Goodbye, Vitamin

'Brilliant disquisition on family, relationships and adulthood, told in prose that is so startling in its spare beauty that I found mysef thinking about Khong's turns of phrase for days after I finished reading.'  -- Doree Shafrir, New York Review of Books
‘A deceptively complex tale of dementia and its impact on a family… Like a chain of fairy lights in the darkness, with Khong displaying a deep understanding of the way in which memory humanises and connects us individually communally – and without which all becomes chaos’ -- Catherine Taylor, Financial Times
'Mostly this sweet-natured novel is about Ruth’s attempts to come to terms with a past her father can no longer remember while still attending to the quirky, fleeting joys of the present. 'Here I am, in lieu of you,' she writes, 'collecting the moments.' -- Sam Sacks, ‘Best New Fiction, Wall Street Journal
‘Rachel Khong’s Goodbye, Vitamin is the best of these debuts, conversational and light in tone, but heartbreakingly clear-eyed as well … Khong manages to imbue seemingly mundane topics with charm and pathos through her attentive, humorous and personable writing’  * Spectator *
'A beautifully written coming-of-age debut, dreamy and funny . . . flawless’  * Independent *
‘There’s beauty, humour and absurdity in even the most tragic situation as Rachel Khong demonstrates in Goodbye, Vitamin’ * Good Housekeeping *
‘Funny and tragic, heart-breaking and life-affirming, it reminds you that in the end, that’s all there is – countless passing moments’  * Grazia *
‘A tragi-comic story about holding a family together when life wants to break them apart and finding yourself when you thought you were completely lost. I absolutely loved this book’  * RED *
‘Nuanced exploration of family love and remembrance…A contemporary take on the coming-of-age tale…It’s sweet without being saccharine, and moving without feeling depressed.’ * Refinery29 *
‘A deft, funny and very moving account of all kinds of loss’  * The Big Issue *
'Mostly this sweet-natured novel is about Ruth’s attempts to come to terms with a past her father can no longer remember while still attending to the quirky, fleeting joys of the present. 'Here I am, in lieu of you,' she writes, 'collecting the moments.' -- Sam Sacks, ‘Best New Fiction, Wall Street Journal
'Khong dots the narrative with beautiful quotidian details, often gustatory: jellyfish lovingly prepared to stave off dementia, secrets told over a shared pomegranate. The novel's opening sentence – 'Tonight a man found Dad's pants in a tree lit with Christmas lights' – encapsulates much of its magical, visual approach, which is micro in detail but universal in scaope'  * New Yorker *