Where Are You Really From
by Elaine Hsieh Chou
Seven powerful stories that unsettle, surprise, and remind us how much our choices matter
What It’s About
Seven stories, set from Taiwan to Paris to both coasts of the US, about identity and how the choices we make shape our future. Whether it is a mail order bride boxed in transit, two girls plotting against their neighbor, or an au pair meeting her exact French doppelgänger, Chou bends the ordinary into something uncanny, more surreal than literal, and deeply resonant.
What Stuck With Me
What is most striking is how varied these stories are, yet how seamlessly they work together. One felt like Black Mirror, another like Modern Love, and all carried the same clarity and bite. Mail Order Love, You Put a Rabbit on Me, and The Dollhouse stayed with me longest, each one felt complete, even in just a few pages. Each one made me think a little harder and a little deeper than the one before it.
Not every story sits in the uncanny or tender space. One in particular, centered on sex tourism and exploitation, turns the lens toward desire and power. Its ending is brutal but necessary, a reminder of how wide Chou is willing to cast her net.
What I appreciated most was the tonal range, from shocking to tender, shifting in the same story. Chou balances the micro, the private cruelties and everyday choices, with the macro, the larger cultural and political questions. She reminds us that there is rarely a fixed version of truth.
Would I Recommend It?
Absolutely. If you’re drawn to short stories that move between tender, unsettling, and sometimes brutal, this collection is worth your time. Some tilt surreal, some stay closer to everyday life, but none step away from the truth of being human.
Every story worked for me. Chou doesn’t flinch in her storytelling, and that’s what makes the whole collection hit as hard as it does.
I received a copy of this book from Penguin Random House in exchange for an honest review.
Where to find it
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