City Like Water: A Novel

The city you grew up in is gone, as if sunk to the bottom of the ocean. So much has vanished with it-classmates, teachers, counterfeit watches, the erotic toe cleavage that used to lead the way down secret passages. Yet you still catch snatches of conversation lingering in the air and glimpse sun-dazzled residents retreating into dark crevices.

People seem to keep disappearing. Your mother joins in a housewives' protest, each woman waving the fake, bloody lotus roots they were sold until pol...