“A brilliant new voice, Zoë Malia Ozoa Loos, reaches word by word, line by line, into the depths of truth with breathtaking courage so visceral and piercing in her precision and lyricism. She purges the dark abyss, facing the nebulous realities of sexual identities, spiritual manipulation, body shaming, and obtuse ostracism. Ozoa Loos’s work navigates a contemporary landscape of islanders of Puerto Rican, Okinawan, and Japanese descent in Hawai‘i that challenges the mores of generational denigration, struggle, and denial. Ozoa Loos is stunning— urgent in the restoration of breath.”

“I lost her all the same, is a haunting, propulsive read. Her writing opens readers’ eyes to the possibilities of literary styles. Zoë Malia Ozoa Loos’s narrative voice feels immediately intimate, both awakening and inviting. Let me tell you a story, it says. As a reader, I was drawn, without question, into the pleasures of watching this story unfold.
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“Zoë Malia Ozoa Loos’s tender, compelling, propulsive debut novel is a window into the mind of a young woman from Hawai’i, struggling with body image, friendship, sexuality, and an attraction to a classmate with a mysterious and ultimately malevolent secret life. Compulsively readable and emotionally wrenching, this book announces the arrival of a brilliant new voice whose work I will look forward to reading for a long time to come.
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