A knockout short story collection...Each one of these 10 dizzyingly immersive stories offers up
a heady and visceral portrait of what ails us from isolation and self-doubt to unrequited
love and regret over what might have been to what it means to be (and to be considered) an
American. -- San Francisco Chronicle Meng Jin's critically acclaimed debut novel Little Gods
was praised as spectacular and emotionally polyphonic (Omar El-Akkad BookPage) powerful
(Washington Post) and meticulously observed daringly imagined (Claire Messud). Now Jin turns
her considerable talents to short fiction in ten thematically linked stories. Written during
the turbulent years of the Trump administration and the first year of the pandemic these
stories explore intimacy and isolation coming-of-age and coming to terms with the
repercussions of past mistakes fraying relationships and surprising moments of connection.
Moving between San Francisco and China and from unsparing realism to genre-bending delight
Self-Portrait with Ghost considers what it means to live in an age of heightened
self-consciousness seemingly endless access to knowledge and little actual power.
Page-turning thought-provoking and wholly unique Self-Portrait with Ghost further
establishes Meng Jin as a writer who reminds us that possible explanations in our universe are
as varied as the beings who populate it (Paris Review).
