LIAR, DREAMER, THIEF

Maria Dong‘s short fiction, articles, and poetry have been published in over a dozen venues, including Apex, Apparition Literary Magazine, Augur, Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy, Fantasy Magazine, Fusion Fragment, Kaleidotrope, Khoreo, Lightspeed, and Nightmare, among others. Currently a computer programmer, she has had a diverse career as a property manager, English teacher, and occupational therapist. She lives with her partner in southwest Michigan, in a centenarian saltbox house that is almost certainly haunted, and loves watching K-Dramas and drinking Bell’s beer. She can be reached via Twitter @mariadongwrites.

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Most Anticipated by CrimeReads · Good Housekeeping · BookRiot · Goodreads · Bookish · OverDrive ·
An Aardvark Book Club pick

“Liar, Dreamer, Thief is a surreal thriller that blurs the line between daydream and nightmare. It leaves you with the creeping certainty that there is a different world lurking just under the surface of our own, filled with technicolor lies and terrible truths.” —Alix E. Harrow, New York Times bestselling and Hugo-award winning author of The Ten Thousand Doors of January

“Clever, urgent, and deeply compassionate. This novel hooked its claws into me and didn’t let go—a brilliant, brutal debut that’s also deeply thoughtful in its examination of family, mental health, and diaspora. Absolutely stunning.” —Grace D. Li, New York Times bestselling author of Portrait of a Thief

“A gorgeously written, genre-blending take on psychological suspense, Liar, Dreamer, Thief uses the frame of an investigation into a man’s apparent suicide to explore the act of meaning-making itself, as well as the ways neurodivergence and marginality both complicate the process and open it to spectacular new possibilities. This brilliant story is unlike anything I’ve read: provocative and unsettling, but grounded by a warm beating heart. Maria Dong is one of the freshest, most vital new voices in fiction.” —Ashley Winstead, Author of In My Dreams I Hold a Knife

“Mesmerizing . . . This nuanced depiction of a woman’s struggles with isolation and mental health rings entirely true. Fans of sharp, inventive fiction will be eager for Dong’s next.”  —Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

“Both a twisty psychological thriller and a nuanced exploration of mental illness . . . The extremely satisfying conclusion will leave you gobsmacked. I gobbled this one up in an evening, and I highly recommend it for the cold nights ahead.” —CrimeReads/Lit Hub

1. In interviews, the author of Liar, Dreamer, Thief has stated that she sometimes finds it difficult to slot her work neatly into one genre. Do you agree with this assessment? What genre(s) would you place this book into and why?

2. The novel opens with Katrina remembering the exact moment she found her copy of Mi-Hee and the Mirror-Man at a Scholastic Book Fair. Why do you think it’s important for readers of all ages to see themselves represented in fiction? Did you also have a special book as a child?

3. Scenes from Mi-Hee and the Mirror-Man are interspersed throughout the narrative. How did Mi-Hee’s story foreshadow and reflect Katrina’s journey? Which excerpt from Mi-Hee and the Mirror-Man made the greatest impression on you? Why?

4. Mirrors play a heavily symbolic role in Liar, Dreamer, Thief. Literally and figuratively, how did the author play with the concepts of reflection and doubles in the novel?

5. Katrina’s kitchen-door world is filled with analogs—anthropomorphic representations of the people in her life, like Leoni (a unicorn) and Yocelyn (a rat). Why do you think the author choose the analogs she did for each character?

6. Discuss the level of detail the author used to bring sensory details to life in the novel—the taste of sugar, the smell of smoke, the fantastical visuals from the kitchen-door world. Did one particular scene stand out to you? Which was your favorite?

7. Katrina has a number of coping mechanisms: counting, reciting, drawing her sigil, moving in symmetrical patterns with the right number of repetitions. Based on your reading, why do you think these rituals worked for her? Have you ever engaged in rituals to attract good luck—or ward off bad luck?

8. After reuniting with her parents, Katrina says the following: “My mother says Koreans have a word for a special kind of grief—“han.” Han is more than sadness: it’s the aching loss of generations; the righteous, enduring anger of the once-occupied.” Do you believe that there are emotions we don’t have words for in English—or that emotions can differ based on language and culture? Do you think it’s possible to transmit a feeling across generations?

9. How did the kitchen-door world help Katrina puzzle out the world around her? When you were reading, did you feel that Katrina was strongest when she trusted or shied away from her instincts (including the kitchen-door world and its logic)? Why?

10. In Liar, Dreamer, Thief, how did the author use the fantastical and symbolic to comment on larger themes of immigration, family, class, and mental health?

11. Katrina often feels like she exists in two worlds, but never fits perfectly into either. Have you ever felt separated from the world and the people around you? How did you work through those feelings?

12. Discuss the concept of control in the novel—how characters value it, exert it, and lose it, in both themselves and others.