Mending Bodies - by Lai Chu Hon (Paperback)

About the Book

For readers of Ling Ma and Sayaka Murata, Hon Lai Chu's dystopian exploration of body autonomy, relationships, and late capitalism defies and then reassembles dark realities.

Book Synopsis

In a failing city, a government program incentivizes couples to "conjoin"--surgically attach themselves to one another--promising a flourishing economy, ecological revitalization, and personal fulfillment. A student writing her dissertation on the program's history begins to suffer from insomnia. As her world unravels and under the weight of expectations by both society and her close friends, she worries that maybe they are all right when they tell her it would be better--for the good of another person and for the good of the country--to sacrifice everything that she is and get conjoined. Mending Bodies blends body horror and political allegory to explore a world where even the motives of those you love most are shaped by larger forces.

Review Quotes

"An unsettling fable about an extreme form of cohabitation. . . . Hon's turns of phrase are consistently arresting ("The self proliferates as incessantly as mold"). This intelligent speculative work is eerily transfixing."

--Publishers Weekly

"Not at all what I was expecting. Raises some interesting questions about personal freedom, bodily autonomy, and identity, in the format - not of a dystopia - but of an alternate reality that hits disturbingly close to home. An early favorite for 2025!"
--Tony Paese, Books & Company

"Strange dreams and complex metaphors combine to create a dazzling, hallucinatory portrait of societal alienation."--Charlie Marks, Fountain Books

Praise for The Kite Family

"Evocatively written and expertly translated, these Hong Kong stories will draw you into Hon Lai-chu's surreal and yet recognizable world."--Howard Goldblatt, translator of Nobel laureate Mo Yan