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A lot of really imaginative sci-fi concepts; I especially love the first short story, which follows in the Invisible Cities tradition of a society/universe? sketched out by its constituents, by its minor details. It's really magical and a great introduction to the series. I'm not really sure what to make of "The Regular"; it does feel a little like the conclusion is that cops should shoot people faster when they feel justified, but a lot more of the story is bound up in both the stresses that policing introduces on police as well as the biases that exist even in an "objective" world. I also felt a little weird about "Simulacrum", mostly because of my own contested feelings around fatherhood.
There were a lot of stories that I think are stereotypically "diasporic"; I also cried 3-4 times while reading this book, which has to count for something.
Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death, Bullying, Gun violence, Infidelity, Sexual content, Kidnapping, Colonisation
Minor: Addiction, Dementia
Graphic: Body horror, Genocide, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Gaslighting, Alcohol
Minor: Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Suicide, Pregnancy, War
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Genocide, Racism, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Medical content, Trafficking, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cancer, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Police brutality
Minor: Sexual content, Dementia
I think the themes of communication, story telling and heritage are some that I really love to read about. I also loved how Ken Liu obviously did his research on some of the topics - I am now really interested to know more about them.
some stories (especially the last one!) made me want to throw up. some were sad. some were really interesting thought processes. all in all, I can't say anything else about this book that that reading it was an experience (and that maybe you shouldn't do it like me and plan to read one story each before going to sleep - that's not going to work for different reasons)
Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder