Meet Lindsay Wong, author of The Woo-Woo at the McGill Branch, Burnaby Public Library, 4595 Albert Street, Burnaby, on May 30 at 7 p.m.
7:00 – 8:30 pm
In this jaw-dropping, darkly comedic memoir, a young woman comes of age in a dysfunctional Asian family who blame their woes on ghosts and demons when they should really be on anti-psychotic meds.
Wong grew up with a paranoid schizophrenic grandmother and a mother who was deeply afraid of the "woo-woo" -- Chinese ghosts who come to visit in times of personal turmoil. When she was six, Lindsay and her mother avoided the dead people haunting their house by hiding out in a mall food court, and on a camping trip, in an effort to rid her daughter of demons, her mother tried to light Lindsay's foot on fire.
“Growing up, I felt very scared,” Wong recalls. “I think we were pretty isolated. I really didn’t have that many friends, and it was mostly hanging out with your family. So if they tell you there’s a ghost in the bathroom, there’s a ghost in the bathroom.”
At once a witty and touching memoir about the Asian immigrant experience and a harrowing and honest depiction of the vagaries of mental illness, The Woo-Woo is a gut-wrenching and beguiling manual for surviving family, and oneself.
Lindsay Wong will read from her memoir, speak about her experience and mental illness and take questions. This event is free, but space is limited. Register online at www.bpl.bc.ca/eventsor at any BPL Information Desk.
