Fu’s explorations find Lost Girls

> BY DAVID CHAU

Dawson City offered sudden inspiration to Kim Fu. Arriving there for a writer’s residency in 2015, the author of the acclaimed novel For Today I Am a Boy wanted to develop a stalled project.

A cast of characters had occupied her thoughts for years, appearing in multiple scenarios and sequences, yet she lacked a unifying plot. Progress was further delayed by the success of her 2014 book, which received the Edmund White Award for debut fiction, and Fu hoped the solitude of the Yukon would be a creative boon.

During her stint at the historic Berton House, as she hiked through snow and met people who lived in the bush, Fu, a Seattle resident who grew up on Metro Vancouver’s North Shore, began to reflect on survival and vulnerability. “What would happen if I got stuck?” she says now, over coffee with the Straight in downtown Vancouver. “Everybody else knew exactly what they would do, and I’m just a city kid with no idea. I was thinking about that, and those ideas really cracked the novel open.”

The Lost Girls of Camp Forevermore maps five girls—nita, Siobhan, Isabel, Dina, and Andee—during and after a harrowing camping trip on a Pacific Northwest island. Ranging in age from 9 to 11 when stranded with scant supplies and no supervision, the girls face nature, of the Mother and human varieties, while searching for a way back to the mainland.

“I think if you go through something traumatic at those ages,” Fu, 30, says, “it becomes more solid and all the more traumatic. The dynamics between little girls are very interesting at those ages. I wanted to explore those dynamics in a situation where the stakes were higher.”

This outdoor adventure, set in 1994, is cut with narratives about the individual girls as they pass from adolescence to adulthood, which gives a strobe-lit look at how personalities—and truths—adjust to circumstance. Revealing the grip of trauma on identity, Fu’s sophomore novel broaches “things that all women go through, or forces,” she says, “that act upon all women, but then manifest really differently in different people.”

As their respective futures unfold, Nita confronts being a doctor, wife, and mother; Siobhan works as a child-psychology researcher; Isabel reacts passively to the whims of men; Dina pursues stardom; and Andee, who attended Camp Forevermore on a scholarship, scrabbles to secure a home and stay autonomous. (To track this particular protagonist after camp, Fu focused instead on Andee’s sister, Kayla, who misconstrues her sibling much as the other characters do. “You circle around who Andee is, and only the reader really knows,” Fu says. “From all these other people’s misperceptions of her is how you actually get to know Andee.”) Consciously and unconsciously, these separate trajectories are governed by spectres of that mutual past. Their later lives expose motives and damages, and demonstrate Fu’s skill at building characters of marvellous versatility and depth. “She had never left,” Fu writes of Siobhan, “and everything that had happened since was a dream, a girl’s fantasy of adulthood, a film reel in the afterlife.”

Like For Today I Am a Boy, which tells the story of a Chinese-canadian transgender woman, Lost Girls shares Fu’s interest in gender performance. This also informed How Festive the Ambulance, her 2016 book of verse, which emphasized her measured wit. (Poems are “a great pleasure to write,” she says. “If I was the last person on Earth, if there was no one left to read it, I would still write poems.”)

The strength of her writing lies not only in its awareness of body and mind, but in its attention to language and image as ways of unfurling strange splendour. Few conjure the fugue of youth with such power. Each of Lost Girls’ threads presents womanhood as a wilderness needing navigation, and proves Fu to be among the most exciting and talented young Canadian writers today.

The ultimate fate of her characters, though, is seldom considered beyond the final page. “While you’re writing, you’re very obsessed with these characters and you want to keep sticking them in different situations and see what they’ll do, and picking at them and poking them, and making them react,” she says. “I’d be thinking about them all the time. And everything I saw would be like, ‘How would they see that?’ And you write and you write, and not all of it makes it into the book.

“A day comes when your obsession ends,” she continues, “and that’s when you’ve said all you want to say. It’s all there somewhere. You wake up one morning and you’re not obsessed anymore. And then that means it’s done.”

The Lost Girls of Camp Forevermore.

March 29 to April 4, 2018

Entering Taurus on Friday, Venus builds a good working rapport with Mars, her relationship counterpart, and Saturn, the reality-check planet. The trio aim to get a better fix on what it’s worth and what must be done to create the desired and necessary gain. At the same time, Mercury in Aries, continuing in retrograde, aims to cut to the chase.

Passover Saturday delivers a full moon in Libra. The goal/the issue is one of finding a happy medium, playing the peacemaker, and making everyone happy. Shedding light on competing interests and needs, the art of compromise requires good listening skills and showing respect where it is due. Be first to offer an ear or an olive branch, but also stand your ground.

Easter Sunday, Mercury retrograde teams up with the sun. This marks the social high point of the weekend and the midpoint of the retrograde cycle, which continues to April 15. The moon’s opposition to Uranus and Venus puts synchronicity into play. Reconnect; revisit the conversation; say what’s on your mind; try it on for size. Enjoy.

Mars in Capricorn joins forces with Saturn on Monday morning. This culminates a cycle that began in August 2016 and launches the next two-year goal-setting agenda. Supplying added fuel, Mercury retrograde squares Mars on Wednesday and Saturn on Thursday. It sets a productive backdrop for surpassing and soldiering on. Mercury’s message is to see the task, the limitation, or the reality for what it is, but rather than let it stop you, find a way to work around it instead. “Can and will” is within the scope of entirely possible.

ARIES

March 20–April 19

Despite Mercury retrograde, the wrap-up to the workweek and the setup for the holiday weekend can be productive. Friday night, Venus puts a check mark on quality over quantity. Slow down; savour the good stuff. Saturday/sunday, moderation is key; pacing yourself is wise. Hear them out. Take added time to listen, observe, and evaluate before you respond. Monday/tuesday are good for sorting it out.

TAURUS April 20–May 20

Now through the weekend puts everything into full swing. Some things are best to ditch; some things are worth fighting for. Look to the full moon in Libra to make the reality, issues, shortfalls, or options more obvious. Venus in Taurus, starting Friday, enhances your ability to attract. The transit also pumps up your resolve and sense of “I deserve”. Monday/tuesday, make your power play.

GEMINI

May 21–June 21

Holding high expectations for your holiday weekend? Socializing, romance, a getaway, and gifting yourself are top of the pick list. Even so, the full moon can put relationships, finances, or plans under added strain, especially when give, get, and reward are not equal. Don’t hesitate to change your mind, speak up, run with it, or splurge on it. Spontaneity delivers it best.

CANCER June 21–July 22

Home entertaining, home matters, and family can keep your holiday weekend full to the brim. Saturday/sunday, the full moon could find you on the short end of the stick. You may have to accommodate, yield, or play peacemaker. Sunday, watch for an unexpected opportunity or reach out. Monday/tuesday are your best days to take your power back or to get a move on.

LEO

July 22–August 22

One way or another, you’ll get your spiritual fill this holiday weekend. Reconnecting, a getaway weekend, or fresh air offers great refreshment. On the other hand, the full moon can put a damper on things or put you under pressure to fulfill obligations or make an important decision. A friend or sibling may need your help. Take your time to gather all the information.

VIRGO

August 22–September 22

Thursday through Monday brings you to a well-timed finish line. By mid–next week, you’ll be in the thick of it again. Grab your moments; let yourself off the hook as best you can this weekend. If you run up against it or them, delay or take a time-out; suspend judgment. Clarity, or a best option or resolution, will appear on its time.

LIBRA

September 22–October 23

The long weekend is likely to pull you into more than you intended. The full moon can hit with fuller impact if your birthday is on or near October 2. A deadline, tough decision, or difficult conversation can weigh on you. You’ll soon surpass it. Sunday, an air-clearing, talk, or revisit is opportune. Socializing and spontaneity deliver. Monday onward, you’re on the gain.

SCORPIO

October 23–November 21

Get it out of the way; finish what you can on Thursday and aim to take a break over the weekend. Even so, be ready to go, do, speak up, or take it on when the moment strikes flint. Saturday/sunday, the full moon could reopen it or rekindle it. Sunday night through Tuesday, take your best shot; make the most of it.

SAGITTARIUS November 21–December 21

For the start of your holiday weekend, take a break; don’t push what isn’t coming naturally. Lay low if you can Saturday morning. If you don’t have to do battle with the world, don’t. The full moon can produce a mixedbag weekend. It can start you off with strain, drain, reluctance, or resistance, but come Sunday, you’re good to go.

CAPRICORN December 21–January 19

Whether the holiday weekend is a duty call or it gives you a welldeserved break, Mars and Saturn in Capricorn keep you making the most of it. Easter Sunday is the best of the weekend for socializing and for taking full advantage of synchronicity. Monday/tuesday, you’re onto a fresh and lucrative track. Next Wednesday/ Thursday require more effort.

AQUARIUS

January 20–February 18

Thursday, minimize on the extras; avoid what’s complicated; leaving only one cluster per vine, which, in turn, gets remarkably concentrated, simplify where you can. Aim for quality over quantity this weekend too. Travel or stay put. Mercury retrograde and the full moon can put you back in touch and/or deliver news. Easter Sunday, a talk, visit, or look-see can spark something more, something added. Monday/ Tuesday are opportune action days.

PISCES

February 18–March 20

Saturday’s full moon in Libra could see a relationship or money matter weigh on you. Added time and patience can be necessary. A shift in perspective or opinion can be growing. It can start as an undercurrent and end as a sudden clarity. Sunday can spark something unexpected and/or clear the air. Monday/tuesday, put your intuitive smarts into play.