Lead Review

• Book: The Unpassing
• Location: Alaska, Anchorage
• Author: Chia-Chia Lin

Review Author: Tina Hartas

3.75*

“My father liked to declare that he had moved us to Alaska so we could be closer to the stars”

This is the story, set in the 1980s, of a Taiwanese immigrant family, newly arrived in Alaska, not far from Anchorage. Ten year old Gavin contracts meningitis and awakes to find that his sister has died in the interim. With the painful overlay of grief, this is the story of family and the pressure of integration.

The family dynamics after Ruby’s death are searingly portrayed. Mother is the stalwart in the family and when things become even harder to manage, the children turn to each other whilst the parents grow distant. Father is a plumber and makes a serious error, with devastating consequences and their lives are further impacted.

In many ways this is a deceptively simple story, seen through the eyes of a child. It has poignancy and depth as the narrative progresses, the author has an easy style that makes it very readable. The characters perhaps aren’t sufficiently fleshed out to make this a really impactful story of family but it quietly gets on with the business of good storytelling. it is a debut and it will be very interesting to see where the author goes next.

Setting makes a tangible backdrop to this very sad story and the sense of home is very relatable.

I am not sure the book cover would catch my eye, at a glance it looks like a bit of a QR code.

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