Since my thesis in grad school was a short story collection, the genre is obviously closest to my heart. I haven’t read a book in this genre in a while that really resonated with me, until My Dear You by Rachel Khong (which just came out this month). Khong combines magical realism with realistic storytelling in a while that is wholly original.

The best thing about this collection is that there are no weak stories. Each one brings fascinating characters and premises that had me completely intrigued. One story revolves around an injection that once used can make a person see everyone else as members of their own race. Another follows a group of women who decide to target a man on a dating app that has manipulated each one of them. And my personal favorite is the last story in the book. The end of times is coming, and God has declared that every person has to pick an animal to turn into (kinda like a weird, reverse Noah’s ark). It inspires a wild thought experiment: which animal would you pick and why?

The stories explore everything from racism and misogyny to dating and miscarriages, with altogether brilliant results. Khong’s style of writing kept me glued to the page, and also made me envy her unique and creative take on the world. I haven’t read Khong’s other novel, Real Americans, but it’s already on my TBR.

Although I’ll likely never write anything as good as this, My Dear You gives me hope that there are still compelling short story writers out there to carry the torch for this incredible genre.

5 stars

*Free ARC provided by Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review