Gods of Want

Gods of Want

A New York Times Notable Book of 2022

Summary

*WINNER OF THE 2023 LAMBDA LITERARY AWARD FOR LESBIAN FICTION*

*A New York Times 100 Notable Book of 2022*

'These stories glitter and pulse' Dantiel W. Montiz


In her singular, electrifying style, K-Ming Chang peels back questions of body, power and identity, and the relationships of Asian American women, with vivid imagination.

A stream of women adjust to American life by sneaking kisses from women at temple and buying tubs of vanilla ice cream to prepare for citizenship tests. Ghost-cousins cross space, seas and skies to haunt their living cousin. Two girls explore each other's bodies for the first time in the belly of a plastic shark.

Brimming with moths and mothers, nine-headed birds and storm-chasers, these queer, fabulist tales delve viscerally into myth and memory, corporeality and ghostliness, beauty and the grotesque.

ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR in New York Times, NPR, Them and Book Riot, from the National Book Award '5 under 35' honoree and author of Bestiary.

'Wild and lyrical, visionary and touching. Read her!' Sharlene Teo

'A voracious, probing collection, proof of how exhilarating the short story can be' New York Times

'Stunning and moving... One of our most brilliant authors' Bryan Washington

Reviews

  • Alert to the ways reality can buckle and contort, Chang conjures fiction that is almost fairytale-like, mythical, unsettling - yet at the same time blisteringly alive and unapologetically queer
    Guardian

About the author

K-Ming Chang

K-Ming Chang is a Kundiman fellow, a National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 honoree and an O. Henry Prize winner. She is the author of the novel Bestiary, which was longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, and Gods of Want, which won the Lambda Literary Award.
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