Susan Choi’s 'Flashlight' is about an alternate-universe version of her own family

Summary

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NPR’s Book of the Day

Susan Choi’s ‘Flashlight’ – An Alternate-Universe Family Across Time

Date: January 2, 2026
Host: Scott Simon
Guest: Susan Choi, National Book Award-winning author

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Scott Simon interviews acclaimed novelist Susan Choi about her newest release, Flashlight. The discussion delves into the novel’s exploration of family, identity, history, and intergenerational trauma. Choi opens up about drawing inspiration from her own background, using the “alternate universe” motif to examine what it means to belong—and not belong—across borders and decades. The interview moves from the book’s central tragedy to its sweeping historical backdrop, the complexities of its characters, and the practicalities of crafting a multigenerational narrative.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

Opening Tragedy and Emotional Fallout

• Book Premise: The novel opens with a 10-year-old girl, Louisa, and her father, Cirque, walking along a Japanese beach. A sudden tragedy leaves Louisa alive and her father missing—setting off a decades-long unraveling of family and self.
  • Scott Simon: “Louisa... is washed up by the tide, struggling to breathe. Her father is gone. He couldn’t swim. What happened? What will unfold next for the family?” (01:15)
• Aftermath: Louisa and her mother are left alone, and rather than bringing them closer, the shared loss creates distance.
  • Susan Choi: “She and her mother are left to their own after something really terrible and it does not bring them closer together, at least not for a very long time.” (02:09)

Loneliness, Therapy, and Human Connection

• Louisa’s Coping: Louisa resists therapy, projecting coldness but masking deep loneliness.
  • Scott Simon: “When she is speaking to a psychiatrist, at one point she says, ‘I don’t want friends. I don’t like people asking me questions.’” (02:31)
  • Susan Choi: “She does her best to fend off this child psychiatrist… but at the same time... she’s actually terribly lonely. She does want to talk to somebody.” (02:39)

Family, Identity, Borders, and Belonging

• Cirque’s Backstory: Cirque is an ethnic Korean born in Japan, a product of historic conflict and dislocation.
  • Susan Choi: “I’ve been fascinated by, you know, my own father and grandfather come out of this history of Japan making Korea a colony...I was so interested in what was going on with ethnic Koreans who kind of got washed up in Japan at the end of World War II. They were second-class citizens under this Japanese Empire, but then...they’re citizens of nothing.” (03:18)
• Personal Inspiration: Choi describes the book as an “alternate universe” for her own family, reflecting on feelings of not fully belonging while in Japan as a child.
  • Susan Choi: “Very alternate... My own family spent some time in Japan when I was young...I was sort of expecting to fit in brilliantly...And of course, I didn’t look like anybody there either. Japan cast a dark shadow.” (04:16)

Narrative Structure: Keeping Track of Complexity

• Writing Process: Choi admits the story grew unexpectedly sprawling, prompting her to organize it simply by chronology.
  • Susan Choi: “At some point, I…had this revelation…As an amazing tip, I decided to put the events in chronological order.” (05:13)
  • Scott Simon (humorous): “Wow. That’s like. That’s Tolstoyan.” (05:38)
  • Susan Choi (playful): “I know. It’s a major narrative discovery...I offer this free of charge.” (05:40)

Louisa’s Journey and the Texture of Love

• Character Growth: Louisa is difficult both as a child and adult, deeply guarded but ultimately seeking peace and love.
  • Susan Choi: “She is only slightly less difficult as a young adult than she is as a child... It was so important to me that she find love and some kind of peace. And that’s why we end up following her for many, many decades and many, many pages. But I think she gets there.” (06:00)
• Defining Love: Choi and Simon discuss a memorable line about love’s gradual construction.
  • Scott Simon (quoting the novel): “‘Love is perhaps the sensation of expertise that erupts out of nowhere and as time goes on, accumulates enough soil at its feet as to be standing on something.’” (06:30)
  • Susan Choi: “...That sensation of recognizing someone that you really actually don’t know at all...I think sometimes the experience of falling in love is...believing that we know everything about someone that actually we’ve only just met...And if we do that successfully, we end up learning things.” (06:46)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On loneliness behind stoicism:

  • “She does her best to fend off this child psychiatrist... but... she’s actually terribly lonely. She does want to talk to somebody.”
    (Susan Choi, 02:39)

• On the root of Cirque’s character:

  • “I was so interested in what was going on with ethnic Koreans who kind of got washed up in Japan... They were second-class citizens under this Japanese Empire, but then...they’re citizens of nothing.”
    (Susan Choi, 03:18)

• On belonging as a mixed-race child in Japan:

  • “I was sort of expecting to like, fit in brilliantly...And of course, I didn’t look like anybody there either.”
    (Susan Choi, 04:16)

• On managing a sprawling narrative:

  • “I decided to put the events in chronological order... I offer this free of charge.”
    (Susan Choi, 05:40)

• On defining love:

  • “Love is perhaps the sensation of expertise that erupts out of nowhere and as time goes on, accumulates enough soil at its feet as to be standing on something.”
    (quoted by Scott Simon, 06:30; discussed by Susan Choi, 06:46)

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Important Segment Timestamps

• [01:15] — Introduction to Flashlight’s tragedy and central mystery
• [02:09] — Louisa’s emotional aftermath
• [02:39] — Insights into Louisa’s loneliness and her guardedness in therapy
• [03:18] — Exploration of Cirque’s ethnic and historical background
• [04:16] — Choi discusses her family and the idea of “alternate universe” fiction
• [05:13] — Choi on the practicalities of writing a sprawling, multigenerational novel
• [06:00] — Louisa’s continued struggles and the hope for love and peace
• [06:30] — Discussion of the novel’s definition of love

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Tone and Language

The conversation is thoughtful yet warm, with moments of humor and self-awareness (e.g., Choi joking over her “major narrative discovery”). Both Simon and Choi speak reflectively, connecting literary themes with lived experience, and they balance potent emotion with insight and a gentle playfulness.

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Summary Takeaway

This episode offers a rich look at Flashlight—a novel deeply concerned with memory, family, belonging, and the messiness of love. Whether drawing on the entanglements of Korean-Japanese history or the particulars of one family’s grief and growth, Susan Choi’s discussion is thoughtful, personal, and relatable to anyone who has ever wondered where they truly belong.

Transcript

[Andrew Limbong]

Hey, it's NPR's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbong. Susan Choi's previous book, Trust Exercise, was this teen drama about high school theater students that has a middle of the book.

[Scott Simon]

I don't know.

[Andrew Limbong]

I don't want to call it a twist really, but it upends the psychology of the book in comparison. Her latest novel, Flashlight, is relatively straightforward, but no less thought provoking. It's one of these big stories about a family across decades, and it involves history and war and secrets and borders. There's a lot going on. And so it makes sense that when NPR's Scott Simon asks how Choi kept track of it all, she says she just put everything in chronological order. That's ahead.

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[Scott Simon]

Susan Choi's new novel opens in mystery and tragedy. Louisa, 10 year old girl and her father, Cirque, walk along a beach in Japan. He carries a flashlight. We next see Louisa when she is washed up by the tide, struggling to breathe. Her father is gone. He couldn't swim. What happened? What will unfold next for the family? And what might we miss in our own life stories? Flashlight is Susan Choi's novel and Susan Choi, a National Book Award winner who has taught creative writing at Yale, joins us from New York. Thanks so much for being with us.

[Susan Choi]

Thanks so much for having me.

[Scott Simon]

Help us understand all that weighs on Louisa. To awake to be alive, but also to have suffered a profound loss and a persisting question.

[Susan Choi]

Well, she doesn't know even the biggest part of what's happened to her. We meet her at the beginning of the book after these events that you've just described. She and her mother are left to their own after something really terrible and it does not bring them closer together, at least not for a very long time.

[Scott Simon]

When she is speaking to a psychiatrist, at one point she says, I don't want friends. I don't like people asking me questions.

[Susan Choi]

She does her best to fend off this child psychiatrist. She's very unreceptive to him, but at the same time she kind of can't Help engaging with him even as she's sort of trying to fend him off. I hope the reader realizes that she's going to so much trouble to fend off this guy because she's actually terribly lonely. She does want to talk to somebody and she does end up talking to him, saying more to him than she ever meant to. She kind of can't help it.

[Scott Simon]

This is a family, I think we might put it this way, these days with many strands. Sirk, her father, for example, is an ethnic Korean born and raised in Japan.

[Susan Choi]

Sir, Born of this fascination that I actually had with all of the tensions that exist between Korea and Japan historically, which I've written about before. I've been fascinated by, you know, my own father and grandfather come out of this history of Japan, making Korea a colony and then having to give up the Korean colony with the end of World War II. I was so interested in what was going on with ethnic Koreans who kind of got washed up in Japan at the end of World War II. They were second class citizens under this Japanese Empire, but then there is no Japanese Empire and they're citizens of nothing. And my interest in, you know, what was that like? Kind of led to my inventing this character who grows up in this situation where he really doesn't have a country.

[Scott Simon]

In interviews, in fact, you've called Louise's family, I think, mark this down. Your phrase is an alternate universe family for your own right?

[Susan Choi]

Very alternate. My own family spent some time in Japan when I was young. I was Louise's age. I was interested both in that experience that I had when I went to Japan as this confused. I'd grown up in the Midwest and no one ever looked like me. My dad's Korean and my mom isn't. So we went to Japan and I was sort of expecting to like, fit in brilliantly and, I don't know, be received with glory, you know, at last, here you are, a person who looks like us. And of course, I didn't look like anybody there either. Japan cast a dark shadow. And I think that Korea, Japan relationship was something I wanted to explore in this slightly different way.

[Scott Simon]

Such a vast historical expanse over this novel of almost a century, you know, and for that matter, the hereafter. I've got an intensely practical question. How do you keep so many characters and their stories going in your mind? How do you keep them straight?

[Susan Choi]

I began this novel with the intention of writing something very short. And I feel like the novel kind of wrote itself like a snail shell. It just kept spiraling outward in Both directions. I had a hard time keeping track of it, to be honest. And at some point, I. I had this revelation, which I'm going to share now with your listening audience. As an amazing tip, I decided to put the events in chronological order.

[Scott Simon]

Wow. That's like. That's Tolstoyan.

[Susan Choi]

I know. It's a major narrative discovery. When you put the events in order, it's easier to keep track of what happened. I offer this free of charge.

[Scott Simon]

Well, thank you. Boy, you wind up with complicated feelings for Louisa. I mean, she almost blows up a college trip that veers from comedy to near disaster.

[Susan Choi]

She is only slightly less difficult as a young adult than she is as a child. I think there's a lot of me in Luisa. Admittedly, it's a hard thing to admit because she's a character that is so committed to fending off love. But it was so important to me that she find love and some kind of peace. And that's why we end up following her for many, many decades and many, many pages. But I think she gets there. I think hope she gets there.

[Scott Simon]

There is a line that I have savored. Love is perhaps the sensation of expertise that erupts out of nowhere and as time goes on, accumulates enough soil at its feet as to be standing on something.

[Susan Choi]

I'm glad you singled out that line. It's funny, I remember where I was sitting when I wrote that. I was sitting in this wonderful library in Seattle, looking out at the water, and I was trying to figure out how. How to talk about that love. And that sensation of recognizing someone that you really actually don't know at all. And I guess this is sort of about the flashlight again, and what we can see and what we can't see. I think sometimes the experience of falling in love is this experience of believing that we know everything about someone that actually we've only just met. And our conviction that they belong to us and that we belong to them binds us to them. And if we do that successfully, we end up learning things.

[Scott Simon]

Susan Choi's new novel, Flashlight. Thank you so much for being with us.

[Susan Choi]

Thank you so much for having me and for your wonderful reading.

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