So straight after I finish my books of the year list, I read a book like this. This is an extraordinary collection of stories. The narratives are consistently throwing the reader off kilter, going somewhere unexpected, while the characters anchor the reader with consistent and relatable humanity, even as the situation teeter. Kochai loves a good run on sentence, and the stories seem to literally sweep you away. A man turns into a monkey and then a militia leader. A kid plays a computer game made in America but set in Afghanistan and finds his father's story there. A pair of doctors sew their son back together. Others are more wistful - a delicate story of marriages and friendship, a group of kids playing a game with an unsettling end.

The surreal nature of many of these natures also seem to play various roles: explaining emotional truths, redeeming something by revisiting or recasting it, allowing a rewriting of the story. "And why must we ruin what is beautiful with what is true?" one character asks.