DON'T BUY IT!!

Did you love this GIGANTIC bestseller from nine years ago? Let me remind you why! It was SO fun to dig in to how Ng makes fiction do what fiction does best: her narrative stance, structure, plotting and characterization are so strong.

NO READING REQUIRED! I READ THE WHOLE (super short) SHORT STORY TO YOU!

Watch me conjure John Steinbeck from the dead!

To be completely honest, I picked this up because I thought I saw it on the Booker long list. I was mistaken (!!) but WOW am I glad I read it. How is this his first novel???

This book is SO smart. Listen in to appreciate its richness, depth and complexity. ALSO, an hour from now you'll know the crucial difference between extraction skimming and reading as a means of real understanding.