PRAISE FOR LAST OF HER NAME
“A beautiful and perceptive look at the connections we make — and fail to make — with family, friends and strangers. Lok's literary debut is among the strongest of the year, thanks to her excellent writing and uncanny ability to create complex characters with the same stubborn flaws as real people.”
—MICHAEL SCHAUB, NPR
“Lok has written the kind of understated book you catch yourself thinking about weeks after you finish it. Absorbing and deeply human, these characters — who either live in China or are of the Chinese diaspora — feel more like people you might’ve known than like fictitious renderings of Lok’s imagination. A pleasure to read and mull over for days.”
—SIOBHAN JONES, New York Times
“These stories are tough, gorgeous and humane. They feel universal and also deeply specific. I loved the brash intelligence, the way this debut collection can be fun, funny and incredibly serious.”
—NATHAN DEUEL, Los Angeles Times
“[An] impressive debut. . . . Lok is an expert at peeking into the souls of those who have been displaced or disregarded. . . . this touching collection is easy to pick up and hard to put down.”
—Publishers Weekly
“What a basket of jewels! Each of these stories is elegant, poignant and multi-faceted. A true pleasure.”
— GISH JEN, author of The Resisters and Thank You, Mr. Nixon
“A truly beautiful and wide ranging collection. There is love, longing, grief, displacement, endurance. And from the gut punch of the opening story to the wonderful novella that anchors the book, not a word is wasted. So many lines spoke directly in my ear: “Night after night they sleep, but rarely at the same time. Without knowing it they take turns watching each other.” A book to stay up with, a book that will make you not want to sleep..”
— PETER ORNER, author of Still No Word From You: Notes From the Margins
"Assured and keenly observed stories about the devastations—large and small—that transpire between people. Rendered in prose that's no-nonsense, darkly funny, and lovely all at once, Lok’s stories carry quiet but undeniable impact. This is a book that stays with you long after you've put it down. It makes you wonder, as good books should, what on earth is going on in each of our brains."
— RACHEL KHONG, author of The Real Americans and Goodbye, Vitamin
“(Lok’s) stories are insightful, painfully honest and deeply unsettling — a dynamite combination in a new writer on the scene.”
—ALEXIS BURLING, San Francisco Chronicle
“Through eight provocative stories, Lok’s sharp gaze transforms disconnection and longing with compelling results.”
— TERRY HONG, Booklist Online
“Intelligent…intriguing”
— Kirkus Reviews
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ABOUT THE BOOK
LAST OF HER NAME is an eye-opening story collection about the intimate, interconnected lives of diasporic women and the histories they are born into. Set in a wide range of time periods and locales, including 80s UK suburbia, WWII Hong Kong and urban California, LAST OF HER NAME features an eclectic cast of outsiders: among them, an elderly housebreaker, wounded lovers, and kung-fu fighting teenage girls.
In the novella “The Woman In The Closet,” a homeless woman finds refuge in the unlikeliest of places, while in “Motet”, a teenage girl navigates art and emotional allegiances with her ex-opera singer stepmother. In “The Wrong Dave,” a soon-to-be-married architect takes up a covert correspondence with a grief-stricken woman who may or may not be writing to the right person. “Wedding Night” centers on an unconventional romance threatened by societal mores. The title story follows the parallel, interweaving journeys of a mother and daughter as they grapple with their respective foes, taking us from the suburbs of England to a Chinese village on the eve of World War II, and exploring the hidden lives and secret histories within an immigrant family. Collectively, LAST OF HER NAME offers a unique exploration of love, longing, and endurance.
