The Child and the Parents in Tao Lin’s Leave Society

Most people have at least once in their life came into a disagreement which lead to an argument with their parents. Disagreements occur in different ranges throughout the world within equally differing internal and external positions, while the following arguments often fall into measurements of chaoticness that ensued. The conclusions to domestic arguments can often be rationalized long before the arguments needed to happen, but it can also often be what connect a household together, whether it is good or bad is up to each families to discover. Here, it is not to be seen that I am arguing over justifying toxicity in a family relationship, but I advise that it be taken into your consideration, as my readers, how have disagreements and arguments of you against your close family members have gone through as you grow older. For in the end, cherish both the good and the bad if you are able to see changes that allow your mind to connect and say, “This is how me and my family was, is, and could be.”

Family is not a new subject in literature. Ever since the ancient literatures of the Ancient Greek, humanities have written about family relationship and drama. These relationships and their ensuing dramas had come in many forms and they were chosen to be subjects of literature due to how, even in the most fantastical pieces of literature, every characters were written by men, and men are social creature, with families providing us one of the most important social bond. Anna Karenina, written by modern Russian author, Leo Tolstoy, is one of the most famous and celebrated literary canon of all times. Anna Karenina is still regarded in quite the objective manner as the best realist novel, and it has long popularized the genre of realism throughout the following ages.

In August of 2021, Taiwanese-American author, Tao Lin, released his new novel, Leave Society, which seemed to be a semi-autobiographical fictional narrative following the life of Taiwanese-American Li and in great part, his attempt in connecting a better relationship with his parents mixed in with narrative structures both contemporary, realistic, and Tao Lin-esque, featuring discussion about health, nutritions, drugs, dogs, and many more, in a humorous but serious tone and a serious but humorous tone.

Leave Society often portrays the family relationship that Li has with his parents in quite the absurd manners. In many passages, Li is often portrayed as this awkward man whose discussions he has with his parents (alongside the occasional disagreements and arguments) run around about health and nutritional topics that for most readers would be similar in feel to Patrick Bateman and his peers discussing restaurant meals in American Psycho. But unlike that critique of the Yuppie culture, Leave Society wants us to connect with Li how we may mirror, relate, or predict that we were, are, or will be in his position within the relationship that we have with our own parents. Li found himself having to be with his parents at around his 30s due to his health conditions he had throughout his life. Therefore, because of those conditions, Li has conditioned himself to being engrossed in materials about health, nutritions, and other related things to be able to related with his parents who are in the medical field. For us, it is a matter of what our parents are like, therefore we would probably condition ourselves to fit what they know and like. Slowly but surely, there come moments where Li develop much more personal connections with his parents outside of mere conditioning, he started speaking about negative feelings first, but it gradually grew to uncover the positive feelings he has and want to have between him and his parents as well as his parents between the two of them. It is relatable for many of us how, like Li, it comes few and far between through natural and unexpected moments that the bond between the child and the parents shined brightest.

My only experience with Tao Lin before Leave Society with his one hell of a psychedelic trip for a novel, Eeee Eee Eeee, meant to emulate a dolphin’s call, which was recommended by a man in a William Wordsworth profile picture through one of my Discord’s literature servers for our book club reading. Only a friction of us read the book, with me being the first to finish it. To keep it short: I had no idea what I was reading, but as today’s kids say, “It’s a vibe”. Anyone brave enough to venture to Eeee Eee Eeee Goodreads’ page be warned about the synopsis and the first and most liked review that rated it five stars.

But that is also to say, Leave Society changed how I view Tao Lin. He certainly is a very hit-or-miss author, even Leave Society left a mixed taste in readers’ mouth. Yet, the intricate realistic family relationship portrayed in Leave Society made me want to put this book as one of my best read of 2021 despite not having fully finished it yet. Tao Lin truly captured in my heart the possibility of a relationship that I could have with my parents in the future.