But she might not be the dog you remember or who remembers you. It was a risk, Rainie knew, and she generally avoided those. She wanted a world where she could be weightless. But Anita multiplied her, duplicating their human lives into dog lives, their dog lives into dream lives. They had been together for so many species. Meeting again as strangers would only mean another life together. Then I’ll choose her again, Rainie said. I’ll choose to know her. As many times as I can.

I sat with this book for a while before I thought to write an actual review. It's not an easy or even particularly satisfying read, but wow, is it beautifully written.

I was lucky enough to find a copy of K-Ming Chang's Bone House at a book sale a few years ago, which definitely left an impression as well. Of all the chapbooks and short stories I've read, Bone House was memorable enough that as soon as I saw K-Ming Chang's name on Netgalley, I immediately requested a review copy of Organ Meats.

As the title implies, this book is visceral in a very literal sense. There is significant body horror present, though this is not a horror novel. It's part of this unique, highly-stylized way of writing that I felt right down to my core.

I think when you read a lot, you reserve high ratings for the books that stand out from the crowd and are memorable long after you finish the last page. There are books that I will always remember because of the time or place that I read them, or I connected to them at that point in my life. Then there are books that I will always remember because the writing touched me in a very physical way: Notes from Underground, Crush, Tender is the Flesh. It's too soon to tell, but ask me in a year, and I will likely add Organ Meats to that list.

I am sure there is an audience for this book, but it is not for me. I tried, but I could not do it. I would definitely try other works by this author if they are not the same kind of story. I guess the cover fooled me, as it is an amazing cover and title.

K-Ming Chang is quickly becoming a must read for me. I've been really into reading Rachel Harris's stuff lately and I feel like K-Ming Chang is a similar world but on the opposite end of the spectrum in terms of tone. And I, for one, am all about it. The character and relationship work in this was amazing. It's upsetting and endearing and unsettling and charming. Everything I could have hoped for.

I have adored K-Ming Chang's other two books, so it really pains to me to admit I am DNF'ing this one at 31 percent. It's just TOO surreal for me. I don't know what's happening, and not in the beautiful way her other books made me feel, but in a way that I feel like even if I keep reading, I'll just be reading words and not absorbing the story. Sadly, this one was not for me. Will definitely still read whatever she writes next, though!

Organ Meats is a story of two young girls, who one summer decide to be dogs. But really it is about the type of friendship you can only have when you are young together, about codependency and girlhood and queerness, about losing that bond and growing up. It is strange, it is surreal, and it is gross at times, not shying away from bodily fluids or the stickiness and grime of being a child who is maybe also a little bit of a wild animal.
This is a book that will take some time to digest (excuse the pun), and I’m still not sure what was real and what was the remnants of a child’s imagination, but here is my attempt at telling you what this book is about.
Anita and Rainie are two young girls who perhaps through proximity or a shared strangeness, are best friends. One summer they decide that through observing the stray dogs in a lot by their apartment building, they themselves will become dogs, and return to their canine heritage. They wear a red string around their necks that over the years becomes more than a leash but a string of fate that bonds them together. A string of fate that tugs at Rainie’s throat and will eventually return her to Anita a decade after she had moved away. Rainie and Anita are bound by something deeper than blood, and when Anita falls into a coma without Rainie at her side and begins to rot away, Rainie must build her a new body. It is a story of Frankenstein as a love story between girls.
I saw someone on Goodreads describe it as My Brilliant Friend for people who like cannibalism metaphors, which honestly just about sums it up. Of all the books I’ve reviewed and recommended, this one is by far the one that is not for everyone, to be honest it’s probably not for most. It’s extremely surreal and strange, reading it was often a task of untangling a messy string of dreamlike stories, metaphors, metaphors that are actually not metaphors, and fragments of memories and dreams. I enjoy strange, weird books, and I really appreciate something that’s experimental in its storytelling, and still I did struggle to fully grasp this story. It’s a book that challenged me as a reader and required my full attention and focus, and despite being so short, it took me a month to read. But I am grateful I did. Organ Meats contained some of the best writingI think I’ve ever read, and in its own weird, gory, gross way, it told a story of girlhood that I could relate to. With everything said, if it still sounds like something you might like, I would definitely recommend this strange little book.

I've been following Chang's work since she was writing poetry under a different writer name, and I always say her work is seductive in a dark way. ORGAN MEATS is the crown jewel of that--I was not expecting what I was reading, but I loved it quite a bit.

Thank you to Random House & NetGalley for sharing this title~

K-Ming Chang is slowly becoming one of my favorite authors. After reading Gods of Want earlier this year, I was so excited to learn she had another book coming out.

This book is a combination of two things I love: complicated female friendship and weird girl stuff. Essentially chilhood best friends Anita and Rainie discover they come from a long generation of dog-headed women and decide to become dogs. What follows is a surreal fever-dream of complex intimacy, organs, and as stated before, weird girl stuff.

K-Ming Chang has such a unique voice and presence on the page. I cant wait to read more from her.

I was extremely confused while reading 5his book. I understand the main plot but over all felt like I had to keep forcing myself to keep reading this one. I normally don’t mind a book that feels like a fever dream but this one was sooo bizarre!

this follows anita and rainie, two best friends bound by a red string and canine heritage. when they get separated, anita falls into a coma that only rainie can save her from. but this leaves rainie with the question: how far is she willing to go for the girl who has haunted her all this time?

this book is so different than what i normally read. however, i took a chance, which i am so grateful for. i could not put this down and i know it will stay in my mind for a long time. the writing was so perfect and i am definitely interested in reading more from k-ming chang now.

Thank you Netgalley for this arc!

unique as hell, written beautifully, and well developed. I cant say I was familiar with this title prior to finding it on here, that cover is a stunner.

Still making my way through this one, about half way through, but I already know it will be another 5 star read from K-Ming Chang. The way that she is able to bring these vibrant, vivid worlds to life is so unique, and unlike anything I've ever read before. Her books are so special, and this story is already resonating with me so deeply. Will definitely post a full review on my Goodreads once I finish!

DNF @ 13% - I really tried to get into this one, but after numerous scatological scenes, which I was barely able to tolerate, there was a very odd scene with the two girls trying to pee through the fence like a boy. So, I will be stopping here.

It is my understanding that if you are a K-Ming Chang reader already, this will be of interest to you.

I received a digital ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Woo! What a ride! I've read K-Ming's other books, and absolutely loved them. This is no exception. Honestly, I was both prepared and unprepared (in a good way) for this latest book. I knew it was going to amazing prose and a good story... and I was right. This story was utterly visceral, and it really helped amply the storytelling of this poetic, haunting, and beautiful story of two best friends, Anita and Rainie. This books reads like a fever dream that you are captivated by and almost never want to leave until you know how it ends. That's how I felt as I was reading this book. I can't wait for K-Ming's next book!

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for this eARC!

THE CHAOS ENSUES AND CONTINUES with K-Ming Chang, and I'm here for it. I am beyond thankful to Random House / One World Pub, PRH Audio, K-Ming Chang, and Netgalley for granting me advanced access to this unhinged read before it hits shelves on October 24, 2023.

Organ Meats indicates the book's content, for there's lore and history to notate its origin. Two friends, Anita and Rainie, find solace in their meeting spot, an Old Sycamore tree that shares ownership with a pack of stray dogs that the girls feel kin to. Moreover, they feel they can also commune with the dogs, knowing their lineage and the red yarn that ties them all together. Anita and Rainie then strive to become dogs, returning to their combined blood heritage. Still, when a dog bite leaves Anita unconscious, with her body rotting away, it's up to Rainie to revive her lost friend with love and companionship that mimics the pack-mindset and devotion.

This book was a bit scattered on audio, but after listening to it again at a slower speed and following along on my Kindle, I could fully grasp the depth of emotion and wildness conveyed in this work of art.

I feel a bit queasy and confused after this one. At first, I thought Chang’s writing was like a first taste of the hard stuff…vodka, gin, tequila, whiskey. The stuff burns before it begins to intoxicate you. I thought that, with time, the feral grin of Chang’s prose would ensnarl me to the level of the unpoutdownable read…I was really intrigued by how she doesn’t shy away from what burns, from breath that stinks, from rawness in all its forms. Her writing style made me want to keep reading…at first.

However, it takes more than intoxicating writing to keep me engaged. The world-building made me feel loopy, lost, and left behind. Too often, i felt confused. Every time i picked the book back up, i needed to readjust to the logic of an upside down world that runs on no rules I could keep track of. Trying to keep up stressed me out, made me wonder if I was simply “missing something”. Why…Dogs are everywhere, and they are women, and they are speaking like shakespearean weird sisters…I so badly wanted to feel their speech resonate in my soul, because their words were jagged on the page and written with such feeling and imagination…there were so many lines that shone like jewels, so many turns of phrase that left me in awe, but the paragraphs were so packed with these turns of phrases, i felt rolled-over, 360-degrees, over and over, downhill. I eventually stopped enjoying feeling dizzy.

Maybe i was, indeed, missing something. Maybe i just wasnt the intended audience or maybe it just wasnt the right book for me. Part of me feels sad that it didnt quite click with me. I’m grateful to have encountered this author’s writing. On the scale of the sentence, this book is exquisitely wrought. On the scale of the paragraph, the book is a bit stinky, but in an interesting way (there are loads of references to bodily substances to be found within). On the scale of the book, i am lost at the halfway mark, so I guess I won’t know how all the jewels add up…maybe I’ll get some hints when I read some of the blazing reviews I am sure are headed this book’s way.

Thanks so much to Netgalley and the publisher. I was very grateful to read this in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher Random House, and the author K-Ming Chang for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Chang does it again in embedding queerness, Asian/Chinese-American diaspora, womanhood, and magical realism together. The final piece of the tripytch portrait of all these concepts come together leaving the reader in awe. The simple concept of a red string of fate becomes much more than the idea. The red string of fate becomes more complicated than simply fate and makes the reaer think of the debt we owe to each other.

This was my second K-Ming Chang book, but even having read Bestiary when it came out, there was no way to prepare myself for this book. Surrealism has always been a genre I feel too stupid for and confused by, so I don’t read it often, but the queer, Asian themes and mastery of language used by Chang made me come back for more.

On the whole, this book was frankly a bit of a mindfuck. It had the same sapphic overtures between the two protagonists, Anita and Rainie, as there were in Bestiary, but it felt a lot more subliminal and threaded through euphemism and metaphors. There was also a lot more gruesome content than I thought there would be, as other reviewers have noted. I don’t consider myself a squeamish person, but the seemingly endless imagery of bodily fluids, secretions, births, and blood was… a lot.

I find that this novel had far less tangible plot moving it forward than the prior text I had read. I know this is the third and final piece of Chang’s triptych, so I recommend reading the other texts first to ensure this vague book of *vibes* does not read as even more confusing and disjointed. As usual, the writing itself is structurally flawless, with some of the best imagery I have ever read—gruesome or not. I would just warn readers who prefer concrete plots and storylines that this book isn’t that. Yet I still enjoyed it on the whole, and will always read Chang’s unique and experimental work, so this gets 3 ⭐

*Thank you again to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.*

Yes. Well. There's all sorts of things going on in this novel about Anita and Rainie who believe they will become dogs (and are of dog heritage) but I was unable to make sense of much of it. This is a theme of sorts for Chang, whose work is both surreal and bizarre- but Bestiary was more accessible. The one thing that comes through is the friendship between the young women. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. This is likely going to be a love it or hate it book for fans of literary fiction.

Oh man- "Organ Meats" is SUCH A TRIP.
Funny. Profound. Bizarre. Beautiful. Dream-like.

I adored this journey and highly recommend letting the words carry you through. Attempting to overthink this one will get you nowhere.

The narrative style is reminiscent of "Everything Everywhere All at Once" in that, as a whole- all of the elements together feel extremely random and jumbled. But- much like the red thread that binds the childhood friends/protagonists of the story- there is always an image, idea, or narrative element that will connect you to the next wave.

The story explores ideas of queerness, childhood, family history, otherness, alienation, and the roles of women in society.

It's gorgeous and bizarre, and I loved it.

I recommend it to fans of Daniels' "Everything Everywhere All at Once," Sayaka Murata's "Earthlings," and Mona Awad's "Bunny."

Thank you to NetGalley, and One World, An Imprint of Random House, for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

I wanted to like this. But, MY GOD, it is overwritten and incredibly, pretentious. The writing is insufferable and it's trying too hard to be outrageous.

No way.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.