In this tender, elegant debut novel, a queer child from a Thai immigrant family must ask himself how much he is willing to forsake and what he is willing to forgive in order to keep his family together. In Phet Buri, 1972, a teenaged Manda Sulakorn overhears her parents whispering that they will be sending one of their girls to the Outer Country – to America. As the eldest, and protector of her younger siblings, she assumes it will be her. But to her great shock, it is Siripon, the perfect, obedient second sister, who will be bound for Los Angeles. With one parental choice, the sisters become rivals. After years of cool separation across continents, it is Siripon’s son, Ben, who brings them back together. Though Manda intends to visit Monterey Park for only a year, she decides to stay as she becomes a second mother to Ben, who fills her with fierce joy. As the child grows increasingly effeminate, her joy turns to worry. Believing that a spirit of a young woman has attached itself to her beloved nephew – and that her sister won’t do what has to be done – Manda arranges a Theravadan exorcism in secret. The ceremony culminates in a ritual purge that sets off a decade of anxiety-induced vomiting, with Ben becoming known as "Puke Boy" at school, even as his memory of the ritual fades into early childhood oblivion. As Ben grows into his own queer self-becoming, he must confront the scars of his exorcism and learn how to live amidst the family damage, where one has to tread softly. When Manda and Siripon''s husband fall into a clumsy affair, their betrayal becomes another silence to keep as well. But how long can a family go on with secrets so large pressing on their chests? From Phet Buri banana groves to a modest stucco bungalow in Monterey Park to the ivy and sandstone quadrangles of Stanford, <The Outer Country< is at once epic and intimate in scope, a breathtaking journey across borders and generations....

Autorentext

Davin Malasarn was born and raised in Southern California. After completing his PhD in biology at the California Institute of Technology, he earned his MFA in creative writing from Bennington College and completed the Queens University of Charlotte Book Development Program. He was a PEN America Emerging Voices Fellow, a Plympton Writing Downtown Fellow, and a Bennington Alumni Fellow. He co-founded The Granum Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to supporting writers, and hosts The Artist’s Statement podcast.

Klappentext

**This tender, elegant debut examines the struggle of keeping a family together when secrets threaten to pull it apart.

"Both a book of demons and a book of uncommon grace; an instant classic in the queer canon. Davin Malasarn is an exquisite writer of the heart.”—Justin Torres, author of Blackouts**

Estranged sisters Manda and Siripon have not seen each other in years when Manda travels to Los Angeles for the birth of Siripon’s son, Ben. The women have lived separate lives since they were teenagers in Phet Buri, Thailand, when their parents decided to send one of their children to America, the foreign land they call “the Outer Country.” As the eldest and the protector of her younger siblings, Manda assumed she would be the first to go. To her shock, their parents chose Siripon, the reliable, obedient second child instead. With one parental choice, the sisters became rivals.

Following their cool separation across continents, the sisters reunite to raise Ben. Manda, outrunning a devastating tragedy from her past, becomes a second mother to him, an only child who fills her with fierce joy. But as Ben grows increasingly effeminate, that joy turns to fear. Believing that the spirit of a woman has attached itself to her beloved nephew – and that her sister won’t do what has to be done to fix matters – Manda secretly arranges a Buddhist exorcism for him. The ceremony sets off a decade of anxiety-induced vomiting, with Ben becoming the object of torment and bullying at school, even as his memory of the ritual fades into early childhood oblivion.

As Ben grows into his own queer self-becoming, he must confront the scars of his exorcism and learn how to live amidst the family damage, where one has to tread softly. But how long can a family go on with secrets so large pressing on their chests?

From the mangrove forests of Phet Buri to a modest stucco bungalow in Los Angeles to the ivy and sandstone quadrangles of Stanford, The Outer Country is at once epic and intimate in scope, a breathtaking journey across borders and generations.