The Unpassing

The Unpassing by Chia-Chia Lin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Devastatingly beautiful. "The unpassing" could refer to so many things here, but mainly about the inability of this immigrant family to let go of their youngest daughter, when she dies of an illness. Their grief is held inside each of them, separating themselves from each other. The Alaskan wilderness, with its dense forests and silty mud becomes a manifestation of their angst. It is so perfectly written and told. The main character is the 10-year-old brother who doesn't understand everything, and Lin is so good at holding back, trusting her readers to infer when needed and keeping some details forever murky. I don't think I have been affected by a book this much in a long time. Must read.

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you had to keep your gaze close, lest you catch a glimpse of something bigger than you could accept.

we woke to the anxious bleeps of the alarm clock, and with that small and sudden violence, school began.