Book of Exemplary Women
Praise
“Diana Xin’s debut story collection, Book of Exemplary Women, brings the pleasure of discovering a new voice—a fresh and original voice. One hears it immediately in the intonation of her witty, economical prose. These unpredictable, imaginative stories have to keep up with the fleet pacing with which they are told. And they do. There’s a lightness to the touch that makes the emotional charge of each story still more deeply satisfying. And there’s a sense of intimacy to the telling, an inner voice that shares the secrets over which inner voices preside.”
—Stuart Dybek, author of Childhood and Other Neighborhoods and The Coast of Chicago
“Through the rituals of faith, illness, and death, and the affections of ghosts, vampires, and disappointing men, the girls and women of Book of Exemplary Women view the world with narrowed eyes, cool and shrewd and knowing, pushing against expectation, questioning what they are supposed to want and who they are supposed to be. Diana Xin writes with quiet intensity, emotional acuity, and impressive range, as though we are peering into a dozen kitchen windows and catching our neighbors at their most intimate, soul-baring, and true.”
—Kim Fu, author of Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century and The Valley of Vengeful Ghosts
“In Book of Exemplary Women, writer Diana Xin takes a lyrical paring knife to the fruit of girlhood and womanhood, peeling back the flesh to reveal our radiant tenderness and sinew. From girlhood to ghosthood, the frothing, cascading lives in these stories ferry the reader to and from faith, to and from China, and to and from what forms, what breaks, and what heals the feminine self. Xin is a writer of exceptional range and depth, and this funny, moving, terrific story collection is a gift for us all.”
—Sharma Shields, author of The Cassandra and The Sasquatch Hunter’s Almanac