Immaculate Conception

Huang’s provocative if uneven sophomore outing (after Natural Beauty) blends speculative elements with a story of friendship and jealousy between two artists from opposing backgrounds. Enka, the narrator, was a “fringe kid,” whose family lived on the poorer side of the impenetrable “buffer” in her native Florida. When, despite unlikely odds, Enka is accepted to a prestigious art school, she is immediately fascinated by Mathilde Wojnot-Cho, the “supremely gifted” wunderkind everyone is too nervous to befriend. Mathilde grew up protesting the buffers despite living on the affluent “enclave” side, and she and Enka develop an intense bond, “dream[ing] the same dreams.” A rift forms when Mathilde is invited to show her work at the Whitney Museum and the Venice Biennale but Enka receives no such opportunities. Later, after Enka marries into a wealthy family and Mathilde suffers an unimaginable loss, the two decide to connect their psyches via a technology called the Scaffold, which allows its users to “inhabit” each other’s minds. Unsurprisingly, the results are harrowing. At times the dialogue lapses into melodrama, but Huang writes evocatively of Enka’s waxing and waning jealousy of Mathilde, which comes at the expense of developing her own artistic voice. This bracing novel gives readers plenty to chew on. Agent: Kirby Kim, Janklow & Nesbit Assoc. (May)