{"product_id":"underspin-9781529961485","title":"Underspin","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eChallengers meets Whiplash in this intimate, bruising novel about the short and tumultuous life of a table tennis prodigy, as seen through the eyes of those pulled into his orbit.   'A staggeringly good debut, written with elan, compassion and wit' Kaliane Bradley, author of The Ministry of Time 'Challengers, but make it table tennis' Lit Hub, 'Most Anticipated Books of 2025' 'An eruption of a debut . . . with meticulous precision and tremendous heart' Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, author of Chain-Gang All-Stars 'A superior force to be reckoned with' Neel Mukherjee, author of The Lives of Others and Choice  Ryan Lo begins playing table tennis aged eight. His brilliant but ruthless coach sees a talent in him that might be nurtured into greatness.  Through an adolescence marked by hours of practice, matches away from home, clandestine relationships and a determination to win, Ryan ascends to the highest echelons of the game, just as he was supposed to.  But here he is now, dead before his twenty-fifth birthday, leaving grief and confusion in his wake.  Ryan Lo was meant to be great. What happened?  Underspin delves beneath the pressure that forges a champion, and the vulnerability that makes a coming of age- the crackling intensity of a match, the push and pull of first love, and the great injustices committed within our closest relationships.   'A kaleidoscopic novel . . . Zhao's prose is a marvel' Rob Franklin, author of Great Black Hope 'Leaves a trail of fire in its wake . . . An electric debut' Jenny Tinghui Zhang, author of Four Treasures of the Sky 'An unconventional and stylish portrait of a table tennis wunderkind . . . this book will immerse you in its high-stakes world until the very last page' Alina Grabowski, author of Women and Children First\u003ch4\u003eDetails\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cp\u003eISBN13: 9781529961485\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFormat: Paperback \/ softback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eNumber of Pages: 272\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eEdition: \u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePublication Date: 17 Mar 2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePublisher: Transworld Publishers Ltd\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePublication City, Country: London, United Kingdom\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eDimensions (cm): 23.2(H)x15.3(L)x2(W)333\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWeight (gm): 333\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch4\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h4\u003eE Y Zhao is a writer from St. Louis, Missouri. Her work appears in The Georgia Review, Electric Lit, and Chicago Review of Books, among others. She edits fiction for Joyland Magazine.\u003ch4\u003eReviews\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cb\u003eA staggeringly good debut\u003c\/b\u003e, written with \u003cb\u003eélan, compassion and wit\u003c\/b\u003e, that takes the world of professional table-tennis and \u003cb\u003eserves us a story about prestige, abuse, ambition, loyalty\u003c\/b\u003e and the terrible results of feeling surveilled by the eye of high expectations. -- Kaliane Bradley * author of The Ministry of Time *\u003cbr\u003eZhao's \u003ci\u003eUnderspin \u003c\/i\u003eis \u003cb\u003ean eruption of a debut\u003c\/b\u003e. This novel displays a wondrous ability that renders both the central sport and lives that weave around it with \u003cb\u003emeticulous precision and tremendous heart\u003c\/b\u003e. The beauty of sport the spirit of desire and the sacrifice required for greatness are all captured here in this stunner. -- Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah * National Book Award and Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize-shortlisted author of Chain-Gang All-Stars *\u003cbr\u003eA \u003cb\u003ecomplex and dynamic\u003c\/b\u003e tragedy, carefully rendering the many lives that are drawn into the orbit of a rising star. Zhao, much like \u003ci\u003eUnderspin\u003c\/i\u003e’s protagonist, wields \u003cb\u003egreat talent and skill\u003c\/b\u003e -- Nicola Dinan * author of Bellies *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBeautifully written, funny, and tragic\u003c\/b\u003e, \u003ci\u003eUnderspin\u003c\/i\u003e is \u003cb\u003ea triumph of a novel\u003c\/b\u003e * Chicago Review of Books *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eChallengers\u003c\/i\u003e, but make it table tennis\u003c\/b\u003e . . . I love a character portrait and I love a bildungsroman and I love a sports story that isn't really about sports. * Lit Hub *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLike \u003ci\u003eChallengers\u003c\/i\u003e did to tennis last year, \u003ci\u003eUnderspin\u003c\/i\u003e might do for table tennis.\u003c\/b\u003e Zhao’s debut is\u003cb\u003e wildly ambitious and searingly brilliant\u003c\/b\u003e, jolting the reader with devastation, nostalgia, embarrassment, prestige, and sex—all in a completely unexpected field. \u003ci\u003eUnderspin\u003c\/i\u003e is meaty with brain and brawn, radically alive in surprising ways. \u003cb\u003eA tremendous writer of fiction is born\u003c\/b\u003e * Soft Union *\u003cbr\u003eAndre Agassi's \u003ci\u003eOpen \u003c\/i\u003emeets Jennifer Egan's \u003ci\u003eA Visit From the Goon Squad \u003c\/i\u003ein this \u003cb\u003ewildly exciting, whipsmart and beautiful novel\u003c\/b\u003e of a tragic table tennis star, told by those who were closest to him. \u003cb\u003eMobile, adventurous, and deeply imaginative, it's a stunner of a debut\u003c\/b\u003e * Our Culture *\u003cbr\u003eE.Y. Zhao arrives on the literary scene like Minerva emerging from the head of Zeus: \u003cb\u003efully formed, formidable, and a superior force to be reckoned with\u003c\/b\u003e. Who knew the world needed a table-tennis novel? Except that it is not a table tennis novel, or not just one – \u003cb\u003eit is, indelibly, what the novel has always been about: the tangle of human life\u003c\/b\u003e; error, power, damage, striving; the complicated ties that connect us in a web at once tensile, tough, and frangible. -- Neel Mukherjee * Booker Prize-shortlisted author of The Lives of Others and Choice *\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eUnderspin\u003c\/i\u003e is a \u003cb\u003ekaleidoscopic \u003c\/b\u003enovel about many things: the dark center of hurt, its ripples, and the unpayable costs of ambition.\u003cb\u003e Zhao’s prose is a marvel\u003c\/b\u003e—sly, seductive, and cutthroat as a kill shot -- Rob Franklin * author of Great Black Hope *\u003cbr\u003eE. Y. Zhao’s \u003ci\u003eUnderspin\u003c\/i\u003e hurtles down the line and \u003cb\u003eleaves a trail of fire in its wake\u003c\/b\u003e. An \u003cb\u003eelectric \u003c\/b\u003edebut -- Jenny Tingui Zhang * author of Four Treasures of the Sky *","brand":"E Y Zhao","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48506088980697,"sku":"9781529961485","price":34.99,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0502\/9530\/8441\/files\/9781529961485.jpg?v=1775742592","url":"https:\/\/www.arielbooks.com.au\/products\/underspin-9781529961485","provider":"Ariel","version":"1.0","type":"link"}