Copper Canyon Press (paperback, 04/07/2020)
*New & Noteworthy: How does a chair die? Why does a voicemail die? Or a father’s gait? When do civility and memory meet their ends? Predominantly rendered in the long, justified strips immediately recognizable to those familiar with a newspaper's obituaries page, Victoria Chang’s lyrical study of grief, Obit, makes way for a sustained yet startling and exquisite personal history: one written in the wake of her mother's death, interspersed with tankas featuring moments of teaching her children. Near the beginning of Obit, perhaps in lieu of a foreword, Chang writes: “It is strange to help someone / grow while helping someone die.” So though this moving and brilliant book deals resoundingly with death, Chang successfully injects humor, joy, and hope when and where they’re needed the most.
