Shortlisted for the 2022 Shirley Jackson Award
Unwieldy Creatures, a biracial, queer, nonbinary retelling of Mary Shelley's classic novel Frankenstein, follows the story of three beings who all navigate life from the margins: Plum, a queer biracial Chinese intern at one of the world's top embryology labs, who runs away from home to openly be with her girlfriend only to be left on her own; Dr. Frank, a queer biracial Indonesian scientist, who compromises everything she claims to love in the name of science and ambition when she sets out to procreate without sperm or egg; and Dr. Frank's nonbinary creation who, painstakingly brought into the world, is abandoned due to complications at birth that result from a cruel twist of revenge. Plum struggles to determine the limits of her own ambition when Dr. Frank offers her a chance to assist with her next project. How far will Plum go in the name of scientific advancement and what is she willing to risk?
"If you know the literary me, you know my mad love for Mary Shelley and Frankenstein. And after my own heart, Addie Tsai has gifted us this breathtaking retelling full of queer, biracial, gender-swapping goodness."
Reading into everything.
Addie Tsaiâs âUnwieldy Creaturesâ asks if weâre capable of loving bodies that donât match societyâs ideas of beauty and normalcy. https://t.co/XaLFY7Tn2q
Queer Asian enby writer |đ PhD | DEAR TWIN | UNWIELDY CREATURES | IT CAME FROM THE CLOSET | Venmo: Addie-Tsai | eic @femmeanddandy | review ed @anmly_lit | any
in case ya'll wanna see my event from yesterday at @BIPOCBookFest @asiasocietytx https://t.co/c5PdtINvzR
"A true original and a perfect example of a flip from a historical classic to a contemporary one." - Buzzfeed News
"Unwieldy Creatures takes a long, hard look at who is monster and who isn't . . . Tsai's characters are vivid and compelling." - Midwest Book Review