A review by parkinglotbirds
But the Girl by Jessica Zhan Mei Yu

Well worth a read with a particularly strong first half. I was reminded of Salinger’s Seymour, An Introduction in the meandering, introspective, psychological narration, mixed with some Zadie Smith in some of the more postmodern touches. Since I enjoy Salinger I was unbothered with the story breaking off into tangents and anecdotes, and to me Girl’s long-distance memories of her family were some of the strongest in the novel. Towards the end I felt like it lost steam a bit—maybe as a reader one tires of being in Girl’s head (she’s really going through it after all!), or some of the memories and reflections aren't as strong, or there were a touch too many affectations in the prose for my taste…it just didn’t end as strongly as it began. But I think this is a very strong debut worth talking about and analyzing. I look forward to whatever Yu writes next.