3.5 ⭐️
I loved the writing in this book - it's full of rich, poetic imagery and the relationship between Seven and Cecilia is messy, intense, and hard to look away from.

There were moments I felt totally immersed, but also where I got a bit lost. It’s not always easy to follow.

A challenging but rewarding read. Haunting, slippery, and strangely beautiful. I’m still thinking about it.

Well I know I enjoy weird books but this one went even beyond the normal level of weirdness!
A tale of one girl’s obsession of a popular girl, she then unexpectedly sees her again as adults, from what I could make out.
There is a lot of pee talk in the book, I’m not sure why?!

I’m honestly not sure how I felt about the book, I’m sure someone would probably enjoy it but I will not be reading it again.

K-Ming Chang's *Cecelia* is a poignant and lyrical coming-of-age novel that explores themes of identity, family, and belonging. The story follows Cecelia, a young woman who grapples with the weight of her immigrant family's expectations and the complexities of navigating between two cultures. As she faces the challenges of growing up and understanding her own identity, Cecelia’s journey is marked by moments of pain, growth, and self-discovery.

Chang’s writing is both haunting and beautiful, capturing the emotional depth of Cecelia’s experiences with tenderness and insight. The novel blends elements of magical realism and personal reflection, creating a unique narrative that is as much about the exploration of memory as it is about the search for meaning in one’s life. The pacing is deliberate, and the prose, while reflective, occasionally slows the momentum of the story.

Overall, Cecelia is a rich, evocative exploration of the immigrant experience and the complexities of family and self-identity. It’s a thought-provoking and deeply moving novel for readers who enjoy introspective, character-driven stories.

An intense little book about a woman’s obsession with another woman named Cecilia. It’s written in a quite readable stream of consciousness style prose with no speech which made it quite claustrophobic and urgent but I felt took a way from the ability for it to keep up a sustained and absorbing plot. I’m glad this book was as short as it was because otherwise I would have found the writing style a bit too samey and it would have lost my attention, but with it being such a small novel it kept up a feeling of urgency and delusion in the narrator’s desire. I would recommend if you are looking for a book with a very distinct voice that you can fly through in an afternoon.

Thank you for granting me early access to this book."Eerie, visceral, intense, obsessive… and laced with poetry.
This author’s talent is undeniable—I'm talking, sentence-level magic here. The main character? Let’s just say they’re one good day away from totally unraveling, and boy, do we get to see every twist of the screw. There were moments that had me staring at the page, wide-eyed, half wondering, ‘Did that really just happen?!’ But that’s exactly the vibe—unease is the goal, and it delivers in spades. Safe to say, I'll be hunting down more of their work like a moth to a very twisted flame.

Sadly I found this one quite hard to get into. Perhaps it wasn’t quite for me, but I usually love feminist translated fiction. I found myself feeling quite confused and couldn’t connect with the characters. I did enjoy the descriptive prose however and will definitely look out for future works by this author.

Düster, verwirrend, ekelig, obszön, faszinierend. So würde ich dieses Buch beschreiben und mehr Worte braucht es eigentlich auch nicht. Wen diese Beschreibung anspricht, der wird es sicher lieben. Alle anderen: lieber ein anderes Buch der durchaus talentierten Autorin lesen!

This was hit and miss for me. There were some moments where I was really blown away by the story, and then some parts that made me feel the book was straying a bit. However, I am excited to read more of their works.

“I will wear my violence wider than sky”

This was about Seven’s raw, unconditional, all consuming and grotesque obsession with Cecilia. The passion and mania know no boundaries and skin and blood and guts are merely impediments that must be dissolved till you can’t tell Cecilia and Seven apart.
There must be a demographic for this kind of grotesque downward spiral but it definitely wasn’t for me. That said there were some rare gems like these but they were lost in the overwhelming madness

“You’re born. You leave your family before it can eat you. You are eaten by another family and give birth to its children. You make your life a service to others, and in exchange you are never alone with your desires.”

Thanks to @netgalley for an advance copy!

Eerie, visceral, intense, obsessive... With poetic writing.

I find the writing very talented, I can tell this author is a very talented person. The main character is quite unhinged let's say, and we do learn quite a bit about them. Some parts left me sitting shocked at what was going on, but that is the point of the story, it is meant to fill you with unease. I will definitely pick up more of their work in the future.

In this haunting and provocative novella, Chang weaves a surreal tale of obsession and connection. The story follows Seven as he reconnects with Cecilia, a childhood friend, leading to a deeply intense and erotically charged reunion. Their rekindled relationship draws a poignant line from their shared past to the present, exploring the complexities of their bond.

Chang’s narrative is anything but conventional, pushing the boundaries of traditional storytelling with its abstract, metaphor-rich prose. Themes of obsession and queerness are examined through a lens that challenges linguistic norms and delves into raw, corporeal experiences. The novella’s dark, lyrical style is unflinchingly bold and may not appeal to everyone, but it offers a strikingly original and unsettling reading experience.

An intense novella filled with rich and vivid descriptions throughout - it was beautifully written.
Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for the chance to read this ARC.

Dark weird creepy feminist translated fiction. It was incredible and more people need to read it asap

I feel somewhat ambivalent about this book. On the one hand, there were moments in the present on the bus journey that I found genuinely unsettling, and the atmosphere and detachment of the characters were well built. There were moments I enjoyed the thick description and gross focus. Chang explores pubescent obsession and slantwise thinking of an all consuming crush well, and the more dreamlike peices were beautifully written. On the other hand, I did find myself rolling my eyes occasionally, feeling that some moments strayed from the focus of the book to being shocking just for the sake of it. They lost the tension and the atmosphere and felt like a 12 year old boy obsession with bodily fluids meant to challenge the readers stomach more than their mind. It didn't quite cohere for me, but I would read more from the author.

Exquisitely eerie, intense, and deeply profound, this abstract novella by Chang captivates through its unconventional surreal approach to storytelling. The novella recounts a rather straightforward tale of obsession, when Seven reconnects with Cecilia, a childhood friend. We delve into their erotically charged, impassioned relationship, as they re-connect the affecting past is drawn to the present.

Chang masterfully explores themes of obsession and queerness by challenging traditional narrative structures, linguistic norms, and delving graphic bodily boundaries (piss heavy). The prose are immediately arresting, metaphor heavy, twisting the novel into configurations. This is a lyrically dark, tricky novel and style heavy, which won’t resonate with everyone, but I enjoyed its raw, unhinged strangeness.

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for the ARC.

This book won’t be for everyone, but I read it at the best time as I’m really into novellas and this one was written perfectly. Already purchased a copy.

An intense story of obsessional love, sounded promising. This book was hard work to interpret and I feel a bit peeved with the lack of payback for my time invested.

I'm a big fan of abstract writing. I believe interpretation is the job of the reader, however, for me there needs to be something to anchor metaphorical storytelling to the real world. Unfortunately I couldn't find it here. I think Seven's family could have been that key stone but even then the narrative was so removed from reality that I couldn't connect.

Thank you to the author, @netgalley and @vintageBooks for an advance copy in return for an honest review.

An obsessive novella about a young woman, Seven, who is working as a cleaner when she encounters someone from her childhood - Cecilia.
What follows is a back and forth reliving their entwined past overlaid on their shared present. The unique style vividly, intensely, captures the magic of reconnecting with an old friend that transfixes her. Her reconnection with Cecilia triggers a cascade of memories for Seven to explore her needs and desires as well as the conflicts she feels about these.
This is a hard book to capture in such a short review but I found it thought provoking and was entranced by vividness of the style. It may take a moment to adjust to the style, but once you’re in this is an intense, captivating short read.
(3.5)

This is quite possibly the strangest book I’ve ever read, and I will be the first to admit that I am not sure I understood the deepest meaning of it. Short, painful, and visceral read with graphic descriptions of human anatomy and a preoccupation with bodily functions. Seven is obsessed with Cecilia, an obsession that started in childhood, a history that “knots them together like intestines”. She is also obsessed with slugs.

A chance encounter at Seven’s workplace reunites them and reignites Seven’s obsession. However, Cecilia’s childhood memories have been relegated to her past. Seven struggles with this passivity. Cecilia becomes her constant torment again; she wants to obliterate her and get inside of her (quite literally) and any signs of disgust from Cecilia only feed her.

I found the writing convoluted with a terrible habit of going off on a tangent too much. There were some exceptionally beautiful moments in this weird girl story which oddly had nothing to do with Cecilia but Seven’s relationship with her mother and grandmother. I found these to be touching and had a feeling of authenticity, which left the rest of the novella a little overcooked.

I liked the idea of this novella and was pleasantly surprised by the matriarchal story interwoven throughout but I think this was just a little too weird for me, and it's disappointing when you finish something knowing that you didn’t fully understand and therefore didn’t get everything out of it.

I would like to thank #NetGalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

When I first read the premise of Cecilia I was really intrigued and sounded like something I would enjoy. However, I don't think I was right for the book as it was very literary and I didn't understand what was going on for most of it. Also the number of times 'piss' was mentioned was far too many and it often made me feel uncomfortable. Having said that, I would still like to read more of K-Ming Chang's work as even though this title wasn't for me, I might find another that I love.