Seeing Ghosts
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4.0 • 2 Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
This "graceful, captivating" (New York Times Book Review) story from a singular new talent paints a portrait of grief and the search for meaning as told through the prism of three generations of her Chinese American family—perfect for readers of Helen Macdonald and Elizabeth Alexander.
Kat Chow has always been unusually fixated on death. She worried constantly about her parents dying---especially her mother. A vivacious and mischievous woman, Kat's mother made a morbid joke that would haunt her for years to come: when she died, she'd like to be stuffed and displayed in Kat's future apartment in order to always watch over her.
After her mother dies unexpectedly from cancer, Kat, her sisters, and their father are plunged into a debilitating, lonely grief. With a distinct voice that is wry and heartfelt, Kat weaves together a story of the fallout of grief that follows her extended family as they emigrate from China and Hong Kong to Cuba and America. Seeing Ghosts asks what it means to reclaim and tell your family’s story: Is writing an exorcism or is it its own form of preservation? The result is an extraordinary new contribution to the literature of the American family, and a provocative and transformative meditation on who we become facing loss.
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APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Losing a parent can be devastating, and Kat Chow beautifully captures the ripple effects in her debut memoir, Seeing Ghosts. After losing her mother to cancer at age 13, Chow becomes preoccupied with grief and death. Looking back at her Chinese-American family’s history, she discovers that life-altering losses are a pattern: Both her mother and her father lost a parent when they were just kids, and Chow’s own brother died at birth two years before she was born. Our hearts ached from the very first chapter, where Chow—who narrates herself—speaks to her mom directly, the love and pain both clear in her voice. Her gift for choosing the perfect, intimate details to share—from the holes in her mother’s underwear to her father’s insistence that every new novelty snack is a scam—made us feel instantly connected to her family. A profoundly captivating and affecting listen, Seeing Ghosts left us with revelations that won’t be forgotten.
