Immaculate conception A novel

Huang's sophomore outing is just as brilliant and unsettling as Natural Beauty (2023). Enka Yui is from the "fringes," separated from the "enclaves," who enjoy more privileged lives. Enka secures a scholarship at an enclave art school, yet she feels like an imposter among so many talented students. One of them is Mathilde Wojnat-Cho, who is more than talented: She is a genius. Enka immediately sets out to befriend Mathilde, and the two grow close. By marrying Logan Dahl, the son of a tech billionaire, Enka ingratiates herself in the enclave community, but she will never create art as breathtaking as Mathilde's. As Mathilde becomes more famous, even revered, in the art world, Enka's envy grows. When tragedy shuts down Mathilde's mind, Enka is presented with an unprecedented opportunity. She and Mathilde can truly become one person--but at what cost? Driven by Huang's compelling, flowing prose, the novel is an examination of a friendship that turns toxic in the most terrifying way. Huang is a master of mixing the speculative with the contemporary, harnessing near-future possibilities to show us just how far humanity will go to achieve the impossible while ignoring very real consequences.

Huang's provocative if uneven sophomore outing (after Natural Beauty) blends speculative elements with a story of friendship and jealousy between two artists from opposing backgrounds. Enka, the narrator, was a "fringe kid," whose family lived on the poorer side of the impenetrable "buffer" in her native Florida. When, despite unlikely odds, Enka is accepted to a prestigious art school, she is immediately fascinated by Mathilde Wojnot-Cho, the "supremely gifted" wunderkind everyone is too nervous to befriend. Mathilde grew up protesting the buffers despite living on the affluent "enclave" side, and she and Enka develop an intense bond, "dream the same dreams." A rift forms when Mathilde is invited to show her work at the Whitney Museum and the Venice Biennale but Enka receives no such opportunities. Later, after Enka marries into a wealthy family and Mathilde suffers an unimaginable loss, the two decide to connect their psyches via a technology called the Scaffold, which allows its users to "inhabit" each other's minds. Unsurprisingly, the results are harrowing. At times the dialogue lapses into melodrama, but Huang writes evocatively of Enka's waxing and waning jealousy of Mathilde, which comes at the expense of developing her own artistic voice. This bracing novel gives readers plenty to chew on. Agent: Kirby Kim, Janklow & Nesbit Assoc. (May)