Copyright page ISBN differs from ISBN on page [4] of cover. Copyright page lists ISBN for the hardcover edition (ISBN 978-0-349-01346-6) ; book in hand is a paperback.

A searing debut novel that explores community, identity and the myth of the American dream through an immigrant family in Alaska In Chia-Chia Lin's debut novel, THE UNPASSING, we meet a Taiwanese immigrant family of six struggling to make ends meet on the outskirts of Anchorage, Alaska. The father, hardworking but beaten down, is employed as a plumber and repairman, while the mother, a loving, strong-willed, and unpredictably emotional matriarch, holds the house together. When ten-year-old Gavin contracts meningitis at school, he falls into a deep, nearly fatal coma. He wakes up a week later to learn that his little sister Ruby was infected, too. She did not survive. Routine takes over for the grieving family: the siblings care for each other as they befriend a neighboring family and explore the woods; distance grows between the parents as they deal with their loss separately.