraints of both realism and cultural uptake, rewriting the world as a place of radical transformation. Her predominantly East Asian-American characters and the element in their environment undergo a series of both literal and figurative transformations.
Although the eccentric structure of these alterations occasionally feels somewhat monotonous; and there are certain common themes among the stories in which they quietly recur to highlight the women's obscurity and how frequently they are quickly forgotten, even in their own communities and families but Chang's aesthetic's relentless quality is already a potent gesture. The collection as a whole is already poetic, especially when reflecting on the suffering of life for individuals confined to locations or circumstances from which they rarely have a way out.
This goes to show that short stories can be just as formidable as the heaviest novel in the hands of individuals with the ability to create entire universes in a few short pages. K-Ming Chang just got into my good graces and I definitely would not want to miss any of her works in future.
Gods of Want is made up of 16 short stories that highlight the immigrant experience — forms a boundary between the old and new worlds with a concern for Chang own identity categories. In these tales, there is a compelling consideration of exodus and how frequently the reality does not produce a good ending, particularly for immigrants.
I have read a fair share of quirky Asian literature but quite simply, Chang has presented me with the best experience by fusing imagination with analytical intelligence, and situates the present in relation to historical value —offering the most profound and long-lasting representation of civilizations. I am bewildered at how much the first story has gotten me hooked and I have to say "Auntland" is one of my favourites.
Chang challenges the constraints of both realism and cultural uptake, rewriting the world as a place of radical transformation. Her predominantly East Asian-American characters and the element in their environment undergo a series of both literal and figurative transformations.
Although the eccentric structure of these alterations occasionally feels somewhat monotonous; and there are certain common themes among the stories in which they quietly recur to highlight the women's obscurity and how frequently they are quickly forgotten, even in their own communities and families but Chang's aesthetic's relentless quality is already a potent gesture. The collection as a whole is already poetic, especially when reflecting on the suffering of life for individuals confined to locations or circumstances from which they rarely have a way out.
This goes to show that short stories can be just as formidable as the heaviest novel in the hands of individuals with the ability to create entire universes in a few short pages. K-Ming Chang just got into my good graces and I definitely would not want to miss any of her works in future.
June 10, 2023
This is a solid collection of short fiction from K-Ming Chang. Many of the stories blend surrealism and realism to facilitate a sense of disorientation. The disorientation serves in part to awaken readers to inherently problematic systems that we have oriented ourselves to in real life. This is a technique reminiscent of Ling Ma's work, although in Chang's hands there is more attention to themes of queerness and family. Some of the stories in this collection are quite excellent. I really enjoyed Nüwa and several of the entries in the second section where queer themes were explored in earnest. The stories in the first and third sections didn't grab me in the same way, but over all this is a nice sampling of Chang's work.
December 14, 2023
Kind of a mess! I missed this book and it missed me. I respect the presence of themes related to ghostliness and corporeality, myth and immigration, and family. These short stories though unfortunately felt too surreal to me, surreal to the point that there wasn’t anything tangible enough in the plot or the characterization to hold onto and savor. I picked it up for a book club I ended up not being able to attend because of food poisoning :/ (food poisoning I’ve now fully recovered from, yay)
February 1, 2022
A raccoon ran across the clogged surface of the water, a glass bottle in its jaws, god of want.
I was entranced by K-Ming Chang’s debut novel, Bestiary, and this followup book of short stories similarly highlights Chang’s unique voice and sensibility; but as I often complain about short stories in general, their brevity prevents a reader from really connecting with characters before they disappear and I find myself missing that opportunity for emotional connection. Nevertheless, I found much to like in this collection — Chang is certainly never boring — and I will happily seek out whatever the author comes up with next. (Note: I read an ARC through NetGalley and passages quoted may not be in their final forms.)
Once again, Chang writes with a provoking and distinctive style: The publisher’s blurb calls this “feminist fabulism” and her themes center around otherness (queerness, immigration, sexism) and invoke the ghosts and myths of her Taiwanese heritage. Always from a female POV, girls and women work for low pay in massage parlours, hair and nail salons, and retirement homes; as cleaners and waitresses and sushi chefs. There are recurring, disturbing images — cracked teeth, hands plunging into toilets, the trash creek, things that are “scab-colored” — but there is also, frequently, redemption found through family ties, storytelling, and romantic love. The collection is separated into three sections, each centered around a theme (“Mothers” are family-centric stories, “Myths” are the most fabulist, “Moths” are ghost stories). And while most stories start with a simple, declarative sentence (She pronounces dollar like La-La, so I say it the same. or Her name was Pussy, but the rumor was she didn’t have one.), they often end on a poetic note: The widows never woke: They hung there in the dark, molting into wind, playing their bones like flutes. or: Melon fled the bed, opening every window for the smoke to migrate out and calcify in the sky, slender and white as a bone plucked alive from the hole of night. As with any collection, some stories suited my own tastes better than others, but I found this to be very strong overall and have no problem giving four stars. The stories:
Mothers
I had an aunt whose baby died in its sleep so soundlessly, she didn’t believe in its death. She dressed it, rocked it, petted its head, not letting us take the body away, until one night we tricked her, replacing the baby with a Costco frozen baked potato. She mothered the potato instead, wrapped it in a blanket, pretended it was safe in the custody of her touch. I had an aunt who died in a drunk-driving accident, in a sober-driving accident, in a suicide, in a typhoon, in the middle of the day while blow-drying her hair, in the evening while opening a window, in the morning while hiking to the family grave, in an attempt to get away from her husband, in an attempt to get away from her father, in an attempt to leave the country, in an attempt to get into another one, in an attempt to get her nose done, in an attempt to love a son, in an attempt to outrun a river, in an attempt to reincarnate as rain. ~Auntland
By turns satirical and serious, there are countless aunties and many ways for them to be, and to die.
My mother always used to joke: In this family, it’s one in the ground and a dozen more dangling from the trees, waiting to be plucked. It’s one buried and a hundred more begging to be born. ~The Chorus of Dead Cousins
A newlywed couple is haunted, not unwelcomely, by the dead cousins belonging to one of them
She’s one of those peasant women who’s so short she looks like a pack animal from afar, a body built to carry things. I’m a better mother to her son than she is. That’s what marriage is, motherhood, except the man doesn’t do you the courtesy of growing up. ~Xífù
A woman tells of the six times her mother-in-law has tried to kill herself in order to make her look like a bad daughter-in-law. Sounds funny until it’s not.
Fire is a form of memory, she says: Smoke is what survives after loss, what is inhaled by the sky and recycled into night. ~Mandarin Speakers
An immigrant mother and daughter are balanced between the desire to survive in America and live towards the presumed reality of a Mandarin-dominated future. Again, funny til it’s not.
She always said if our home was broken into, we should platter ourselves and play dead, foam a bit at the mouth. The way to win, she told us, is to live. ~Anchor
Not much funny in this story that shows the effects of militarism on Taiwanese children; karmic debts are the hardest to pay.
In the city where she grew up, they killed trees every few years, so that the roots didn’t grow too deep and puncture straight through the bottom of the island. The palms burned for days, and the air was so opaque you couldn’t see your own mother if you were nursing from her breast. ~The La-La Store
Short and sweet slice-of-life story.
Myths
Sometimes with a death there’s a delayed reaction, like sometimes it takes a long time for the blood to come back once it’s been cut loose. It doesn’t want to come back, to be bricked inside a body, to be shown a shape. It wants to snake away and breed with other red things. ~Nüwa
Dark and fable-like; the world is a dangerous place for girls.
All you have to do, she said, is eat me. Then you can throw me up somewhere backstage, after. ~Eating Pussy
Strange allegory about desire (this story also includes the title quote).
I could see his ribs through the fabric of his wifebeater, his chest rattling, his skin pimpled like something plucked. Hornets were buried inside his bones, and if you shook him at night, he woke up in the morning with a mouth full of wings. ~Nine-Headed Birds
Fabulous tale of a Taiwanese man who abandoned his wife back home, from the POV of his granddaughter.
Mrs. Tai called me a dyke sometimes, and I told her that was right. Born to withhold water, want. ~Dykes
In waves of mounting magical realism, a deluge follows when the dam against want is breached.
a vase of red-dyed peanuts you eat alone in the dark the nuts new as your teeth your grandmother said never eat alone or your mouth’s first language will be loneliness when she stopped eating you knew she was going to become a language when the body no longer needs itself to live it leaves it trees it grows into alone ~Episodes of Hoarders
A girl unpacks a hoarding of ephemera as she says goodbye to her grandmother.
I was another of her months, a chronological want, nothing like love. ~Homophone
A girl named “Mei” (homophone for “May”) would rather not just be a fling for someone going through the names in a calendar.
Moths
My mother once told me that every moth is the soul of someone lost and that’s why you’re not supposed to kill them. That’s why there are so many. ~Resident Aliens
The stories of twenty-six widows who rent rooms in the basement of a former meat plant, and their ultimate transformation.
He would die where he was born and live in one body his whole life. He would never become a ghost in a story. A ghost had no body to come back to. ~Virginia Slims
A girl imagines that her dead aunt has returned as the model in a Virginia Slims ad.
I tested how long I could go without speaking, how well I could thread silence down my own throat, but it ended as soon as my mother said my name. ~Mariela
A mother shuts down after the death of her small son, leaving her daughter confused and bitter.
Mama never thought of her voice as something to use, to wield: She thought of it as a guest, something that was housed in her, a ghost flown into her belly. It was a haunting she welcomed, the way her voice felt both foreign-born and native to her body. ~Meals for Mourners
More ghosts and moths in this story of a girl with six older brothers (oh why did her mother feel the need to ruin her “winning streak”, have a girl, and cause the death of her grandmother by heartbreak?)
June 29, 2024
K-Ming Chang is a writer who is all about the writing in my view. The substance of these short stories isn't necessarily original, however important and relatable: family, the views of immigrants caught in a halfway house between Taiwan and America, both geographically and culturally. But her mode of telling these tales is utterly beguiling.
Like her Cecilia, this is a collection that makes a virtue of the dark and the strange but I'd say Chang's ability to collapse ideas, imagery and syntax isn't quite as sophisticated here as it is in her latest novel. We can see the category flux that Cecilia capitalises on later already in play but in a minor key.
This is still writing which I find hugely impressive in aesthetic and artistic terms and there are some standout stories here such as 'Anchor', but there are also some slighter pieces that feel like works in progress where we can see the workings. But if you're the kind of reader who thrills to writing that deals more in the surreal and symbolic in order to articulate a kind of hyper-reality that is also sub-conscious (see how contradictory that all is? kudos to Chang for making it work so brilliantly) then Chang is definitely worth trying: she creates a literary space where a train, a snake, a trail of blood and a kind of bloodline all collapse into each other; where a nine-headed predatory bird becomes a fabulist stand-in for family; and where a boat, an anchor and a single bed defines a cousinhood, all the more potent for its links to the island of Taiwan.
Utterly arresting writing and an artistic way of thinking that makes myth contemporary and illuminating.
Like her Cecilia, this is a collection that makes a virtue of the dark and the strange but I'd say Chang's ability to collapse ideas, imagery and syntax isn't quite as sophisticated here as it is in her latest novel. We can see the category flux that Cecilia capitalises on later already in play but in a minor key.
This is still writing which I find hugely impressive in aesthetic and artistic terms and there are some standout stories here such as 'Anchor', but there are also some slighter pieces that feel like works in progress where we can see the workings. But if you're the kind of reader who thrills to writing that deals more in the surreal and symbolic in order to articulate a kind of hyper-reality that is also sub-conscious (see how contradictory that all is? kudos to Chang for making it work so brilliantly) then Chang is definitely worth trying: she creates a literary space where a train, a snake, a trail of blood and a kind of bloodline all collapse into each other; where a nine-headed predatory bird becomes a fabulist stand-in for family; and where a boat, an anchor and a single bed defines a cousinhood, all the more potent for its links to the island of Taiwan.
Utterly arresting writing and an artistic way of thinking that makes myth contemporary and illuminating.
June 26, 2022
i will give an easy five stars to this book i have read only in part because what i read is gorgeous and also full of heart. the problem is, right now, with the world burning, my brain, my mind, this entity that is entirely mine, needs fiction that is not surrealistic. i have done my share of surrealistic, but i can't do it now. if you like surrealist art, i don't think you can do better than this.
September 18, 2022
I admired but didn't always love this collection of short fiction, including flash fiction as well as more traditional length short stories. K-Ming Chang's writing is so unique, full of strange and beautiful images and ideas, which the book focuses on more than character or plot. Her style feels more akin to poetry than fiction, especially the flash fiction which was my favourite. The stories are surreal, dark, sexy, queer, deeply weird.
February 4, 2024
Przeszywająca, niekonwencjonalna, momentami aż wzbudzająca obrzydzenie i wielki szok - inaczej mówiąc moja nowa miłość.
August 1, 2023
one of the best stories collection i've ever read — it's been more than a year since i read it and i still think about it daily (rare for me). chang is an inspiration
September 29, 2022
Chang’s prose is stunning. Every word feels like the perfect choice. The stories in this collection were at times a bit unfocused for me, but I can see the surrealist style and queer characters appealing to readers of Our Wives Under the Sea.
Thank you to the publisher for providing a copy of the book!
Thank you to the publisher for providing a copy of the book!
June 13, 2023
An astounding and completely unique short story collection.
I'm not even kidding, there were several times while I was reading this book where I felt like I wanted to burst into tears and throw up at the same time. But somehow in a good way?
K-Ming Chang fucks with language in strange and brilliant ways. I was completely mesmerized in story after story. It was one of those reads that made me draw it out to fully revel in the impact of each and every word chosen by the author.
Some stories in this book were so emotionally revolting while simultaneously cathartic to read, that I felt like my body was dissolving into the floor beneath me.
I genuinely think K-Ming Chang is one of the most creative and talented writers I know of right now. I love the way she writes about queerness. I love the way she writes about the body. I love the way she writes about friendship and distance and curiosity and the destructiveness of loss and being haunted.
Absolutely this book will not be for everyone, but personally, I am dropping everything to read all of K-Ming Chang's writing because this book sent shockwaves through my whole body.
5 big stars!
I'm not even kidding, there were several times while I was reading this book where I felt like I wanted to burst into tears and throw up at the same time. But somehow in a good way?
K-Ming Chang fucks with language in strange and brilliant ways. I was completely mesmerized in story after story. It was one of those reads that made me draw it out to fully revel in the impact of each and every word chosen by the author.
Some stories in this book were so emotionally revolting while simultaneously cathartic to read, that I felt like my body was dissolving into the floor beneath me.
I genuinely think K-Ming Chang is one of the most creative and talented writers I know of right now. I love the way she writes about queerness. I love the way she writes about the body. I love the way she writes about friendship and distance and curiosity and the destructiveness of loss and being haunted.
Absolutely this book will not be for everyone, but personally, I am dropping everything to read all of K-Ming Chang's writing because this book sent shockwaves through my whole body.
5 big stars!
July 16, 2022
I want to like this, I really do. But it is just not my cup of tea. It meanders and just does not focus for me. I never have time to connect to any of the characters. I find myself scanning forward and feeling guilty, then starting again only to get lost along the way. Just never felt immersed in any of the stories.
The only one I kinda of liked was Nuwa. It did not seem to meander as much with extra words and delved into the story it was trying to tell. Anchor was decent, I liked what it was trying to tell but I don't feel like it had enough time to get there.
I actually won this one in one of the giveaways.
The only one I kinda of liked was Nuwa. It did not seem to meander as much with extra words and delved into the story it was trying to tell. Anchor was decent, I liked what it was trying to tell but I don't feel like it had enough time to get there.
I actually won this one in one of the giveaways.
June 22, 2022
This is a stunning book. I picked it up hoping for more of the gorgeous prose and delirious strangeness I found in BESTIARY, and it does not disappoint. But because it’s a story collection and not a novel, I didn’t find it disorienting in the same way. I appreciate some short stories for the way they read like small novels. But the stories in GODS OF WANT are not novel-like at all. They are eerie, beautiful gems; delicious prose poems unconcerned with plot; dazzling strings of words whose innate music is reason enough to read them. I never wanted this book to end. Every story sings. The way Chang uses language is so lush. It’s everything I love about the best poetry: strange conjunctions, metaphors that don’t make logical sense but feel true, verbs doing all the heavy lifting, startling images that send sentences into chaotic disarray.
This book is very queer and full of rage and desire and loss. The characters are all queer Asian American women, mostly Taiwanese immigrants and their children. It’s about the shapes women fold themselves into, are folded into. It’s about hungry ghosts and the power of names, about food and childhood and diaspora and bodies and everything that haunts: memory, war, exes, unborn children, story. But all of that feels secondary to the language itself. Who cares what this book is about. It is music I wanted to bathe myself in forever. Chang’s writing has a specific but mysterious quality that makes it both sacred and playful. At times it seems like she is writing simply to delight in what words can do. It is joyful and prickly. I don’t know how to explain it except to say that these stories feel thick, substantive, like little snacks with claws that bite you when you eat them.
Read the rest of my review here: https://booksandbakes.substack.com/p/...
This book is very queer and full of rage and desire and loss. The characters are all queer Asian American women, mostly Taiwanese immigrants and their children. It’s about the shapes women fold themselves into, are folded into. It’s about hungry ghosts and the power of names, about food and childhood and diaspora and bodies and everything that haunts: memory, war, exes, unborn children, story. But all of that feels secondary to the language itself. Who cares what this book is about. It is music I wanted to bathe myself in forever. Chang’s writing has a specific but mysterious quality that makes it both sacred and playful. At times it seems like she is writing simply to delight in what words can do. It is joyful and prickly. I don’t know how to explain it except to say that these stories feel thick, substantive, like little snacks with claws that bite you when you eat them.
Read the rest of my review here: https://booksandbakes.substack.com/p/...
August 25, 2022
This poet centers Asian American women in prose, presenting stories which have been described as "Feminist Fabulist Surrealism."
As with her novel Beastiary, the reader should brace for some discomfort. Life can be messy, and that's reflected in the metaphors the author chooses. At times, it's a near body horror level of viscera. The emotions referenced are raw, real, and sharp, and K-Ming Chang doesn't slow down to keep from crashing into any of those feelings.
This is the most fearless representation of cultural and gender identity, and the queer Asian American experience that I've ever seen.
As with her novel Beastiary, the reader should brace for some discomfort. Life can be messy, and that's reflected in the metaphors the author chooses. At times, it's a near body horror level of viscera. The emotions referenced are raw, real, and sharp, and K-Ming Chang doesn't slow down to keep from crashing into any of those feelings.
This is the most fearless representation of cultural and gender identity, and the queer Asian American experience that I've ever seen.
August 5, 2022
every k-ming chang book feels like a punch to a gut but you're not sure if that's because you just laughed too hard at something two lines ago or because the ending to the current story is so devastating you want to rewind three pages
December 6, 2023
3.5/5
- utterly gorgeously bizarre.
- a surrealist writing style that blurs the line between prose and verse.
- strange, disorienting yet earnest exploration of taiwanese diaspora and lesbian yearning.
the stories that stood out to me: auntland, the chorus of dead cousins, mandarin speakers, anchor, homophone.
- utterly gorgeously bizarre.
- a surrealist writing style that blurs the line between prose and verse.
- strange, disorienting yet earnest exploration of taiwanese diaspora and lesbian yearning.
the stories that stood out to me: auntland, the chorus of dead cousins, mandarin speakers, anchor, homophone.
October 16, 2022
3.5
Chang, has a very lyrical way of writing and a frankness toward bodily imagery which can be both captivating and a little off putting. Overall I enjoyed reading Gods of Want, however at times I thought many of the stories were more surreal and convoluted than I prefer. As with any short story anthology, there were stories I enjoyed more than others. Gods of Want was an interesting read to say the least. I'm glad I experianced it.
Chang, has a very lyrical way of writing and a frankness toward bodily imagery which can be both captivating and a little off putting. Overall I enjoyed reading Gods of Want, however at times I thought many of the stories were more surreal and convoluted than I prefer. As with any short story anthology, there were stories I enjoyed more than others. Gods of Want was an interesting read to say the least. I'm glad I experianced it.
September 8, 2022
Absolutely beautiful but also grotesque in a fascinating and life-altering way
October 25, 2024
I barely give any book a 1-star review because I always try to find something that is compelling or something that maybe catches my attention that I find interesting. I also tend to feel bad for the author because I know how difficult writing can be, and I know that people really enjoy this book. And I won't lie; I think there was maybe one or two stories that I found mediocrily entertaining. I don't remember much of those stories in general, meaning it didn't leave a lasting impression for me.
Most of the writing in this book is meant to be surrealist and charming, fantastical, blending imagination and mythology with reality to create a devastating story about wants, desires (mental, physical, and whatever more) and the Taiwanese-American queer experience. Some of the one-liners in this book are very well-written and actually quite poetic. And on paper, this book should've been a massive hit, because I love stories like that.
But most of it felt like a jarring and confusing experience to me. The stories felt repetitive, trying to accomplish the same thing but with different words, and I felt the writer tried to relate the stories by using similar themes and vocabulary to connect them. This made the reading experience rather monotonous, and at most times frustrating. Half of the stories can be scrapped for my part, and be replaced with different stories that have something new to explore.
I also felt the writer used the same formula while writing, always referring to the legacy of a character or something that "once happened to them". This constant back-tracking made the stories confusing to understand. Where are we right now? What are we doing? This writer is strongest when the plot describes different characters, like "Chorus of Dead Cousins", or "Resident Aliens", but stories where we follow one character tend to be confusing and lackluster for me.
Most times, the stories relied on shock-factor relating to something gore-y or sexual. I am not a fan of those writing approaches. If your readers need to be shocked to bring in something sad, frustrating or devastating, it loses its value over time.
About halfway through "Mariela", when they mentioned teeth being pulled, though, I decided to skip the story altogether, because I absolutely hate teeth-related gore. For me, that was the nail in the coffin, but I skipped to the next story and continue onwards.
My expectations were completely different, unfortunately not in a positive way. I expected something closer to Vuong's work (who I absolutely adore). I can understand why people do like this writing, though, but to me it was too confusing and trying very hard to be something.
Most of the writing in this book is meant to be surrealist and charming, fantastical, blending imagination and mythology with reality to create a devastating story about wants, desires (mental, physical, and whatever more) and the Taiwanese-American queer experience. Some of the one-liners in this book are very well-written and actually quite poetic. And on paper, this book should've been a massive hit, because I love stories like that.
But most of it felt like a jarring and confusing experience to me. The stories felt repetitive, trying to accomplish the same thing but with different words, and I felt the writer tried to relate the stories by using similar themes and vocabulary to connect them. This made the reading experience rather monotonous, and at most times frustrating. Half of the stories can be scrapped for my part, and be replaced with different stories that have something new to explore.
I also felt the writer used the same formula while writing, always referring to the legacy of a character or something that "once happened to them". This constant back-tracking made the stories confusing to understand. Where are we right now? What are we doing? This writer is strongest when the plot describes different characters, like "Chorus of Dead Cousins", or "Resident Aliens", but stories where we follow one character tend to be confusing and lackluster for me.
Most times, the stories relied on shock-factor relating to something gore-y or sexual. I am not a fan of those writing approaches. If your readers need to be shocked to bring in something sad, frustrating or devastating, it loses its value over time.
About halfway through "Mariela", when they mentioned teeth being pulled, though, I decided to skip the story altogether, because I absolutely hate teeth-related gore. For me, that was the nail in the coffin, but I skipped to the next story and continue onwards.
My expectations were completely different, unfortunately not in a positive way. I expected something closer to Vuong's work (who I absolutely adore). I can understand why people do like this writing, though, but to me it was too confusing and trying very hard to be something.
July 23, 2023
[3.5/5 stars]
Blending diasporic experience with senseless destruction, the characters are anchored by the weight of the ancestors and sense of belonging. When cultural demands are feared and desired, Chang plays with both fearless and naïve state in an attempt to bring out the struggle between assimilation and roots.
Each tale bursts with language and images, detailed by visceral descriptions that might not be for everyone. Death, body parts.. the stories escalate towards devastation, populated by violence which discretion results in even more impactful reactions. There are ghostliness, queerness and a great dose of Chang-type-of-surrealism, highlighted by the feminist style and energetic pacing.
In "Auntland", one follows all the weirdness about aunties' lives. In "Mandarin speakers", the story centers around language and the act of hoarding, in contrast to not being wasteful. In "Episodes of hoarders", just like scenes from our lives, things, more than often, don't make sense - Chang's creativity explores the boundlessness, however it can seem challenging to read.
Highly imaginative, wild and uncanny, many sections of this collection went over my head. GODS OF WANT is a collection of stories centered on memories, bodies, myths and relationships (mostly) of Asian American women. I would recommend reading this collection without a clear line of thought.
[ I received a complimentary copy from the publisher - One World books . All opinions are my own ]
Blending diasporic experience with senseless destruction, the characters are anchored by the weight of the ancestors and sense of belonging. When cultural demands are feared and desired, Chang plays with both fearless and naïve state in an attempt to bring out the struggle between assimilation and roots.
Each tale bursts with language and images, detailed by visceral descriptions that might not be for everyone. Death, body parts.. the stories escalate towards devastation, populated by violence which discretion results in even more impactful reactions. There are ghostliness, queerness and a great dose of Chang-type-of-surrealism, highlighted by the feminist style and energetic pacing.
In "Auntland", one follows all the weirdness about aunties' lives. In "Mandarin speakers", the story centers around language and the act of hoarding, in contrast to not being wasteful. In "Episodes of hoarders", just like scenes from our lives, things, more than often, don't make sense - Chang's creativity explores the boundlessness, however it can seem challenging to read.
Highly imaginative, wild and uncanny, many sections of this collection went over my head. GODS OF WANT is a collection of stories centered on memories, bodies, myths and relationships (mostly) of Asian American women. I would recommend reading this collection without a clear line of thought.
[ I received a complimentary copy from the publisher - One World books . All opinions are my own ]
May 6, 2022
K-Ming Chang’s prose is gorgeous and haunting in this short story collection. Visceral yet serene, there’s a fluidity to these stories that’s echoed in both the water motifs and in the blurred lines between corporeal and spiritual. The book is divided into three sections: Mothers, Myths, and Moths, and the interplay between these sections is beautifully woven throughout. “Auntland” is a strong opening, and establishes early on the significance of cultural and familial ties in the collection. However, it was “The Chorus of Dead Cousins” that thoroughly drew me in — it’s dark and surreal, yet tender and even funny, which is a winning combo for me. “The La-La Store” was also a particularly poignant family portrait, and a story I immediately earmarked for teaching. As a mythology nerd, I loved every story in the “Myths” section, with the surreal, dystopian nature of “Dykes” as a stand-out for me. The collection comes full circle in the final segment, beautifully weaving together the relationships between not only the characters in the stories, but between the ideas and images carried throughout the work.
For me, this was reminiscent in tone and style of several of my favorite short story collections from the past few years, such as Carmen Maria Machado’s The Body and Other Parties, Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah’s Friday Black, and Mariana Enriquez’s Things We Lost in the Fire; if you enjoyed any of those works, you will also appreciate this collection.
For me, this was reminiscent in tone and style of several of my favorite short story collections from the past few years, such as Carmen Maria Machado’s The Body and Other Parties, Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah’s Friday Black, and Mariana Enriquez’s Things We Lost in the Fire; if you enjoyed any of those works, you will also appreciate this collection.
December 2, 2022
“The eighth widow offered my mother one of her sons if she allowed the rest of them to stay, but my mother said, I have a son already, it’s just that my son is my daughter.” (from RESIDENT ALIENS)
K-Ming Chang is such an extraordinary storyteller; love how she was able to bring me to laughter and tears in the same sentence many times over, and how she invents mundane mythos to convey all of these heart-aching tales of mothers, daughters, and ghosts.
One of my fave books this year for sure!
K-Ming Chang is such an extraordinary storyteller; love how she was able to bring me to laughter and tears in the same sentence many times over, and how she invents mundane mythos to convey all of these heart-aching tales of mothers, daughters, and ghosts.
One of my fave books this year for sure!
Read
March 23, 2023Propulsive. Couldn’t stop listening to these stories. Excellent use of lists as a literary conceit in the Auntland story. Full of so much queer yearning and desire, this is a sparkling and sharp gem.
November 19, 2023
ich kann nicht schon wieder eine review mit screaming crying throwing up anfangen, aber leider habe ich keine andere wahl?? das buch ist einfach viel zu gut
die auswahl an texten: amazing, die aufteilung in die drei teile mothers, myths, moths: grandios,
die symbole: herausragend, der schreibstil: lyrisch-grotesk
ich kann nicht aufhören über episodes of hoarders nachzudenken, ich kann nicht glauben, dass K-Ming Chang eines morgens aufgestanden ist, diese geschichte in form eines palimpsestes geschrieben hat und die welt sich einfach weitergedreht hat?? wir hätten da eigentlich kurz anhalten müssen
Das hier ist definitiv etwas für die girlies (genderneutral), die gerne analysieren; der text zwingt einen dazu die metaphern zu interpretieren (shoutout an richard shusterman), sie lassen sich nur selten sofort verstehen und manchmal ist das, was vorliegt, keine metapher, sondern ein genreelement und das macht alles eigentlich noch besser und herausragender
die auswahl an texten: amazing, die aufteilung in die drei teile mothers, myths, moths: grandios,
die symbole: herausragend, der schreibstil: lyrisch-grotesk
ich kann nicht aufhören über episodes of hoarders nachzudenken, ich kann nicht glauben, dass K-Ming Chang eines morgens aufgestanden ist, diese geschichte in form eines palimpsestes geschrieben hat und die welt sich einfach weitergedreht hat?? wir hätten da eigentlich kurz anhalten müssen
Das hier ist definitiv etwas für die girlies (genderneutral), die gerne analysieren; der text zwingt einen dazu die metaphern zu interpretieren (shoutout an richard shusterman), sie lassen sich nur selten sofort verstehen und manchmal ist das, was vorliegt, keine metapher, sondern ein genreelement und das macht alles eigentlich noch besser und herausragender
November 1, 2022
Some really great stories, some stories I already forgot about while listening to them.
It might have been better had I read it on paper instead of doing the audiobook, because I might have missed some connections this way and couldn’t turn back the pages to make sure.
Overall, not a bad collection at all, but many stories just weren’t for me. This is weird fiction (which I usually like), so maybe not for everyone. But if you want to read some great queer fiction from an Asian American POV you should give this one a try.
It might have been better had I read it on paper instead of doing the audiobook, because I might have missed some connections this way and couldn’t turn back the pages to make sure.
Overall, not a bad collection at all, but many stories just weren’t for me. This is weird fiction (which I usually like), so maybe not for everyone. But if you want to read some great queer fiction from an Asian American POV you should give this one a try.
June 14, 2024
There are a few gems in this collection of short stories, but overall I felt disconnected from them. I found the prose to lack a sense of mysticism that in my opinion could have elevated the writing.
I personally enjoyed the physical and "raw" language of some of the stories that better demonstrated pain, attraction, and obsession. I simply wish some of the stories were more captivating from a plot or character POV.
I also think it may have been my fault because I went in expecting something much weirder, and these stories were definitely much more personal.
TW:
I personally enjoyed the physical and "raw" language of some of the stories that better demonstrated pain, attraction, and obsession. I simply wish some of the stories were more captivating from a plot or character POV.
I also think it may have been my fault because I went in expecting something much weirder, and these stories were definitely much more personal.
TW:
September 30, 2024
Gods of Want was challenging, deep, and dark. As a short story collection, every single one was beautifully written. Some left me uncomfortable, some left me with questions, others left me deeply unsettled. They're all very surreal.
I really enjoyed this. It pushed me out of my comfort zone in the best way.
For more reviews and book recommendations, check out my YouTube channel
I really enjoyed this. It pushed me out of my comfort zone in the best way.
For more reviews and book recommendations, check out my YouTube channel
August 2, 2022
Rep: Taiwanese cast, lesbian mcs
CWs: gore
Galley provided by publisher
Gods of Want is an odd one. I knew I’d like it, because I loved Bestiary, but I think something about K-Ming Chang’s short fiction didn’t work for me in the same way. And it’s something I can’t quite put my finger on, so this is about to be a very short review. It’s entirely possible it was just down to my mood reading it. I seem to be in some kind of slump where nothing really gets above a three star rating for me, which I think is me rather than the books (although who can say). Basically, I’m just going to chalk this rating up to “it’s not you it’s me”. Anyone who liked K-Ming Chang’s other works will probably like this just as much. Maybe if I’d have picked it up at a different time, I would have too.
CWs: gore
Galley provided by publisher
Gods of Want is an odd one. I knew I’d like it, because I loved Bestiary, but I think something about K-Ming Chang’s short fiction didn’t work for me in the same way. And it’s something I can’t quite put my finger on, so this is about to be a very short review. It’s entirely possible it was just down to my mood reading it. I seem to be in some kind of slump where nothing really gets above a three star rating for me, which I think is me rather than the books (although who can say). Basically, I’m just going to chalk this rating up to “it’s not you it’s me”. Anyone who liked K-Ming Chang’s other works will probably like this just as much. Maybe if I’d have picked it up at a different time, I would have too.
January 15, 2024
incredible. chang is easily one of my favorite contemporary authors; she has such a talent for weaving old and new stories together, creating a masterful exploration of young queerness, family, grief and trauma, transformation, inheritance, assimilation… i could go on, but it is past one am. just know that i loved it and will be revisiting.
March 7, 2024
aaah ma zo mooi?? talig talentje fr
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thanks 2🅱️irlo once again 4the great rec (🐸)
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thanks 2🅱️irlo once again 4the great rec (🐸)
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