Book Review: Grief is profound, painful and personal in this debut novel from J.B. Hwang

Mendell Station is Korean American writer J B Hwang s first novel And it is all about death its horror finality and mystery and majority of all how those who knew and loved that person must cope Miriam the main character who is a Korean American postal worker living in San Francisco learns that her best friend Esther was exposed dead having fallen two stories onto the train tracks at Van Ness station The mystery of how Esther died is never solved in the book although we learn she had been intoxicated and wobbly on her feet when last seen at a bar The narrative focuses more on Miriam s initial confusion and the painful emotional attempt at mourning and eventual acceptance The love I had for Esther distended and became a fluid that filled my skull My skeleton felt ripped out of my body and I crumpled to the floor The sound of a great number of waters weighted clouds in the sky thin black grooves between the wooden floorboards teeming with darkness Like several great novels the specifics are clear the Asian American experience which is quite different from the white or Black American experience in countless tactics or the details of working at the post office the menial never-ending repetition as fitting the expression going postal but also the gentle kindness of the regular folks who are her co-workers The universal human story of losing a loved one comes alive amid the backdrop of these specifics like countless great novels It is very moving The experience happening amid the confusion that came in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic in is so unsettling Miriam s faith in God is shattered She starts writing letters to Esther that never get delivered to cope with her grief Esther I wondered why I didn t want to kill myself after you died when I couldn t stop thinking about it after my father s death Would I be recognizable to you now without my faith without you I don t like who I am without you goes one of her letters This is a book that speaks to women especially Asian American women and those who have just lost a loved one And this writer happens to fit all those categories Still it s a good book for anyone Hwang is content switching from a language that is a myopic closeup in its descriptiveness to free-wheeling poetic grandeur on the same page entering the mind and soul of the woman who is our heroine It matters more than ever that she is an Asian American in a storytelling universe dominated by white people Yet it matters not at all Hwang s writing often doesn t bother with stage-setting or scene or character descriptions Readers feel as though they have absolutely slipped into Miriam s skin We know through our own skin and bones rather than read and learn the sad memories of our upbringing the routine drudgery of work the loneliness and the ecstasy of finding a friend and the unbearable grief of losing one The effect is mesmerizing and strangely comforting We affirm through the journey that Hwang takes us on that lesson we knew all along We must live Those who have gone want that and expect that of us AP book reviews https apnews com hub book-reviews Source