“Organ Meats is a testament to Chang’s ability to balance the tender with the grotesque”
by aloe lai
From my nosebleed seat in the literary/publishing world, I hear K-Ming Chang’s name often uttered with awe and affection. While we share several identities (Taiwanese American, queer, writer) and a love for speculative fiction, what I was most excited for in witnessing her rising star is the fact that she has roots in the Bay Area and Southern California (I’m from the 626 in Los Angeles, now in Oakland). Chang has had a busy couple years throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, and her latest novel, Organ Meats, published on October 24, 2023, just over a year after she dropped her short story collection titled Gods of Want. Funny enough, I have never fully read any of Chang’s books, so starting with Organ Meats (which Chang has referred to as part 3 in a “mythic triptych”) feels like sitting down at an all-you-can-eat buffet where you have to eat everything and can’t take anything home. Lucky for me, it was a buffet I enjoyed stuffing myself on, with some pauses taken to digest.
Organ Meats centers on two young girls named Anita Hsia and Rainie Tsai, who spend the summer manifesting into their final forms as dogs. Besides knowing their full names and seeing their alternating points of view, as readers we aren’t given much factual details about them, such as their exact ages, their appearances, etc. In the world Anita and Rainie exist in, dream and reality blend together, facilitated by Chang’s vivid use of analogies and mesmerizing scene-setting. The prose ranges from lush rhythmic stanzas to blunt comments on poop and intestines (doing justice to the novel’s title).
As much as Anita and Rainie let their imaginations run wild and play and scheme together, there is also a burgeoning, queer longing between them that begins to complicate their young friendship. Rainie grows more self-conscious of her discomfort around Anita, and begins pushing Anita away. Anita is the more free-spirited of the two, more open and fearless, to the point where she is willing to press her ass against a fence and deposit a turd through it for the dogs on the other side. The tension and conflict peak with the news that Rainie is moving away, and the red thread they use as collars then becomes deadly for Anita, replacing her blood and sending her into a deep sleep, slowly but surely rotting away. Strange events follow as Rainie is forced to confront her devotion to Anita and embark on Dr. Frankenstein’s quest bringing life back to one she both loves and fears.
Organ Meats is a testament to Chang’s ability to balance the tender with the grotesque. It may be a challenge to readers who prefer a straightforward story with a distinct beginning-middle-end, but for anyone who is willing to dive into a book that pushes the boundaries of how stories can be told and what queer love looks like, this is the one for you.
I’d like to thank One World for a copy of Organ Meats, and to Shannon for the opportunity to review this novel for ANMLY.
