Organ Meats - A Novel

In the phenomenal Organ Meats, two friends are bound by a red string, dog bloodlines, and the violence that is being a girl (Ms. magazine) from the National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 honoree and author of Gods of Want.

Organ Meats possesses something of the febrile intensity of Elena Ferrante s Neapolitan novels, their laser focus on female friendship, but instead of Naples, K-Ming Chang s wild girls inhabit a magical universe of talking dogs and shape-shifting body parts. The New York Times (Editors Choice)

LAMBDA LITERARY AWARD FINALIST AN AUTOSTRADDLE BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR

Best friends Anita and Rainie find refuge by an old sycamore tree with its neighboring lot of stray dogs who have a mysterious ability to communicate with humans. The girls learn that they are preceded by generations of dog-headed women and woman-headed dogs whose bloodlines bind them together. Anita convinces Rainie to become a dog with her, tying a collar of red string around ea ch of their necks to preserve their kinship forever. But when the two girls are separated, Anita sinks into a dreamworld that only Rainie knows how to rescue her from. As Anita s body begins to rot, it is up to Rainie to rebuild Anita s body and keep her friend from being lost forever.

Filled with ghosts and bodily entrails, this is a story about the horror and beauty of intimacy, written in K-Ming Chang s signature poetic and visceral lore.

Rezension:

Praise for National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 prize honoree K-Ming Chang

This is a novel full of animal yearning, a novel that places women at the center, nosing into their silences, licking at their damaged places . . . This novel feels like Chang s stab at finding that language, digging it out of her body like a buried dog tooth, accompanied by a fine spray of blood. The New York Times

[K-Ming Chang has the] ability to take a common, decidedly earthbound, experience and transform it through her lens into a fantastical, otherworldly encounter. San Francisco Chronicle

[Chang s] most ambitious and enchanting book yet . . . dreamy . . . Chang is a gifted, poetic storyteller whose imaginative work is a true experience to give yourself over to. Shondaland

Chang weaves a tapestry of bodies and dreams, fantastical desires, and viscerally material fears. Shelf Awareness, starred review

In a culture where television, movies, and even social media have become the primary source for engaging with content, K-Ming Chang s novel Organ Meats is a deafening howl of what only a book can achieve. Each page is dense with a macabre atmosphere and clever turns of phrases that linger like ghosts who have overstayed their welcome. Soapberry Review

Wow, wow, wow. If you loved the weirdness of Chang s Bestiary and Gods of Want, you will love this one because it s even weirder. Chang is a master of beautiful gore, questionable relationships and surreal realism. Ms. Magazine, October 2023 Book Roundup

Perfect combination of really descriptive, gory, intense scenes, but also with really beautiful writing. WBEZ/Nerdette, A Bounty of Fall Books

[An] intimate and visceral new novel. Nylon, October 2023 Must-Read Books Roundup

Girlhood has a feral quality . . . Chang conjures magic in her fiction, stretching the bounds of reality and blurring the lines between human girls and wild dogs. San Francisco Chronicle, 25 Highly Anticipated Books to Put on Your Radar this Fall

A haunting and feverish exploration of a very complex (and somewhat disturbing) friendship, I read this book wide eyed with such wonder. Certainly one of the most inventive and visceral novelists I ve encountered in quite some time . . . I am now a devoted fan. Eric LaRocca, author of Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke

One of our most enchanting storytellers today . . . From every first sentence, she has you hooked. Literary Hub

Chang is singular amongst us all. . . . [She] not only accomplishes narrative reinvention in her writing she builds upon what feels achievable on the page. Chang shows us different ways of being. Bryan Washington for Electric Literature