That Time I Loved You
Stories
by Carrianne Leung
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Pub Date Feb 26 2019 | Archive Date Jan 31 2019
W. W. Norton & Company | Liveright
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Description
In this exquisite American debut, Carrianne Leung evokes the legacies of Cheever and Munro with a haunting depiction of 1970s suburbia.
In her “compact gem of a collection” (Globe & Mail), Carrianne Leung enlivens a singular group of characters sharing a shiny new subdivision in 1970s Toronto. Marilyn greets new neighbors with fresh-baked cookies before she starts stealing from them. Stay-at-home-wife Francesca believes passion is just one yard away, only in the arms of another man. And Darren doesn’t understand why his mother insists he keep his head down, even though he gets good grades like his white friends.
When a series of inexplicable suicides begin to haunt their community, no one is more fascinated by the terrible phenomenon than young June. The daughter of Chinese immigrants, she sits hawk-eyed at the center, bearing witness to the truth behind pulled curtains: the affairs, the racism, the hidden abuses. Leung bursts onto the American literary stage with prose remarkably attuned to the tenuous, and perhaps deceptive, idea of happiness among these picket-fenced lives.
About the Author: Carrianne Leung's first novel, The Wondrous Woo, was a finalist for the 2014 City of Toronto Book Award. She holds a PhD in sociology and equity studies from OISE/University of Toronto and lives in Toronto.
A Note From the Publisher
IndieNext nominations due by 12/3/18 and LibraryReads nominations due by 1/1/19.
Advance Praise
“Leung, author of Toronto Book Award–finalist The Wondrous Woo (2014), walks readers through the matching split-levels of a Toronto suburb in her striking U.S. debut. . . . Readers peer through chain-link fences and discretely pulled curtains along with Leung's vivid, quotable characters—and are reminded that life doesn't happen between soap-opera episodes, cigarettes smoked at the kitchen sink, and trips to the mall, but during them.” - Booklist, starred review
"Leung's stories lift the veiled curtain of late 1970s suburbia to reveal the sadness and isolation of its residents....Leung looks for ways to bridge the gaps between what characters say and what they mean, what they admit to themselves and what they won't utter aloud, ultimately painting a picture of deep social and racial divides.... Written in the tradition of Alice Munro and Jhumpa Lahiri, Leung's debut story collection marks the career of a writer to watch."- Kirkus Reviews, starred review
Available Editions
| EDITION | Other Format |
| ISBN | 9781631495526 |
| PRICE | $24.95 (USD) |
| PAGES | 224 |
Featured Reviews
Brittany M, Educator
First and foremost, thank you to Net Galley for the ARC I was given in exchange for a fair and honest review. This was easily the best book that I have received in my time as a Net Galley reader and I couldn't recommend it more strongly,
Second, thank you to Carrianne Leung for writing what was easily the most compelling, intimate short story collection I have ever read.
Confession: I was a little hesitant when I started reading this. In my experience, shorty story collections tend to live in a zone that's reminiscent of Cds: there are a few standout pieces, but there's a whole lot more that feels like filler. Spoiler (not really): that was not the case here as every single story was intensely raw and human.
That's not to say there weren't standouts; "Sweets" was, in my opinion, the best by a longshot. It was heartbreaking, had the kind of character development that many writers fail to achieve in a 600 page novel and wrapped up in an aesthetically flawless way. Seriously: beautiful story. It outlined the development of a relationship between a Chinese immigrant grandmother and the granddaughter she sees as frivolous (June, who is the focus of three stories and, to some extent, the "glue that holds it all together," if you'll pardon the cliche there), as well as the bond that develops between the grandma and a neighbor child over their shared complicated relationship to gender . It tackles the issue of identity in a way that read as being effortless: it wasn't like there was some message being spoon fed to the reader, it was simple and nuanced. It was a story that says "here. This is what people are. They are a puzzle of pieces and sometimes those pieces fit, and other times they don't." I feel like I'm failing to capture this story without giving spoilers and while I'm not inherently opposed to spoilers in a book review, I really am for this story because I think I really think it's worth having a somewhat open mind when you go into it. Rambling. I'm rambling. Just read it.
http://bibwithblog.blogspot.com/2018/09/review-of-that-time-i-loved-you-by.html
Readers who liked this book also liked:
Jodi Picoult; Jennifer Finney Boylan
General Fiction (Adult), Literary Fiction, Women's Fiction
