"My personal history is that I played competitively from when I was 9 to 16 or 17. I grew up in St. Louis, where there is not a vibrant table tennis scene. Usually, in the US, a lot of table tennis players are from the Asian diaspora, so the best table tennis clubs are on the coasts in San Francisco and Los Angeles, some in the tristate area."
"In St. Louis, my coach taught out of her basement. She had four tables in her basement in Chesterfield, Missouri. She used to be on the junior team of Shanghai, and her two sons both played in her basement and were on the national team. So it's extremely random and unlikely that I played that sport growing up, but I think that's also emblematic of the sport's ethos."
"To me, it's a very scrappy sport. It's full of weirdos and underdogs. It's extremely nerdy. People who start will find that there are many complex things about the spin and the way the ball moves that are not intuitive and makes it difficult to learn. But that's why I love it, and it made for a good book. But I will say, when I was playing, I was not anywhere close to the best of the best."
The narrative opens with a funeral and reconstructs the life of Ryan Lo through the oblique perspectives of people who knew him at different stages. Ryan remains a charismatic void at the center while others' recollections gradually assemble a fragmented portrait. One participant played competitively from ages nine to seventeen, growing up in St. Louis with coaching held in a basement containing four tables. The sport appears scrappy, nerdy, and populated by underdogs, with complex spin and ball movement that is unintuitive and difficult to learn. The protagonist was not among the very best despite deep engagement.
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