Activities of Daily Living
Ratings3
Average rating3.7
15
Ratings3
Average rating3.7
Longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize A Vogue Best Book of the Year One of The Millions' Most Anticipated Books of 2022 A searching, sharply observed debut novel on the interconnection between work and life, loneliness and kinship, and the projects that occupy our time. How do we take stock of a life—by what means, and by what measure? This is the question that preoccupies Alice, a Taiwanese immigrant in her late thirties. In the off-hours from her day job, Alice struggles to create a project about the enigmatic downtown performance artist Tehching Hsieh and his monumental, yearlong 1980s performance pieces. Meanwhile, she becomes the caretaker for her aging stepfather, a Vietnam vet whose dream of making traditional Chinese furniture dissolved in alcoholism and dementia. As Alice roots deeper into Hsieh’s radical use of time—in one piece, the artist confined himself to a cell for a year; in the next, he punched a time clock every hour, on the hour, for a year—and his mysterious disappearance from the art world, her project starts metabolizing events from her own life. She wanders from subway rides to street protests, loses touch with a friend, and tenderly observes her father’s slow decline. Moving between present-day and 1980s New York City, with detours to Silicon Valley and the Venice Biennale, this vivid debut announces Lisa Hsiao Chen as an audacious new talent. Activities of Daily Living is a lucid, intimate examination of the creative life and the passage of time.
Reviews with the most likes.
This book was hard work to read. That's not a bad thing by any means, but I do think it's important to be aware of! I think I entered into it with the wrong mindset; based on the blurb, I was expecting something more prototypically “novelesque” - something more squarely aligned with most contemporary or literary fiction. I was taken aback by its detached tone (her father - never named - is simply “The Father”) and its frequent allusions and references to philosophers and artists. I think I was anticipating something more purely emotional, and it was actually quite logical (though by no means linear). Again, that's not a criticism, but it does explain why it took me so long to get through - I ended up struggling so much on my first attempt I had to set it aside, then re-start from the beginning with an open mind one month later.
Once I started for the second time, I was overall glad to have the experience of reading this book. In some ways, it reminded me of The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera, though I'd still describe that book as more overtly emotional than this one. There were some scenes that were incredibly visceral; in particular, the Father losing control of his bowels during the Super Bowl at his first care facility was so hard to read (and so memorable even weeks later) in large part because it was so well-described - the anticipation, the action, the aftermath: shame and relief and disconnection. That said, while there were bursts of vivid and powerful writing that captivated me, I never felt completely absorbed by this book - more vaguely curious, and like I was learning something. (Between this book and Ruth Ozeki's latest, I know more about Walter Benjamin than I ever would have suspected!)
Overall, I would describe this as slow-paced, esoteric, and unique. I found it intriguing more than enjoyable, but I feel that had I gone in with those expectations, I might have had a more positive experience.
Thanks to W.W. Horton and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.
