Gods of Want
Order the book through your local bookstore, online, or check your local library for digital and physical loans.
Context Links
- Never Marry A Man With A Human Mother (Electric Literature)
- From child gossip columnist to acclaimed author: K-Ming Chang’s search for the truth (The Guardian)
- K-Ming Chang’s “Gods of Want” (LA Review of Books)
- The Reverberations of Desire in “Gods of Want” (Chicago Review of Books)
Guiding Questions
- How does the author use myth in these short stories? Discuss the ways they inform our reading of the stories and who it’s for (audience).
- Weaved through the stories is the theme of memories, real, imagined, mythically transformed. How does the way Chang uses memory transform our experiences of reading?
- How are mothers represented in these stories? What mother and daughter relationships resonated with you?
- Stories about the relationship between mother-in-laws and daughter-in-laws are ubiquitous in Asian (Asian American) literature/media (as well as African literature). How does this compare to American literature? What representations can you think of?
- Another theme in this collection is queerness. Discuss Chang’s views of queerness – what offerings does she give us in this collection? How is it represented and how does it compare/contrast with other representations of queer Asian American narratives you’ve read before?