A review by marywahlmeierbracciano
How to Fall in Love in a Time of Unnameable Disaster by Muriel Leung

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

In this queer speculative novel where ghosts are commonplace and food is scarce, residents of a single New York apartment building find routine in hunkering down from weekly acid rain.  Upon moving back in with her mom, Mira is heartbroken that her partner, Mal, chose to stay behind, alone, in her late parents’ home.  To pass the time and process, she begins a talk radio show, and later falls in love with one of her listeners, a headless (and also heartbroken) man called Sad.  With rotating narration and an all-BIPOC cast—excluding a beautifully tender, gay cockroach ghost—this debut is existential, surreal, and electric.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Toxic relationship, Blood, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, and Abandonment

Minor: Alcoholism, Cancer, Child death, Drug abuse, Physical abuse, Self harm, Terminal illness, Violence, Medical content, Pregnancy, and Alcohol