Regarding the Pain of Others is an essay written by Susan Sontag that discusses images of war and some common issues with violent images. Sontag talks about how images of war are not always accurate due to them often being staged by the photographer for the purpose of creating a dramatic effect. There is a ton of violence that appears in our world that is seen through images which are often promoted by the media. Sontag analysis how images of war are often interpreted by the public and individuals that do not actually experience war other than through images. The way people understand trauma is often affected by their environment and social views. Sontag talks about how people don’t always register these violent images as being real and how the suffering of others should allow for people to reflect on their privileges.

One significant issue that Sontag addresses in her essay is that images of war are not always credible. Individuals that publish staged images of war will do something such as “create a scene — by posing bodies — and then draft a dramatic narrative to accompany the picture” (Gardner). They will do this and then advertise the image and depiction as non-fiction, fooling the public. This connects to The Danger of a Single Story by Adichie because when such an image is staged in this type of way it is done so to tell a certain story that is clearly not the truth. This can lead to a lot of controversy and even chaos as people tend to believe what they see in images even if the photographs are not proven credible. An example of this is when a Los Angeles Times photographer was found responsible for “merging two images of a British soldier and a crowd of Iraqis (in the altered image, the soldier appears to be pointing his gun at a man holding a child)” (Marlantes). As one can imagine this picture led to a lot of controversy and anger amongst the public, causing many issues.

Another idea that is a focus of Sontag’s work is the way that people interrupt images of war and trauma differently. Throughout the video “Watching Others’ Trauma” many different ways of how people view and react to seeing trauma are discussed. The video says how many of the images we see have visual narratives where we often assume a story of tragedy is related. Studies show that when people look at violent images “we continue to stare as a way to face our fears without risking immediate harm” (Page). There is clearly an attraction that humans have with images of violence, as they are constantly all over the media. In conclusion, Sontag gives very significant insight regarding images of war that allow her readers a better understanding of the overall concept.

Hansen, Claire, et al. “Where Is Marijuana Legal? A Guide to Marijuana …” U.S. News and World Report, 14 Oct. 2021, https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/articles/where-is-marijuana-legal-a-guide-to-marijuana-legalization. Accessed 2 Dec. 2021.

Marlantes, Liz. “’Doctored’ War Photos Ignite Controversy.” ABC News, ABC News Network, 9 Aug. 2006, https://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=2288892&page=1. Accessed 2 Dec. 2021.

Page, Danielle. “The Science behind Why We Can’t Look Away from Tragedy.” NBCNews.com, NBCUniversal News Group, 28 Sept. 2017, https://www.nbcnews.com/better/health/science-behind-why-we-can-t-look-away-disasters-ncna804966. Accessed 2 Dec. 2021.

Sontag discusses just how photography is used to illustrate the good, the bad, and the evil within her work Regarding the Pain of Others. Sontag focuses on how individuals seem to be perceiving these photographs of varying aspects of life. Photographs can capture such a surreal moment in life but when presented to an audience, individuals begin to formulate their own opinions of the situation at hand.

Individuals seem to be losing compassion and going “numb” at rapid rates. According to studies, as the number of the victims in a crisis increases, compassionate emotion and behavior decreases (Seppala, Emma, et al). This is an interesting concept to look at because normally we would think as the number of victims increase, the number of individuals wanting to support and help these victims increase. However, the trend of individuals wanting to help those in need shows the exact opposite response. 

Sontag discusses how photographs may act as a factor in the inability to sympathize with those experiencing mass suffering. Photographs that capture such mass suffering often add a sort of filter over the situation, often “beautifying” it. “We need to account for not just the power of image but their powerlessness, their importance, their abjection” (Thomas 10). As Thomas states, photographs are often seen as powerless when they should reflect importance. Further, in the video Images of Trauma Dr. Maurice Stevens and Dr. Ryann Patrus discusses how many individuals view photographs of mass suffering. They uncover the idea that many people use photos to distance themselves from the situation and realize how grateful they are that they do not have to experience what is being pictured. 

“One death is a tragedy; one million is a statistic” (Cameron and Payne).This quote by Joseph Stalin, while it seems harsh, is an example of the collapse of compassion constantly occurring. The photos we view of mass suffering could be seen as a form of othering. The way in which individuals care very little for mass groups suffering is a reflection of an invisible hierarchy in place. As explained in the video Images of Trauma, many individuals use photographs of mass suffering as a way of distancing themselves from situations they are not experiencing firsthand. Thus, this distancing and ignorance of mass suffering creates an otherness out of those individuals seeking help. 

Bibliography

Cameron, C. Daryl, and B. Keith Payne. “Escaping Affect: How Motivated Emotion Regulation Creates Insensitivity to Mass Suffering.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, vol. 100, no. 1, 2011, pp. 1–15., https://doi.org/10.1037/a0021643. 

Seppala, Emma, et al. The Oxford Handbook of Compassion Science. Oxford University Press, 2017. 

Thomas, Mitchell W J. What Do Pictures Want?: The Lives and Loves of Images. Univ. of Chicago Press, 2010. 

A Small Place is a creative book-length essay written by Jamaica Kincaid, first published in 1988. Kincaid is an Antiguan-American writer, born in St. John’s, Antigua. The book discusses and criticizes the corruption of the Antigua government, the past British colonization, and slavery. Because of the book, she was unofficially banned from her country for five years, and she might have been killed if she returned. She is now a professor of African and African American Studies at Harvard University.

The story was divided into four parts and began with Kincaid’s narration of the reader’s experiences and views as a hypothetical tourist in Antigua. What is notable is that the author addresses the reader directly as “you,” she makes extensive use of the second-person point of view. The narrator tells the readers about what he experienced and what he saw on the island, including the natural beauty of Antigua, the new and expensive Japanese car on the road, but running like old cars because of the leaded gasoline, and the bedraggled library, schools, and hospitals. The library was destroyed due to an earthquake ten years ago, but no one repaired it. Ironically, most of the people who live in the mansions got their wealth through illegality and corruption, such as the drug dealer and the beautiful young girlfriend of the government official.

The second and third section is Kincaid’s memory of her hometown and the presence of Antigua. She remembered the library that she used to go to, but now the collection rots in the cardboard boxes because there are no funds for the librarians to repair the library. Back then, Antigua was colonized by the British, and she believes it caused the difference between the past and present Antigua. She discussed the influence of British colonialism on Antiguans’ minds. She claimed that it is conceptual distortions that Antiguan worships English culture, although they are the colonists. Kincaid used to live on a street named after an English maritime criminal. She bitterly and angrily says, “…for isn’t it odd that the only language I have in which to speak of this crime is the language of the criminal who committed the crime?” The Antiguans even praise a “British God” for their independence from Britain. The author also mentions the ironies that Antigua has a Minister of Culture without “having a culture” to administer.

The last part of the book is mainly about the island’s beautiful nature and the Antigua Kincaid loved. It is somehow unreal to Kincaid; the sun, the sky, the scents of the flowers, all seems too perfect and vivid. Antigua, “nine miles wide by twelve miles long,” was colonized centuries ago by “human rubbish from Europe” who enslaved “noble and exalted human beings from Africa.”

The whole book is built full of the author’s personal objective memory, and dislike of government and colonialism, and even criticizes the Antiguas for their submission to colonialism.De Beauvoir’s concept of “other” is presented in the story. Antiguan is the other, and British is the powerful group. The Antiguans succumbed to colonialism, and the British colonization deprived them of their language and culture and somehow damaged their fundamental human rights. More, Hegel’s concept of master-slave dialect is also performed in the book. The relationship and the emotions of Antiguans toward the British are complicated. The British colonial took control of the Antiguan, and the English culture replaced their culture; however, the education situation in Antigua has suffered in the years since independence, and Kincaid sadly “mentioned the poor speech habits of the younger Antiguans.”

Bibliography:

1. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Jamaica Kincaid. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. November 2, 2021. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamaica_Kincaid
2. Sparknotes. A Small Place. Sparknotes. https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/smallplace/summary/
3. SuperSummary. A Small Place Summary. SuperSummary. https://www.supersummary.com/a-small-place/summary/
4. Coursehero. A Small Place Study Guide. Coursehero. https://www.coursehero.com/lit/A-Small-Place/section-4-summary/

Black Panther (2018), Directed by Ryan Coogler,  is a movie about a fictional country in Africa called Wakanda. In this country, five tribes formed together millions of years prior to form the one kingdom, on top of very precious land which holds Vibranium. In the movie, T’challa, the main character, loses control of his kingdom after his cousin comes back to challenge him for the throne. They have different views on the place of Wakanda and the world, and fight for the future of the kingdom, bringing together international conflict and friendship to the movie. 

Black Panther is a popular movie in the United States and the world, for being one of the first Marvel movies to show all non white main characters. In 2018, it brought a lot of attention and cultural diversity to movies and acting because of the types of people who are usually casted. This brought a huge movement to the movie world, to start casting people of color and people with disabilities, as well as casting them for roles they would be good at skill wise, not just look wise. Rotten Tomatoes is one of the most known movie rating companies and explained this movie as, “introducing some of its most fully realized characters”. We also have seen the cultural and technical aspects it has brought to inform the audience on African culture. Seeing the scenes with formal clothing/jewelry, appointing kings, and the spread out of land is similar to countries and tribes in Africa today who appoint kings, or have formal wear. Many of the medical and spiritual rituals have also been mimicked from cultures of those in Southern Africa (Nisa).  We also noticed in the movie when T’challa was on the throne, music of his home nation would be playing compared to his cousin, who would be introduced with trap music signifying an American on the throne. 

In this course, we have talked about many links that would be similar to Black Panther like cultural differences, racial differences, and stereotypes. We can relate what the world originally thought of Wakanda to Aijaz Ahmed’s Jameson’s Rhetoric of Otherness and National Allegory. In his writing, he speaks about how the world sees his home country of India as “the third world”(Ahmed 77)  instead of maybe a second or first. This is due to colonization/imperialism but most importantly because people have never traveled to India and been there, to see how advanced the country actually is. 

Overall, Black Panther is an Amazing movie with a lot to unpack and digest about the world and especially what we have learned in this class. 

Works Cited

Ahmed, Aijaz. “Jameson’s Rhetoric of Otherness and ‘National Allegory’ .” CarmenCanvas, The Ohio State University COMPSTD1100, https://osu.instructure.com/courses/106813/files/33418701?module_item_id=6554078. 

“Black Panther.” Rotten Tomatoes, https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/black_panther_2018. 

Coogler, Ryan, et al. Black Panther. Black Panther, The Ohio State University , https://digitalcampus-swankmp-net.proxy.lib.ohio-state.edu/osu339411/grid. Accessed 26 Nov. 2021.

Shostak, Marjorie. Nisa: The Life and Words of a!Kung Woman. Routledge, 2015. 

Certain events in history have had a major impact on how people of different cultures treat each other in America. Throughout the novel, The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid the main character Changez, a Pakistani man, discusses his life in America and what changed after 9/11. Changez describes an enormous surge in patriotism and illustrates how people treated him differently than before. He receives increased airport security checks and insults from strangers. This eventually leads to Changez losing his job and returning to Pakistan. Changez’s experience in America after 9/11 demonstrates a larger picture of how Muslim’s and Arab’s have had to deal with increased hostility and discrimination.

Muslims, Arabs, and people of similar culture have experienced a different America post 9/11. These people began to receive increased discrimination and racism and became stereotyped as “terrorists.” Mona Amer, a Muslim woman living in America described how “She felt the relentless stares of strangers everywhere she went. I received horrid emails, including death threats” (Mekouar, 1). This is another example of a Muslim person receiving discrimination and hate from people around her simply because of her religion and appearance. The views of Americans on Arab people have changed immensely. “A poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research conducted ahead of the 9/11 anniversary found that 53% of Americans have unfavorable views toward Islam” (Fam, 4). This statistic is extremely disappointing as it shows that a very large portion of Americans have negative views on people from Islam which can make it very uncomfortable for these people to feel like they belong in America.

The way these people are being treated relates back to Simone de Beauvoir’s theory of the othering. Muslims and people of similar culture have become othered by society. Anan Hafez, a Muslim man who lives in America perfectly described how his people are being othered. He described that “The othering of Muslims since 9/11 has had a long-term impact on the lives of Muslim Americans and their sense of belonging and inclusion in the fabric of American society” (Mineo, 3). This illustrates how these people feel that they don’t belong in America and the treatment they receive has greatly impacted their lives in a negative way. Overall, 9/11 had a very negative impact on how Muslim and Arab people are perceived by American society and has led to constant discrimination and othering of these people.

Citations:

Mariam Fam, Deepti Hajela. “Two Decades after 9/11, Muslim Americans Still Fighting Bias.” AP NEWS, Associated Press, 7 Sept. 2021, https://apnews.com/article/September-11-Muslim-Americans-93f97dd9219c25371428f4268a2b33b4.

Mekouar, Dora. “How 9/11 Changed Arab and Muslim Americans.” VOA, How 9/11 Changed Arab and Muslim Americans, 21 Sept. 2021, https://www.voanews.com/a/6222700.html.

Mineo, Liz. “Muslim Americans Reflect on the Impact of 9/11.” Harvard Gazette, Harvard Gazette, 11 Sept. 2021, https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2021/09/muslim-americans-reflect-on-the-impact-of-9-11/.

Events can seriously affect the compatibility between cultures. This book reveals this characteristic to us by narrating the dramatic impact that 9/11 had on the life of the main character, Changez, a Pakistani, as he pursues the American dream in the United States.

Before 9/11, Changez was a successful man, born in Lahore in a decadent aristocratic family. He studied in the United States at the age of 18, graduated with straight A’s from Princeton University and went on to a promising career as a financial analyst for a major firm on Wall Street. He also fell in love with a American named Erica.  He said he loved America, and that America had fulfilled his hopes in life. 9/11 occurred when Changez was on a business trip to the Philippines, and then returned to the United States, where he was insulted at the airport for having a Muslim face. This type of racial disparity led to frequent conflicts, which made Changez deeply realized that America was not his country. After all these spiritual crisis and a tortuous struggle to redeem himself, Changez gave up everything he had in the United States and returned to Pakistan.

The 9/11 attacks changed the status of Muslims and Arabs in the U.S. The communication barrier in Changez’s relationship with Erica, who was the reflection of America, seemed to foreshadow the fact that America’s acceptance of heterogeneous cultures is not complete, and it has its own core of patterns that it adheres to(Omer 6). Looking at the effects of 9/11 from the perspective of the Other, not only Changez, but also Arab and Muslim countries were labeled as terrorist, then for the United States all people belonging to that race were classified as the Other. In the aftermath of 9/11, not only had hostility and discrimination of American against Arabs and Muslims increased, but there was a continuing resentment and concern among Americans about Arabs and Muslims(Costas 1), and the label of Other had not been removed. Changez was the victim of it. The book ends with Erica suffering from schizophrenia, which might give a hint to why the effects are lasting and severe – post-9/11 America was overly immersed in its own suffering and refused to communicate rationally with other cultures(Chen 6). This lead to the conflict between cultures never decreased.

Costas Panagopoulos,“Trends: Arab and Muslim Americans and Islam in the Aftermath of 9/11”,Winter 2006, The Public Opinion Quarterly, Vol. 70, No. 4, pp. 608-624 (17 pages), retrieved from: https://www.jstor.org/stable/4124213

Jie Chen, “Strangers in Lahore Tea House”, 17 Oct 2013, Sanlian Life Weekly, retrieved from: https://book.douban.com/review/3460462/

Omer Morzzafar, “The Reluctant Fundamentalist”, 25 Apr 2013, RogerEbert, retrieved from: https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-reluctant-fundamentalist-2013

In Jhumpa Lahiri’s short story collection, Interpreter of Maladies, there are several different overarching themes that have been established. These themes start with parent/child relationships and move to religion and traditions, communication, environment and nature, and end with immigrant experience and assimilation. A lot of these individual stories apply to more than one of these themes. However, the theme of Partition as a historical event and as a metaphor is employed by Lahiri.

The Indian Independence Act of 1947 split what was known as British India into two different countries now known as India and Pakistan (Ansari, 2017). The borders were determined by the religious groups that most densely populated the areas (Ansari, 2017). India had a Hindu majority while Muslims controlled Pakistan (Ansari, 2017). Several conflicts and wars have followed Partition and tensions between the countries seem to escalate every year (Perkins, 2017). Partition was intended to prevent religious violence but instead encouraged conflict between Hindus and Muslims by forcing a division between the two (Perkins, 2017).

Characters are divided against others and divided within themselves. Boori Ma, from A Real Durwan, is a refugee who may or may not have lost her family and luxurious home in the forced exile of Hindus and Muslims from each other’s territories (Lahiri, pg. 70). Her new life is in shambles, and she lives on the fringes of society (Lahiri, pg. 73). Boori Ma represents the disastrous effects of the events of 1947. Lilia’s reaction to Mr. Pirzada, from Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine, is Lahiri’s critique of the battle between the two religions. She is unable to see any real difference between Mr. Pirzada and her parents (Lahiri, pg. 40). Someone like Miranda, from Sexy, who is neither Indian nor Indian American, is not immune to such a divide (Lahiri, pg. 95). Though she feels guilty about her date with Dev, her desire for him remains (Lahiri, pg. 108).

Citations:

Ansari, Sarah. “How the Partition of India Happened – and Why Its Effects Are Still Felt Today.” The Conversation, 10 Aug. 2017, https://theconversation.com/how-the-partition-of-india-happened-and-why-its-effects-are-still-felt-today-81766.

Lahiri, Jhumpa. Interpreter of Maladies. Houghton Mifflin Company, 1999.

Perkins, C. Ryan. “1947 Partition of India & Pakistan.” The 1947 Partition Archive – Spotlight at Stanford, 12 June 2017, https://exhibits.stanford.edu/1947-partition/about/1947-partition-of-india-pakistan.

In Jhumpa Lahiri’s, Interpreter to Maladies, she explores a variety of themes such as marriage, assimilation, communication, and malady. While each of these themes can be identified and understood throughout the nine different stories, marriage seems to be the most common one being portrayed. Furthermore, Lahiri discusses a wide range of diverse relationships among married couples and reveals how each couple handles different stressors in their lives such as the death of a stillbirth, extramarital affairs, and arranged marriages.

For example, the book starts with “A Temporary Home,” and shares how the death of a stillborn child slowly breaks Shoba and Shukumar’s marriage apart. Towards the beginning of the short story, it is clear that the couple is happy and ready for a child, but it slowly takes a turn for the worse and they began miscommunicating, finding pleasure in other things, and resenting each other for the loss of the child. According to David Gibson (2021), couples who experience a stillbirth have a 40% higher risk of sharing signs of resentment and ending their relationships. Another marriage worth noting is Mr. and Mrs. Das’s in “Interpreter of Maladies.” This short story reveals how Mina (Mrs. Das) lives with guilt and pain because of an affair she had with Raj’s Punjabi friend. Similar to Mina’s actions, 53.5% of all women are known to sleep with their husband’s close friend (McPherson, 2018). Finally, the last story “The Third and Final Continent,” shares a more positive marriage where the narrator and Mala experience geographical separation, cultural hardships, and an arranged marriage in which they overcome to establish a loving and long-lasting relationship.

It is evident that Lahiri does an excellent job conveying the message that all married couples will face some life-altering obstacle, and the outcome is purely defined by their actions. In the end, each of the nine short stories help paint a vibrant picture of the marriages we see in today’s society by sharing their common imperfections.

Citations:

Gibson, D. (2021). Miscarriages and stillbirths put some couples at risk. For Your Marriage.        https://www.foryourmarriage.org/blogs/miscarriages-and-stillbirths-put-some-couples-at- risk/

McPherson, D. (2018, April 04). Extramarital sex partners likely to be close friends, and men are more apt to cheat. Colorado Arts and Sciences Magazine. https://www.colorado.edu/asmagazine/2018/04/04/extramarital-sex-partners-likely-be-close-friends-and-men-are-more-apt-cheat

The “Interpreter of Maladies” is a book composed by an Indian American writer Jhumpa Lahiri in 1999 that consists of 9 separate stories. Those nine stories have no relationship with each other except that characteristics in those stories are all African Americans like Lahiri. Lahiri immigrated to the US with her parents when she was just three and grew up in Rhode Island. Therefore, she was able to bring her personal experiences and knowledge about Indian Americans. In those stories, Lahiri vividly described topics that many immigrants would suffer-cultural conflict, marriage issues, and trouble in finding their own identity.

To understand the condition of Indian Americans, we must refer to the historical context. In the 1600s, British people developed India into their colony to benefit their people. The period of colonization finally ended when the English finally left India in 1947.  After they left, India separated into two independent nations. One was Hindu majority India, while another was Muslim majority Pakistan. Then those two nations started the war that lasted for decades. That caused the largest migration in Asia in recent human history, millions of Muslims migrated from India to Pakistan and millions. During the period of partition, violence was prevalent that around 2 million people died in the period, while some seventy-five thousand women were raped, and many of them were then disfigured or dismembered. Some British reporters and soldiers who had witnessed the Nazi death camp states that the Partition’s brutalities were worse: “pregnant women had their breasts cut off and babies hacked out of their bellies; infants were found literally roasted on spits.”. Contrary to the condition in India, the US was the country that went through the fastest growth in the world. Therefore, the US spontaneously became the destination of many Indian immigrants.

As “others” in the white society, those Indian immigrants were “both included and excluded from the society” using Ms. Uhm’s words. On one hand, their lives are highly intersected with native people, they may work together, take the class together, or may share the same apartment. Sometimes, they even could behave like fully involved in the society and have various relationships with native people like Mr. Dev in the story of “Sexy”. On the other hand, they may always like outsiders to native people. Language barriers, cultural differences, and homesickness were all issues they need to solve to get involved in society. Between the interval of two cultures, they may feel confused about their identity. In addition, they may also have relatives who still live in India, making them worry about their relatives and never feel settled in the US. In the story of “When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine”, we could always hear him talking about his daughter and other relatives in Pakistan where the war between Pakistan and India was still going on. This made him tortured because he was safe in the US whereas his family could be in danger. With so many immigrants, Mr. Pirzada may not be a single example who is in the same condition. However, facing the choice of a different life, they are not allowed to hesitate. Many of them have to live a life in the US with those heavy loads.

Work cited:

1. Lahiri, J (1999), “Interpreter of maladies”
2. “Partition of India”, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partition_of_India
3. Dalrymple W (2015), The New Yorker, “The Great Divide- The Violent Legacy of Indian Partition”, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/06/29/the-great-divide-books-dalrymple
4. Siomone de Beauvior, “From the Second Sex”

Lisa Ko’s The Leavers is about a young man in search of his identity. Deming Guo and Peilian Guo both are living in Chinatown of New York City. Peilian meets Leon another Chinese immigrant, and they form a romantic relationship. They later move into his apartment which he shares with his sister and nephew. While Polly is working in a nail salon, they shop is raided by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. She is arrested and detained in a detention camp in the United States for fourteen months before her deportation back to China. In a study conducted by Brian Allen at Penn State they found that, “Children with a deported parent were significantly more likely to display externalizing and internalizing problems than children whose parents were not deported”. (Allen, 2013) During this time Deming is put up for adoption and is taken in by Kay and Peter, his adopted parents.

As a young adult Deming or Daniel has trouble in and outside of school. He drops out of college and becomes addicted to gambling. Daniel’s trouble as a young adult can be correlated to his early childhood, especially after the deportation of his mother. Brian Allen in his research of the effects deportation and detention have on the development of children concluded that there is a strong correlation between the parent-child relationship and mental development. The study concluded, “research demonstrates the critical role that parent–child relationships play in the development of social skills, emotion regulation and self-concept”. (Allen 2013) While he is attempting to get his life back on track he gets a message from Michael, Leon’s nephew regarding his mother. Daniel gets in contact with Leon who is now living in China and has been in contact with Polly. Daniel calls Polly and they start to mend their relationship after years of being separated. He flies to Fuzhou to meet her and ends up staying to teaching English at the World Top school. At the end, Daniel has gone from an angry lost man to finding his own path in life.

Citations

Allen , Brian. The Children Left Behind: The Impact of Parental Deportation on Mental Health . Feb. 2013, https://www.nationalcac.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/The-children-left-behind-The-impact-of-parental-deportation-on-mental-health.pdf.

Ko, Lisa. The Leavers. Dialogue Books, 2018.