Goodbye, Again: Essays, Reflections, and Illustrations

Jonny Sun, author of everyone’s a aliebn when ur a aliebn too, brings his thoughtful, observant, and funny voice to this collection of essays. These essays take up a number of different ideas: cooking, the implications of living to work, the joys and challenges of taking care of plants, and deepening understandings of oneself, one’s friends, and one’s family. Accompanying many essays are delicate yet expressive drawings that depict everything from a cup of yogurt to the opening leaves of a plant. The effect is a collection that is thoughtful, quiet, and heartfelt.

Sun’s book is filled with moments and observations that beg to be underlined. Reflecting on how he spends his free time, for example, he writes, “[M]y favorite ways to relax are to work, just on something other than work.” His contemplations of obsession with productivity, the ways people come together over food, the slow but visible growth of plants, and dealing with sadness and anxiety come together to create a reading experience that is illuminating—and that inspires the reader to pay careful and loving attention to the things in their own world.