一名被街坊鄰居稱為「亞洲回收婦人」的女性靠撿拾空罐維生；透過經營地下麻將館尋回自我價值的家庭主婦；因身分誤認而命運交錯的兩名陌生人。
《Tomb Sweeping》收錄的故事背景游移於亞洲和美國，透過雜貨店員工、即將迎接新生的父母及初入社會的研究助理等角色，探索移民家庭的生活、家庭甚或陌生人之間的交流，在生活無以名狀的迷團中打開入口，供人思索與他人的相處之道。
A playful and deeply affective short story collection about the histories, technologies, and generational divides that shape our relationships—from the award-winning writer of Days of Distraction
Compelling and perceptive, Tomb Sweeping probes the loyalties we hold: to relatives, to strangers, and to ourselves. In stories set across the US and Asia, Alexandra Chang immerses us in the lives of immigrant families, grocery store employees, expecting parents, and guileless lab assistants.
A woman known only to her neighbors as “the Asian recycling lady” collects bottles from the streets she calls home. A young college grad ponders the void left from a broken friendship. An unfulfilled housewife in Shanghai finds a secret outlet for her ambitions in an undercover gambling den. Two strangers become something more through the bond of mistaken identity.
These characters, adeptly attuned to the mystery of living, invite us to consider whether it is possible for anyone to entirely do right by another. Tomb Sweeping brims with remarkable skill and talent in every story, keeping a definitive pulse on loss, community, and what it means to feel fully alive. With her debut story collection, Chang further establishes herself as “a writer to watch” (New York Times Book Review).
