To God

by Esther Yi

“Esther Yi’s every paragraph is revelatory, unexpected, with an intense capacity to see the world anew, such that we are empowered again in the matter of astonishment.” —Rick Moody, author of Hotels of North America

From the author of the acclaimed debut novel Y/N comes a daring collection of fiction about alienation, sex, and spiritual inquiry.

The cityscape of To God is in decay. One won’t find any fancy flaneurs here. As for happiness? Out of the question. Instead, one encounters drifters with nowhere to go and nothing to do, boxers with dreams of making it big (they won’t), artists who never get a chance to make art, women who frighten the men they love, and children who are more adult than the adults. Nothing goes right for these people—but what does going right mean anyway? After all, in the world of To God, it’s the loser who wins, the faceless who expresses, the atheist who truly believes, and the geriatric who’s reborn . . .

At the heart of To God is a formidable voice, a beam of light that cuts through the entire collection to rearrange and reincarnate the world wherever it falls. Navigating the daily vicissitudes of work, love, and ideology, this voice How do I know myself, and how do I know others? What does it feel like to know at all? What if I believe in nothing? Then what makes me live? Responsive to and born out of absence, this voice experiments with a body, a personality, a set of relationships. Absence fuels the imagination, a kind of unbridled prayer, and this ritual becomes a stairway that the reader is invited to ascend, armed with an ever intensifying question to God, until the entire material world recedes out of view—only to reappear with greater urgency than before, openly necrotic and broken, itself a plane of mystery we can never call home, and its stakes all the more real for it.

At the atomic level of language, the infrastructural level of genre play, and the cosmic level of existential threat, Esther Yi’s vision radiates, illuminating the increasingly confused coordinates of contemporary life, its absurd contradictions, and our growing disconnectedness not only from each other but from our own selves.

Genres: Fiction

Kindle Edition

Expected publication September 15, 2026

Reviews

[Marcus (Lit_Laugh_Luv) · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very cerebral, abstract collection of stories that helped solidify Yi's authorial voice (from my perspective, anyway). I'd recommend this for fans of K-Ming Chang, with the caveat that this collection doesn't hesitate to leave the reader behind at any opportunity. With a sentence or two, Esther Yi flips these stories on their head and takes you in a multitude of directions at once. The entries feel more like frantic, breathless confessions, rather than narratives with a distinct throughline. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I'm certain it will play no small part in the polarizing reception of this book!

The stories all feel cohesive, but I'd struggle to pinpoint a list of themes that help convey exactly what it is about. Many of the entries focus on our built environment, set in a growing city that, from one lens, feels like a utopia and, from another, like a dystopia. It's as expansive and elusive as the narrators in each entry. Their identity is built upon the absence of one, and they all yearn for something -- even if that something appears spontaneously and leaves just as abruptly.

My favourite entry in the collection was Dent, where the narrator works for a company that develops simulations to recreate the memories of its customers. Of all the entries, it feels the most tractable and echoes the themes of artificiality and disconnection that the broader collection hints at. I think the core theme Yi wanted to explore in the collection was our collective hubris and the consequences of 'playing God', and some entries do this better than others.

If you approach this with the right expectations (expect to be confused, and let Yi's prose carry you along), I think there are moments of genius in this collection. At the same time, there are a lot of dense, abstract passages in which I was only able to make meager strides in understanding. I preferred Yi's debut release, as I think her style is best conveyed in long-form narratives, but this was an intriguing read, I think fans of Y/N will enjoy as well.

Thank you to Astra House for the e-ARC!
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I don't care what the haters say: I loved Y/N! And my years of stanning the book paid off... because here I am, the first gay person to read this on Goodreads.

I haven't felt like this since I threw the first brick at Stonewall.

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[Karla · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was... too dark, too sad. It made me feel very hopeless, just like a lot of the characters (often the same character?) in these stories/vignettes. It's hard to even know what this is. Are these short stories? A novel? A long philosophical essay disguised as fiction? It feels like visiting one of those neon dystopian cities that you can find in a lot of sci-fi books, but we are not downtown where all the lights are shining at night and the cars are flying and robots are walking around. Here, everything happens under the sun, maybe at noon, when the dystopia doesn't look like the future is here but only reminds you that the past has failed. Or it happens in a musky room where something is rotting, an abandoned church about to be demolished, the darkest alley in town. Some paragraphs are beautiful, and at the center of this I can see how desperate everyone is to be loved, to be known, to hear God answer at least one question. But all Yi captures is the absence. That promised voice isn't there, it is either missing or I didn't get it. Perhaps Lent wasn't the best time for me to read this, but I guess I don't regret it. It is well written, and the ideas are interesting. I just didn't like it.

[‎ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to the publisher for the advanced copy!

The structure of this book was something I didn’t expect when I first started reading it. I wasn’t sure what I was getting into, but that actually made it more interesting. It felt different from most books I’ve picked up recently, and I really liked that surprise element.

I love that it’s all short stories. There’s something about a collection like this that makes it easy to get lost in each story individually. I felt very connected to one of them in particular, though I won’t name which one just in case, but it really stuck with me. The stories are good overall, and I really appreciate the mix of dark and slightly absurd vibes. That kind of storytelling really stands out compared to a lot of what’s currently out there.

Even though it’s a short story collection, it felt cohesive in its own way.

[Franny M · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short stories that lean into the absurd. You kind of need to meet the stories where they are at and go on the journey. They were interesting and well-written.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

[Kimberly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Struggled to get into the stories. They are very abstract and absurd. I think if you loved Yi’s novel, you will like this collection.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[anjali (^_−)☆]

thank you to the lovely people at netgalley and astra publishing house for the arc ₊˚ʚ(๑>؂•̀๑)

[sums · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars. In To God, Esther Yi’s voice is sonorous and cerebral, weaving through a decaying cityscape with an eerie, philosophical haze. I would describe the reading experience as dipping in and out of consciousness, or wading through a fogged mind. It’s disorienting, but thought-provoking and pervasive in a way I haven’t experienced before.

Of all the short stories, I think Centripetal is a clear favourite.

Nonetheless, I struggled to connect with the writing, and I’m not sure its style is quite right for me, but the collection is certainly interesting and unique in a terribly exciting way.

Thank you to NetGalley and Astra Publishing House for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.