Creepy haunting beautiful and confusing. I didn’t know what was going on, but the prose was so beautiful I didn’t care.

Not all things are made to be easily digested. Some things need to be swallowed and let to ferment, and change us from the inside out—meaning born of sugars and gas and rot, internal radiance defying structure or naming but requiring time and patience. This novel feels like that. It is not focused on plot or character but on feeling, experience, and memory. If you crave structure or plot or traditional logic you will be left hungry at the end of this meal. What is offered is deep and dense, language dripping all over itself, metaphors mixed to the point of knotted threads that bind us to the invisible burdens and joys living in the bodies of others. There is no rational sense here, but a dream logic that, if you are willing to fall into it, is mesmerizing. The language and the interiority and imagination are fanciful and coarse at the same time. Ultimately, there is a story here of ownership: ownership of our bodies of our youth, of our lineages, and of our hearts. It is a story of melancholy and whimsy and what it means to find meaning in another, to be bound by ties deeper than blood, more liberating than wings.

All that is to say, this novel challenges its reader. Having already read K-Ming Chang’s short story collection “Gods of Want,” and feeling like those short stories all combined into an imagined, amalgamated biography of love and loss and humanity, I knew what I was getting into with this novel. Sometimes it felt like the surrealism that works so well in short story format drew thin here, taut, but never to the breaking point. There was always enough heart to hold things together even as real-world logic ceased to be of any utility. This novel will challenge you to peer into the depths of a stray’s yawning maw and find there a mirror to reflect the shards of your own humanity, your own connections, your own longings. It can feel circular and meandering and feverish at times, easy to get lost in. Some will enjoy this type of discovery, others frustrated by it, and that will really be the marker of how much you enjoy this novel. I know that even when I wasn’t sure if I was fully grasping the deeper meanings being offered I was enjoying the language and imagery, the overwhelming of the senses that comes from lush prose that feels like poetry. I was able to trust that meaning would come, as the story sits in my belly and develops, and for me that journey and process was really enjoyable.

I want to thank the author, the publisher Random House Publishing Group – One World, and NetGalley, who provided a complimentary eARC for review. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an advanced copy of this book for review. The book is fantastic, bizarre, and at times hard to figure out what exactly is happening. The writing is superb, visceral, and truly unique. I will warn readers that the book is a little gross (frequent discussion of fecal matter, blood, organs, etc.) so this might not be the book for everyone. However, if you love surrealism, books that are just plain strange, then this is the book for you. The only critique of the book is that's hard to understand what's happening throughout the story. Parts of it just don't make any sense, and I found it difficult to fully comprehend the story.

Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for.the Advanced Reader's Copy!

I don't think there will ever be a world where I don't love K Ming Chang's writing style. There is something so fluid, fun, and endlessly inventive about the way they approach Folklore. Organ Meats, which may be their longest project to date, is an ever evolving story of two queer friends, exploring gender, sexuality, and family ties. If you like taking the long view, this is the book for you.

Thank you to Netgalley for the advanced reader copy.

This book was gorgeous with its luscious prose and imaginative power. The whole story felt like a fever dream you have just woken out of which is completely the type of book I love. K-ming Chang has the power to write flashing short chapters that make you feel like you always want more as you keep reading until you reach the complete end. I had a great time.

Reading this book felt not only like a fever dream, but more specifically like being half-awake within a nightmare with no idea how to wake up. The stream of consciousness style of writing was as difficult to follow as a dream in of itself, and I found myself balancing between enjoying the surrealism and wishing for more of an anchor in plot and storyline. My favorite aspects of this novel were the parts where our narrator talks about her Abu’s life and story, and I also loved how the split narration had you always wondering what was real and what was imagined. As dense and difficult and grotesque as this book sometimes was, I found myself not caring if I “understood” what I was reading. I feel that this is a book you read not to understand but to devour, and one you take several sittings to digest the contents. Chang is a force to be reckoned with, and there is no doubt in my mind that this author can WRITE. Lyrical, disturbing, dynamic and obscene, this is a book to go into hungry and with zero expectations about whatever it is you think you picked up.

“the center of summer, soft with rot, Rainie and I decide to be dogs.”


Organ Meats is about two young girls (who are descended from dogs) and their complicated relationship.

From the description alone I knew this would be strange (and I love strange) but I didn’t realize it was surrealism- and it ended being too strange for me. There was so much beauty in the imagery while at the same time a lot of disturbing content, and that juxtaposition was compelling.

However, I gotta be honest and say I had no clue what was going on for most of the book. You probably aren’t supposed to (?) but so often I felt like I was reading gibberish.

This is not to say the writing wasn’t incredible - because even though it wasn’t fully for me I can see the artistry. There were stretches where I would feel like I had a hold on the characters or the story, then I would quickly feel like I was in a maze. I’m sure this disorientation was intentional, but I can’t say it made for the most enjoyable reading experience.

I have not read anything else by this author yet and didn’t realize this book is connected to Bestiary and Gods of Want. If I had, I definitely would have read those first.

Organ Meats is an incredibly unique piece of surrealist fiction that explores female friendship, companionship, mother daughter relationships, girlhood, freedom, and grief. It was not my favorite just because of my lack of understanding of what was going on, but I’d definitely recommend trying it!

“I go to sleep with my ponytail or two of my braids gripped in my fist so I’ll have a tether to hold on to, a self to come back to. But I’d let go if it means reaching you.”

*Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the free ARC in exchange for an honest review*

This is my first K-Ming Chang novel and I wish I read her first two works first. I read in the acknowledgements that this is the last piece of her mythical triptych and I think I would have appreciated this book better if I read these books in order of Bestiary, Gods of Want, and lastly Organ Meats. This is also my first surrealist book and had no idea what to expect. To be honest, I was confused most of the time, I wasn't sure if things are literal or metaphorical. One thing is for sure though, K-Ming Chang is a good writer. I love her prose, I don't know how she made dog spit, feces, and other human and animal secretions sound beautiful, it's honestly mesmerizing. As for the themes, there is so much to unpack. I think I need to let this simmer and ruminate on the themes more. I merely scratched the surface on female bodily autonomy and freedom. This deserves a reread and I think I'm going to read her first two books first. I'll edit this review once I've let this one sit and have my thoughts in order.

I will post the edited review on my instagram (@eurydicereads), goodreads, and storygraph closer to the publication date (within the first half of October) as I plan to read Bestiary, Gods of Want and then do a reread of Organ Meats to fully milk the book.

Chang writes unique and creative stories.

i may not have completely enjoyed the reading experience, but i was very immersed in Chang's beautiful prose. it was very atmosphere and intriguing, though it would be a lie for me to say that i understood everything. it was so imaginative you'd have to be on a certain mood to truly understand what Chang is doing.

it was a strange experience reading this and it's not completely terrible! i will surely try Chang's other novels.

Anita and Rainie are best friends as children. They spend all their time with stray dogs, pretending to be their own little dog pack themselves. Anita feels so deeply that she and Rainie are meant to be together forever, and tie red-strings around them, symbolizing their everlasting connection and marking a way for them to return to each other. Rainie moves away eventually, and Anita falls into a decade long sleep, until Rainie returns and helps Anita find her way back to consciousness.

"And you chose to come back to me, Abu says, but Anita shakes her head and says to Rainie, You cut me open. I promised to scar you to see you, but you didn't need a scar. You didn't even need skin. You built me from within. I home in you."

The writing in this is absolutely amazing. Every sentence read like poetry, it felt like I was wading through a dream. I loved that aspect of it, and the surrealism of it all. The concept of this book is so intriguing, made more so by the writing.

I especially enjoyed the parts spoken by the dogs themselves, the dogs speaking about their heritage in the Q&A chapter. The lore presented in this book is so interesting. Anita and Rainie weave their origin together based on stories told by their parents: women-faced dog ancestors and banana ghosts.

That being said, it was such a slog to read through. I'm sorry to say this book wasn't for me. I liked the story and the characters well enough, but I wasn't really invested. I had to power through the second half of the book to finish it. I feel so conflicted, because the author said this was the final part of her mythical triptych in the Acknowledgements section, and I'm so curious to see what the other two are about. I just don't think I can go through this again though.

This book is everything I love about K-Ming Chang's work—luscious, almost painfully physical imagery, the way she uses stories and myths, that subtle sense of humor threading through all her work. Organ Meats has all that and reads closer to Bestiary to me than her short fiction. IMO Organ Meats feels like a novel-in-flash, with each section being roughly flash/shorter short story length and could possibly be read independently from the novel as a whole. Verdict: if you’re a fan of K-Ming Chang, you’ll enjoy it. If you aren’t, you probably won’t.

I am unsure if I fully grasp the complexity and nuance of this novel. What I can definitively attest to is the lyrical beauty of this book. I held a lot of cognitive dissonances as I read beautifully constructed horror scenes. This is a book that I will have to revisit in the future, but for now, I am letting it simmer.

I'll update this once my thoughts solidify and it gets closer to the pub date but I LOVE weird shit. I love ambitious unique writing. I like letting things simmer a bit because I get the most *wrapped up* with 4 - 5 star ratings so I want to make sure this is something I'd genuinely recommend, purchase, potentially re-read, assess the merits of a book after I've had time to think critically before blasting it all over my social media accounts. Thank you so much for gifting me this ARC in exchange for a (soon to be more detailed) review.

Thank you to netgalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review. The following opinions are my own.

This is my first novel by K-Ming. It jumps from magical realism right into surrealism. I don't have much experience in this genre. But I found it a bit tricky at times to figure out what was going on. I'm not sure if this was intentional or typical of this authors works. But I also had trouble with the depth of the story and it's characters, and not being able to connect. I can also appreciate what the author was doing in her art form with Organ Meats while saying I personally didn't like it. I'm sure there are others who would though.

I have loved this authors previous books and this one was just as amazing. Magical, funny, heartwarming, heartbreaking, and all around an enjoyable read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for this opportunity to read rage and review this arc which will be available Oct 24,2023!

This book was a freaking trip. Not in a bad way but in a what did I just read and did the author write anymore?! It’s about Anita and Rainie, stray dogs who can communicate with humans. It was an atmospheric acid trip of a book. Wholly original and intriguing

DNF - Regularly, I would have been super into this story but, I think it's just the wrong time for me to be reading it. I found the format of the e-book odd & the flow of the chapters really rapid-moving which, I do appreciate, but they weren't working for me at this time. I will certainly be revisiting this once the book is published but, for now, I'm stepping out of the race.

I really enjoyed K-Ming Chang’s previous works — the novel Bestiary and the short story collection Gods of Want — and especially because they were just so weird; combining Taiwanese mythology with the outsider SoCal queer immigrant child experience, the weirdness seemed the perfect way for Chang to capture that jarring outsider experience. Organ Meats continues in the same vein — with the maybe-more-than-friendship of two girls metaphorically tied together over time with the threads of their belief system — but whereas the previous books combined myth and magical realism to marvellous effect, this one stretches into full-on surrealism, and I found it challenging to follow. I continue to marvel at Chang’s imagination and bravura, but I didn’t feel very much for the story or the characters: like looking at a Dalí painting, I can recognise the skill without really liking the result; and while I might say that I didn’t really like this, I’m still rounding up to four stars and will read Chang again.

There aren’t many authors where you can tell who’s written the book purely by the writing, but you can recognise K-Ming’s poetic prose from a mile off.

In the way Ottessa Moshfegh has built a distinct brand around gross, depressed female characters- K-Ming Chang has managed to build a recognisable brand around stories of queer girlhood, myth and storytelling, mother-daughter relationships and bodies.

This novel is centred around two friends, Anita and Rainie, who in their childhood visit an old sycamore tree and the stray dogs who live nearby who are able to communicate with them. They also come to learn that they are preceded by generations of dog-headed women and woman-headed dogs who they are binded to.

The first part of the book explores the girls coming of age, friendship and curiosity as Anita convinces Rainie to become a dog with her, binding them together with a red string around each of their necks. We also follow Anita’s deep longing to be connected to and control Rainie at all times, not wanting to ever be separated, which is challenged when Rainie and her family move away.

The second part of the book jumps forward 10 years where we learn that since Rainie moving away, Anita has become lost in her dreams while trying to find her and is now in a coma, her body beginning to physically rot and decay. Rainie is drawn back to her hometown and is tasked with rebuilding Anita a new body, gathering organs from their mythical childhood to awaken her.

This book and it’s lyrical prose and familial histories woven throughout won’t be for everyone but K-Ming’s writing makes me feel so comforted and reminds me why I love fiction so much and the way it completely transports you to another place while reading.

Strange, mythical, visceral and macabre, this book is exquisitely written and is one that like Bestiary, will stick with me for a long time and has cemented K-Ming Chang as my favourite author.

This one isn’t out until October but I couldn’t physically wait to read my ARC and wanted to share my thoughts while they’re fresh! Please please go preorder now!!🥩✨💕🐕