IN BOOKSTORES NOW!
Watch Gish Jen read from Thank You, Mr Nixon
An Oprah Daily, Los Angeles Times, Esquire, The Millions, Tampa Bay Times, Book Culture, Bustle, and LitHub “Most Anticipated Book.”
NEWS
The New York Times interview: “How Covid Got Gish Jen Thinking About China”
Scott Simon: An interview on Weekend Edition and a conversation on Twitter
“Detective Dog” in the New Yorker - read or listen now
Amazon February Editor’s Pick for Best Literature & Fiction
Starred Reviews in Booklist, Kirkus Reviews, and Publishers Weekly
Gish reviews Hanya Yanagihara’s To Paradise in the New York Times Book Review
Selected for Parnassus Books First Edition and Boston.com Book Clubs
Elected to the MacArthur Foundation’s Board of Directors
“Marvelous…On the surface her storytelling seems simple and direct, but the closer you look the more layered and complex it becomes… Jen invites her readers to consider profound questions about history, ancestry and identity…In all her work, Jen locates the tensions between inherited and lived cultures.”
Claire Oshetsky, New York Times
“Brilliant. . . An exceptional collection, written with intelligence, wit and grace — it's one of the best books of Jen's remarkable career. . .The collection ends with a heartbreaker of a story, "‘Deceptive Doc’…Emotional but measured, it is as close to flawless as a story can be. . . It could well be one of the first great short stories of the COVID-19 pandemic . . . Even story in this collection, though, is outstanding.”
Michael Schaub, NPR
“[Jen] creates a panoramic universe of deftly sketched tales both comic and tragic. Her prose sparkles with clarity and moves with deceptive simplicity towards profound conclusions. This is a collection to treasure…An authorial tour-de-force.”
Kate Tuttle, Boston Globe
“Award-winning author Gish Jen’s latest collection opens with a Chinese saying: “A long journey begins with a step.” Readers could add, gratefully, “And ends with a story.”. . . In this collection, Jen stares down history with a discerning eye, cracking wit and well-tuned words.”
Erin Douglass, Christian Science Monitor
“A thrilling and eye-opening ride.”
Bethanne Patrick, Los Angeles Times
"A jewel box of creativity and a joy to uncover. . .Across eleven synergistic stories about interconnected families, Jen creates a sort of episodic epic spanning fifty years. . .Surely everyone — us and them, whoever they are — would benefit if together we read what Jen has to say."
Cory Oldweiler, Minneapolis Star Tribune
“Irresistible. . .showcases her enviable storytelling prowess. . . blending subtlety with slap-in-the-face honesty.”
Terry Hong, Shelf Awareness
"Taken together, these tales, which probe the connections and contradictions that link America and China, have the sweep and scope of a novel, one that’s by turns humorous and harrowing and, above all, humane.”
Jacqueline Houston, The Arts Fuse
“Jen distills five decades of cultural collision, confusion, and collaboration between the U.S. and China into eleven gorgeously comedic and heartbreaking stories . . . For all the pain and poignancy, Jen is wryly hilarious, her plots spring-loaded, her dialogue ricocheting and spiked with contrasts in languages and customs . . ..”
Starred Review, Booklist
"Masterly...With wry humor, pathos, and punchy dialogue, Jen’s uncanny stories easily standup to her hefty themes. This is a stellar addition to Jen’s prolific body of work.”
Starred Review, Publishers Weekly
“Political and economic relations between China and the US are major news, but Jen takes it to the micro level in her vibrant short stories about character who are varying degrees of Chinese and American… Jen’s crisp prose, wonderful eye for detail, and wry humor make them a joy to read, and there is wisdom here, too.”
Starred Review, Kirkus Reviews
“It is hard to do justice to this wonderful collection of intricately inked stories.”
- Ha Jin
“[This is] an art beyond art. It is life itself.”
- Cynthia Ozick
“Jen’s is an indispensable contemporary voice.”
- Claire Messud
“Be prepared to be awed and enthralled by one of our best writers!”
- Yiyun Li
"Her command of detail makes Thank You, Mr. Nixon authentic and engrossing; her vision makes it unique and vital.”
Author Profile, Publishers Weekly
“Luminous, deeply moving, [and] filled with insight and humor, heartbreak and love.”
- Jean Kwok
“Never before have I seen China . . .captured so well. I’m overflowing with admiration.”
- Lisa See