“She examines him again, this immaculate twenty something, his tall form folded into the back seat with the large suitcase he’s kept beside him, opting to fill the trunk with smaller things: his tablet and laptop, backpack, duffel, cooler bag. Miserable yet sincere. No way he snuck a flask by her. It would’ve marred the lines of his suit, the innocence of his smooth brow. Motion sickness, she decides. Or anxiety. He vibrates with barely controlled unease.”
That’s a passage from Soma Mei Shang Frazier’s novel Off the Books. Mei is a Dartmouth drop out who is earning money “off the books” as a chauffeur. Her grandfather recommended her for a job driving Henry Lee from San Francisco to Syracuse, New York. She’d love to drive twice as many hours as Henry allows, but he insists on short days and long lunch breaks, always taking the big suitcase with him wherever he goes. She’s very curious to know what is in the suitcase especially after hearing a sound that makes her think there’s a human in it.
As the story unfolds, we learn about a sect of Chinese Muslims called the Uyghurs that are being persecuted in China. The book jacket says, when Mei confronts Henry about the suitcase contents “what Henry reveals rocks her to her core and shifts this once casual, transactional road trip to one of moral stakes and dangerous consequences.” This is a unique story that I wasn’t sure I wanted to recommend, but it’s definitely grown on me.
If you’re looking for a story that will introduce you to an aspect of China of which you might be unaware, then you must read Off the Books by Soma Mei Sheng Frazier.
