Scan barcode
A review by gfruzsi
The Unpassing by Chia-Chia Lin
5.0
The Unpassing follows a Taiwanese immigrant family in the hard terrains of Alaska as they attempt to get through day after day following the death of the youngest child. Visceral yet unforgiving, with small pockets of tenderness, this book explores the importance of identity, family, and community in a time and place where grieving is private but the consequences are very much shared.
It’s told through the point of view of ten-year-old Gavin, and it’s the narration that made this exceptionally raw and emotional book a revelation for me - I believed every word for its innocence, frankness and childlike quality, much the same way as you’d believe any young kid because they have nothing to gain from not telling things exactly as they perceive them.
As someone whose family migrated halfway across the world, these words spoke to me on a very deep level: “It was a kind of violence, what my father had done. He had brought us to a place we didn’t belong, and taken us from a place we did. Now we yearned for all places and found peace in none.”
Overall The Unpassing is a lyrical, melancholic, quiet meditation on the ugly parts of ourselves, as well as the beautiful. It was easily a 5-star read for me.
It’s told through the point of view of ten-year-old Gavin, and it’s the narration that made this exceptionally raw and emotional book a revelation for me - I believed every word for its innocence, frankness and childlike quality, much the same way as you’d believe any young kid because they have nothing to gain from not telling things exactly as they perceive them.
As someone whose family migrated halfway across the world, these words spoke to me on a very deep level: “It was a kind of violence, what my father had done. He had brought us to a place we didn’t belong, and taken us from a place we did. Now we yearned for all places and found peace in none.”
Overall The Unpassing is a lyrical, melancholic, quiet meditation on the ugly parts of ourselves, as well as the beautiful. It was easily a 5-star read for me.