Bestiary: A Novel

by K-Ming Chang

NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW EDITORS’ CHOICE • Three generations of Taiwanese American women are haunted by the myths of their homeland in this spellbinding, visceral debut about one family’s queer desires, violent impulses, and buried secrets.

“Gorgeous and gorgeously grotesque . . . Every line of this sensuous, magical-realist marvel is utterly alive.”—O: The Oprah Magazine

FINALIST FOR THE LAMBDA LITERARY AWARD • LONGLISTED FOR THE VCU CABELL FIRST NOVELIST AWARD • LONGLISTED FOR THE CENTER FOR FICTION FIRST NOVEL PRIZE • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY O: The Oprah Magazine • NPR • The New York Public Library • Kirkus Reviews  

One evening, Mother tells Daughter a story about a tiger spirit who lived in a woman’s body. She was called Hu Gu Po, and she hungered to eat children, especially their toes. Soon afterward, Daughter awakes with a tiger tail. And more mysterious events follow: Holes in the backyard spit up letters penned by her grandmother; a visiting aunt arrives with snakes in her belly; a brother tests the possibility of flight. All the while, Daughter is falling for Ben, a neighborhood girl with strange powers of her own. As the two young lovers translate the grandmother’s letters, Daughter begins to understand that each woman in her family embodies a myth—and that she will have to bring her family’s secrets to light in order to change their destiny.

With a poetic voice of crackling electricity, K-Ming Chang is an explosive young writer who combines the wit and fabulism of Helen Oyeyemi with the subversive storytelling of Maxine Hong Kingston. Tracing one family’s history from Taiwan to America, from Arkansas to California, Bestiary is a novel of migration, queer lineages, and girlhood.

Praise for Bestiary

“[A] vivid, fabulist debut . . . the prose is full of imagery. Chang’s wild story of a family’s tenuous grasp on belonging in the U.S. stands out with a deep commitment to exploring discomfort with the body and its transformations.”—Publishers Weekly

• ISBN10: 0593132580
• ISBN13: 9780593132586
• Publish Date: 29 September 2020
• Publish Status: Remaindered
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: One World Books
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 272
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780593132586

Reviews

[Angie]

I don't like Magical Realism. But every time I read a description for one, I think, this is the one! It never is, and Bestiary is no different. I just don't get it. Bestiary did have me excited from the first chapter because it's in second person as the mother is telling stories to her daughter. From there it alternates, between her and the daughter (first person). Unfortunately, other than the narrative, I was not into this one at all. I really could not even tell you what this was about other than three generations of women.

Bestiary has a lot of bodily fluids: blood, urine, semen, vomit, poo, all of it. There's also an awkward fixation on orifices, mainly mouths and anuses. There's always something going in and something else entirely coming out. They're also always digging holes and sticking things places. And I'm sure this all had some bigger meaning that my nonliterary brain just could not understand. I was confused the entire time I was reading and it was a relief to reach the end. The best way to describe Bestiary is weird. Perhaps for those of you who do understand Magical Realism will get something out of it.

[Quirky Cat]

K-Ming Chang's debut novel, Bestiary is a tale of culture, exploration, family legends, and so much more.

In many ways, Bestiary is a novel that defies description. Any description not written by K-Ming Chang won't truly do justice to the novel, as it will be incapable of capturing her unique and captivating writing style.

Three generations of Taiwanese-Americans have their stories unfold over the course of this novel. Their triumphs, their losses, and all of the oddities in between. This is a richly detailed book, full of their dreams, fantasies, and all of the moments that make them the unique beings they are.

“My mother always says that the story you believe depends on the body you're in. What you believe will depend on the color of your hair, your word for god, how many times you've been born, your zip code, whether you have health insurance, what your first language is, and how many snakes you have known personally.”

Bestiary is such a unique and beautiful novel, I'm honestly struggling to find the words to describe it myself. Certainly, anything I come up with will pale in comparison to K-Ming Chang's writing.
You can tell right away that her origin is in poetry, as it shows in every line and every piece of dialogue. Much of the story feels like a stream of consciousness, yet there's also something so very elegant about the way it forms. It's an intriguing combination, to put it mildly.

It's the story of one family and how they changed and evolved over three generations, creating and carrying on their own habits, traditions, and legends. It's deeply fascinating and so very human. Yet it isn't afraid to show quirks in the process, which obviously I loved to bits and pieces.

It's also heartbreaking, seeing one family struggle over generations to find and find their place in this new home. All while others refuse to help make a place for them. Yet for that reason alone, I think this is a book that many others should give a try.

Though once again, I have to emphasize the writing. That is the other reason why I want to suggest this book to others. It really does flow like poetry throughout most, if not all, of the novel, and it is so extremely impressive.

Little descriptors that were simultaneously so incredibly evocative and highly unique made the story into something new, something different. And something that I know I'll remember for quite some time.