Tomb Sweeping by Alexandra Chang

This collection of short stories exploring human connection, and grief is out August 8th. I was fortunate to be given access to reading it early.

As with an short story collection, you connect with some stories over others. I luckily connected with a lot of them. Death, family, searching for community, and ones roll in society are all explored here.

The first story that was a stand out was Li Fan. We get the story of a woman told in reverse, starting with her death and how the town thought of her. Moving back to her childhood and letting us know her hopes and dreams. Farewell, Hank was another stand out. A wife has a living funeral for her husband so the community can pay respect while he is still here.

Chang also has woven in a wonderful sense of humor throughout many of the stories here. A particular favorite of mine being Me and My Algo, where a woman is terrorized by her algorithm after handing over to much control. The fear of realizing the power she gave up was fascinating.

•”My algo says it has nothing to do with shaping who I am. It only reflects back to me what I want, then shows me the way.”

A few of my other favorites were To Get Rich Is Glorious, Flies, Tomb Sweeping and Persona Development.

Thanks to Netgalley and Ecco for the ebook. These stories are fascinating portraits of young women trying to deal with modern life across America and China. A woman gets let go from her job when they purchase a software program that can do her job a thousand times faster than she can, an elderly Asian woman picks up bottles and cans to recycle and then we hear her life story, a young woman in China is educated and, unlike her male counterparts, she gets an unskilled job in a factory, but finds a way to work her way to a job running an illegal gambling den. And that’s just the first three stories of this wonderful collection. A smart collection told with insight and wit.

This is a solid short story collection. Now I don't think it's the best I've ever read in terms of this genre, but it's still a nice read. There were a couple of stories that didn't do much for me, or downright confused me but overall, I liked these stories. Some were very quirky, and some were poignant. My top 5 favorite stories are: "Cure for Life", "Klara", "Flies", "Phenotype", and "Persona Development". Alexandra Chang is a talented writer. I definitely want to go back and read her debut, "Days of Distraction". Also, isn't the cover art absolutely gorgeous!! So eye-catching and colorful.

Thank you, Netgalley and Ecco for the digital ARC.

This review is based on an ARC of Tomb Sweeping which I received courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher (HarperCollins/Ecco).

The best part about Tomb Sweeping is the 'gram-worthy cover. Overall this is a pretty middle-of-the road short story collection. As with any collection, some stories I liked and some bored me. A few I had to skim to finish (sorry to say it) but a couple really stood out to me. Most often I found each story pleasant to be reading in the moment, but ultimately forgettable. The prominent Asian-American voice and varying Asian perspectives helped add interest.

Can you tell by the tone of my review that my general consensus is "underwhelmed"? Not a bad collection, but I'd rue the cover price.