Mending Bodies

In a failing city, a government program incentivizes couples to surgically attach themselves to one another, promising a flourishing economy, ecological revitalization, and personal fulfillment. Hon Lai Chu’s unnamed narrator, living with a friend who may be the love of her life, is broke and knee-deep in her dissertation, and in her struggles, she begins to lose her sense of self. With all of the pressures of society’s expectations and those of her close friends, she worries that maybe the...