"A knockout short story collection...Each one of these 10 dizzyingly
immersive stories offers up a heady and visceral portrait of what ails
us, from isolation and self-doubt, to unrequited love and regret over
what might have been, to what it means to be (and to be considered) an
American." -- San Francisco Chronicle
Meng Jin's critically acclaimed debut novel, Little Gods, was praised
as "spectacular and emotionally polyphonic (Omar El-Akkad, BookPage),
"powerful" (Washington Post), and "meticulously observed, daringly
imagined" (Claire Messud). Now Jin turns her considerable talents to
short fiction, in ten thematically linked stories.
Written during the turbulent years of the Trump administration and the
first year of the pandemic, these stories explore intimacy and
isolation, coming-of-age and coming to terms with the repercussions of
past mistakes, fraying relationships and surprising moments of
connection. Moving between San Francisco and China, and from unsparing
realism to genre-bending delight, Self-Portrait with Ghost considers
what it means to live in an age of heightened self-consciousness,
seemingly endless access to knowledge, and little actual power.
Page-turning, thought-provoking, and wholly unique, Self-Portrait with
Ghost further establishes Meng Jin as a writer who "reminds us that
possible explanations in our universe are as varied as the beings who
populate it" (Paris Review).
