Out of My Body Flowers Will Grow

The plot centers on a cliff in California known as a popular suicide spot. When a man builds a house next to the cliff and starts talking people down from their attempts to kill themselves, the town of Port Costa begins to form. The survivors settle together. In the novel, the reader meets many characters. Some are present throughout the story. Others come and go. This effect helps bring the setting alive, characterizing the town alongside the survivors who reside in it. The characters that remain part of the plot for the duration of the book include Isaac, the brother of the founder of Port Costa, Trent, a delusional pornography addict who travels across the country to profess his love to a woman he sees online, Xin Fu, a man who spends his days endlessly folding origami and believes he is the son of the last emperor of Japan, and Clementine, a woman who is released from prison to learn that her husband has abandoned their daughter in a small town in California. Through the eyes of these and other minor characters, the novel presents a study of suicidal tendencies and what it truly means to be ‘crazy.’ Failed love, guilt, anger, regret, and apathy all make appearances to push these characters towards a final realization: Those we consider ‘crazy,’ and those we consider ‘sane’ suffer from similar problems and might not be as distinctive as formerly thought. This is a story about inner battles. Those who win struggle to help others.