​Dead in Long Beach, California by Venita Blackburn is a novel about a writer, Coral, who finds her brother had committed suicide in his apartment. In the ensuing week, Coral attempts to keep her brother, Jay, alive by texting Jay’s daughter and girlfriend. Coral gets herself into increasingly more precarious situations as she pretends to be Jay in making plans, ghosting, and creating online profiles. In the meantime, Coral goes on a few dates with women where she’s become a serial liar, changing what she does for work and her personality. However, on one date that takes place at a no-kill shelter, Coral confesses what she’s been keeping a secret to a dog while her date overhears. This causes Coral to begin making amends by meeting with Jay’s girlfriend, though she gets cold feet and leaves before anything is revealed. Then, Coral decides to return to Jay’s place where his daughter is staying, and is unable to contain the suspicion. Coral goes through a drive-thru coffee shop, and the ghosts of her family come to interact with her one last time before she must abandon her farce. Finally, on the walk up to the apartment, Coral doesn’t need to say anything for the secret to be revealed to the daughter.
 
Along with the narrative of Coral trying to cover up and pretend Jay hasn’t died, the novel is narrated by the alien characters of Coral’s book. They act as supreme and observant anthropologists from the future in their attempt to make meaning out of Coral’s actions and thoughts. The novel also contains excerpts of Coral’s novel along with snippets of fan fiction, all in the same tone as the main narrative. The excerpts describe an unnamed character (which parallels that of Coral’s life) in which a debt collector arrests people who have not paid their debts. On the whole, I really enjoyed the voice the novel carries, an almost distant and curious tone which feels appropriate for alien observers. The reasoning behind Coral’s cover-up seems to be alluded to in the voice where she wanted more time with Jay, and therefore concocted a world in which that could be the case.
 
Final Rating: 4.5/5

​Exhibit by R.O. Kwon is a novel about Jin, a photographer, who one night at a party with her husband, Philip, meets Lidija, a ballet dancer on hiatus, and starts an affair. Jin and Lidija have a fiery relationship, one adorned in BDSM and secrecy, though it becomes increasingly tough for Jin to hide her relationship from Philip. Jin opens up to Lidija about a curse on her family in which a couple kills themselves over their forbidden love. All this comes to a head when Jin’s mother falls from a hiking trip in Seoul, hits her head, and is hospitalized. Jin flies to take care of her family, where it is eventually revealed she’s been having an affair with Lidija after Philip finds photos of Lidija. Philip is at first astounded, but then comes to terms with Jin, only asking her to stay with him if they can still have kids. Jin is apprehensive over this fact, instead dipping headlong back into her art.
 
Kwon’s writing style is the most unique part of this novel. It’s filled with sharp, compact, and dense sentences that read closer to poetry rather than regular prose. I also found the kisaeng’s story, which is infused within the narrative, added an almost mythological aspect to the novel. Mostly I enjoyed its play with language and the vividness of the scenes it evoked.
 
Final Rating: 4/5