This breezy collection of short stories would be great for a situation where you want to read something substantial, but aren't interested in fancy language. Written with his trademark simple style, Jin's short stories explore aspects of the Chinese-American experience in Flushing. My favorites were "Children As Enemies" and "Shame," but almost all of them were very good. I didn't care for the opening story ("The Bane of the Internet"); it felt incomplete and too short, and like the themes hadn't been fleshed out enough. Overall, this is a solid collection, but the short story enthusiast might feel there is something lacking. I like a very tight, uncluttered short story with no words wasted, and some of these felt too long for what they were. These stories of Chinese Americans and Chinese immigrants in America are set in the new "Chinatown" in Flushing in New York City. Unlike the collection of stories of Bengali immigrants in Unaccustomed Earth: Stories (Vintage Contemporaries), who are all upper-class and westernized even before they came to the United States, the folks in this collection represent a range of classes and circumstances from waitress to college professor. Some are Christian, some are Buddhist.In many of the stories we see a true clash between Chinese holding on to traditional values and their Americanized or American-born kin. In one story a woman's sister, still in China, cons her American waitress sister into money for a car. In another story a man gets more than he bargained for when he hires a detective to spy on his wife. An American Chinese man gets a visit from a vicious traditional mother-in-law. A student pursues a widow whose teenage daughter controls her life. A Buddhist monk fails at suicide and becomes a celebrity. (The title of the collection.) Chinese grandparents move to America and find that their relationship with their American-born grandchildren is one of mutual disgust. An immigrant professor is on the run from mainland Chinese "thought police." These are great stories that show the common humanity of all people, Chinese and American.
What do You think about A Good Fall (2009)?
The stories were too much the same. I didn't finish the book.
—Justlove
Lots of short stories.Some just end abruptly.
—Bethpritt
