Nam Le

Le's ability to fully inhabit his wildly disparate characters is the hallmark of this strong and promising debut. His prose doesn't quite leap off the page as does the writing in my favorite short-fiction debut from last year -- that would be Wells Tower's [b:Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned: Stories|4291946|Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned Stories|Wells Tower|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255939030s/4291946.jpg|4339519], which sometimes verges on showy -- but it's elegant and understated nonetheless.

The first story is probably the highlight of the collection, and is the sort of piece that would (or should) be taught in Asian American Studies classes as it grapples directly with identity and the work of writing. (But it also means it's the most consciously self-reflexive of the stories, and if I sniff it a little, I imagine the slightly off-putting whiff of Writing Workshop Prompt about it, but it's also the point of the story.) In contrast, my favorite piece was the one I thought I'd like the least: "Meeting Elise", which humanizes an otherwise repellent artist faced with his mortality.… (meer)