Winner of the California Book Award for First Fiction, Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist for First Fiction, author of All About Eggs, A Cookbook and this year’s summer reading, Goodbye, Vitamin, Rachel Khong visited Choate on September 20 to give the School a glimpse into her writing process — from fading memories to egg recipes. After School Meeting, Ms. Khong experienced a day at Choate, strolling down hallways, visiting classes, and enjoying meals in the dining hall.
Described by The New York Times as “a darkly comic yet heartfelt book,” Goodbye, Vitamin sheds light on the mundane intricacies of ordinary family life. Ms. Khong drew from her personal experience of having a grandmother diagnosed with Alzheimer’s to craft a touching story of the loving yet strenuous relationship between the novel’s main character, Ruth, and her father who is suffering from Alzeihmer’s.
The decision to write this novel in a diary format was Ms. Khong’s way of splitting up long writing while still maintaining a forward movement of the novel. On the subject of journaling, she emphasized the need for balance between preserving and experiencing memories. She brought up the example of Robert Shields, who holds the record for the longest journal by chronicling every moment of his life — even visits to the bathroom.
When writing the novel, she was also interested in balancing humor and grief as a reflection of the duality of life itself. She noted that sad moments in life are not a constant; instead, even in the most depressing situations, hints of humor shine through. She explained that experiences cannot be bound to just one emotion: emotions are tangled and interconnected with one another, especially in human relationships.
Ms. Khong was certain of one thing when writing the novel: it would revolve around the concept of memory. Like all of her projects, writing this novel posed a challenge. It required her to learn new skills along the way and took six years of emotional growth to perfect. “Writing doesn’t make a lot of sense. Writing is not the most efficient thing to do … The way I became a writer? By not giving up,” she explained.
Ms. Khong opened the School Meeting by reading excerpts from the beginning of her book. Afterwards, she participated in a Q&A session with students Lauren Kee ’24 and Grace Furtado ’23. During the interview, Ms. Khong shared the importance of food in her life, which she infused into her novel. For instance, Ms. Khong highlighted how Ruth spent a lot of time cooking while living with her family to regain control in unpredictable situations.
Ms. Khong also bonded with the audience by imparting advice to Choate’s budding young writers: read out of interest rather than out of requirement. As someone who shares Ms. Khong’s love for reading, English teacher Dr. Stephen Siperstein noted, “Reading is cool because you get to sort of experience what someone else is paying attention to through reading. The author, the character, you know, whatever is your reading becomes a kind of window.” Furtado also reflected, “She talked about her experience as a writer living in a capitalist society where art isn’t appreciated or valued as much and how it can be really hard to make a living off of it, but for her writing was never meant to be a job. Instead, she wrote because she loved it and because of that passion, it ended up becoming more than just a hobby for her.”
Later in her visit, Ms. Khong attended Choate’s EN490 Creative Writing class. Sharing her insight of the writing field, Ms. Khong explained, “Being a writer is really the act of asking a question (about what it means to be human and the human experience) and then at least trying, in some way, to answer it.”
Students and faculty alike enjoyed Ms. Khong’s joyful presence and appreciated her meaningful words of advice.
