Anson Tong Wrote A Review of Elaine Hsieh Chou’s “Where Are You Really From”

For the Chicago Review of Books, Anston Tong reviewed Elaine Hsieh Chou’s new book of short stories. 

Tong told Study Hall, “All are surreal, from two cousins plotting to cook their neighbor in a stew to an American girl who goes to France to find herself and literally finds her French self in the grocery store.” 

Tong writes, “The uncomfortable transformational experience of adolescence arises again and again, the ambiguous path from childhood to adulthood sometimes literal and sometimes metaphorical. Figuring out where you’re really from requires getting away from that place, examining it at a remove, both physical and temporal. Characters define themselves in opposition to parental figures, peers, partners, colleagues, clients, and rivals.” 

Tong’s writing has appeared in The Rumpus, The Millions, and The Brooklyn Rail.