Grant Ginder and Lillian Li, who first met at a book reading in Providence, Rhode Island, in 2018, saw their new novels about evolving friendships publish on the same day eight years later. Ginder's 'So Old, So Young' and Li's 'Bad Asians' explore friend groups transitioning from post-graduation to adulthood. The writers recently reunited at a trade show in Indianapolis.
Ginder was promoting his third book while Li introduced her debut, 'Number One Chinese Restaurant,' when they connected in Providence. Their latest works share themes of friendships complicated by time, change, and external pressures. 'These are people who have known so many different versions of us,' Ginder said in a recent conversation on Literary Hub, highlighting the depth of long-term bonds over romantic ones at times. Li echoed that sentiment, noting how small slights can fester into major rifts as lives diverge. They bonded quickly during joint events, much like the party settings in Ginder's novel that capture friend group dynamics across five gatherings. Li's story delves into early internet virality, where unguarded moments lead to unwanted fame and expose vulnerabilities in relationships. Both authors, roughly the same age, attribute a generational focus on friendship among Millennials to disillusionment with traditional family and romantic ideals. Social media amplifies comparisons, they agreed, turning natural envy into inescapable pressure. 'The Internet reduces us down to the worst versions of ourselves,' Ginder observed. Fiction, they argued, articulates messy emotions like jealousy, fostering understanding and connection by giving voice to the unspoken.