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4.36 AVERAGE
4.36 AVERAGE
emotional
reflective
sad
4 stars - Metaphorosis Reviews
A collection of some of Ken Liu's short stories.
I first ran across Ken Liu's work through short stories in one magazine or another. His name stuck in my mind, because the stories were astoundingly good. I kept finding more, and they just kept getting better. Plus, he was translating a lot of Chinese SF, which was great.
My view of Liu as a masterful, all-capable writer was dented somewhat with his long, mainly dull debut novel, The Grace of Kings. I took advantage of this anthology to see if the bloom was off the rose entirely, or just for long fiction. I'm happy to say it's the latter. Liu's short stories in this anthology aren't all excellent, but they're all good, and some of them are truly astounding.
In his anthology Insistence of Vision, David Brin posits that speculative writers are all interested in history. I don't find that true, but it certainly is for Liu. Many of the stories here draw on historical episodes, practices, or mythology, even when envisioning an alternate reality. The result vary between interestingly illuminating, and top-heavy slow-going. "The Man Who Ended History: A Documentary" illustrates both tracks. Many of the rest are straightforwardly philosophical, with new technology thrown in. A fair number give a sense of having been carefully, consciously constructed.
What surprised me was how many of the stories focused on questions of identity - usually the meaning of Chinese, American, or Japanese identities, or a contrast between them. It's an interesting issue, and one that Liu deals with even-handedly - no one identity is suggested as necessarily better than another. At the same time, it becomes a bit wearing. Perhaps for this reason, many of the characters feel self-centered. By the time I neared the end of the book, I was thinking, "Please write something about elves or dragons or aliens. Anything but more Asian/American identity crises." The next story was "A Brief History of the Trans-pacific Tunnel". You can guess what it was about.
Despite their sometimes rather monomaniacal focus, the stories in this collection are usually effective, and almost always beautifully written. For short fiction, at least, Ken Liu's name is one that will last - and he's only just starting.
The best stories in the collection:
A collection of some of Ken Liu's short stories.
I first ran across Ken Liu's work through short stories in one magazine or another. His name stuck in my mind, because the stories were astoundingly good. I kept finding more, and they just kept getting better. Plus, he was translating a lot of Chinese SF, which was great.
My view of Liu as a masterful, all-capable writer was dented somewhat with his long, mainly dull debut novel, The Grace of Kings. I took advantage of this anthology to see if the bloom was off the rose entirely, or just for long fiction. I'm happy to say it's the latter. Liu's short stories in this anthology aren't all excellent, but they're all good, and some of them are truly astounding.
In his anthology Insistence of Vision, David Brin posits that speculative writers are all interested in history. I don't find that true, but it certainly is for Liu. Many of the stories here draw on historical episodes, practices, or mythology, even when envisioning an alternate reality. The result vary between interestingly illuminating, and top-heavy slow-going. "The Man Who Ended History: A Documentary" illustrates both tracks. Many of the rest are straightforwardly philosophical, with new technology thrown in. A fair number give a sense of having been carefully, consciously constructed.
What surprised me was how many of the stories focused on questions of identity - usually the meaning of Chinese, American, or Japanese identities, or a contrast between them. It's an interesting issue, and one that Liu deals with even-handedly - no one identity is suggested as necessarily better than another. At the same time, it becomes a bit wearing. Perhaps for this reason, many of the characters feel self-centered. By the time I neared the end of the book, I was thinking, "Please write something about elves or dragons or aliens. Anything but more Asian/American identity crises." The next story was "A Brief History of the Trans-pacific Tunnel". You can guess what it was about.
Despite their sometimes rather monomaniacal focus, the stories in this collection are usually effective, and almost always beautifully written. For short fiction, at least, Ken Liu's name is one that will last - and he's only just starting.
The best stories in the collection:
- The Bookmaking Habits of Select Species - just what it sounds like, and without a clear storyline, but brilliant and effective nonetheless.
- State Change - how we'd act if we had concrete, tangible, finite souls. Another beautifully written story, though with a slightly fumbled ending.
- The Literomancer - magic with words, and betrayal with love. The story goes off into fairly lengthy historical asides, but it works well despite them.
- The Regular - an intelligent crime story.
- The Paper Menagerie - living origami. A beautiful, moving story.
- Mono No Aware - how to repair a solar sail. Another moving, effective story.
- A Brief History of the Trans-pacific Tunnel - another way history might have gone. Much as I longed, by this point, for a story not about history and identity, this story did a nice job with both.
It's admittedly difficult to rate short story collections: long-form fiction is much easier for me to connect with, but I've been trying to give more short fiction a go and this came highly recommended. At his best, Liu's work is thought-provoking, imaginative, haunting, charming; the stand-outs of this collection were "State Change," "Good Hunting," "The Literomancer," and "The Paper Menagerie"--stories of souls stored in inanimate objects outside the body, magical creatures forced to adapt with the changing tides of history, a man who can read the future in a word, a woman who breathes literal life into origami animals for her son. (I'm definitely more inclined toward the fantasy/magical realism end of spec fiction than sci-fi.)
Unfortunately, a lot of the other stories failed to hit for me. Women are defined in relation to the men of each story, more often than not--daughters and mothers and wives and manic pixie dream girl-esque love interests who never fully take shape on their own. As another reviewer noted, it often felt as if Liu wedged the characters into an idea he found interesting rather than allowing them to grow organically. There's also a clinical quality to a lot of Liu's prose that makes it difficult to emotionally engage, and I should note that there are themes of violence (sexual and otherwise) in many of the stories that may be triggering to some.
An interesting read with a handful of gems, though I'm not sure I'd recommend the whole collection.
Unfortunately, a lot of the other stories failed to hit for me. Women are defined in relation to the men of each story, more often than not--daughters and mothers and wives and manic pixie dream girl-esque love interests who never fully take shape on their own. As another reviewer noted, it often felt as if Liu wedged the characters into an idea he found interesting rather than allowing them to grow organically. There's also a clinical quality to a lot of Liu's prose that makes it difficult to emotionally engage, and I should note that there are themes of violence (sexual and otherwise) in many of the stories that may be triggering to some.
An interesting read with a handful of gems, though I'm not sure I'd recommend the whole collection.
Some of the best short stories I've read. I was blown away by the incredible variety of stories, and many a tear was shed while reading "The Paper Menagerie," "The Literomancer," and "The Man Who Ended History: A Documentary." Also loved "Good Hunting," "All the Flavors," and "State Change." I'll definitely return to this beautiful collection again and again.
As much as I wanted to love The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories, I have to be honest in that I only thought it was okay. I mean, I can see how these stories established a reputation for Ken Liu, and there’s no doubt that some of them are indeed award worthy, but I didn’t connect with nearly as many as I would have liked.
Before you start getting disappointed, however, let me say that I blame the format, not necessarily the content. I’ve always been drawn to doorstopper fantasy novels like The Grace of Kings, where we have six or seven hundred pages to immerse ourselves in the world, so it’s not a surprise that many of these stories fell flat or felt a little shallow.
Having said all that, I’d be remiss if I didn’t heap some praise on those stories that did work for me.
“State Change” hooked me from the start, with a young woman’s strange obsession with freezers, glaciers, and ice cubes. Rina lives in a world where our souls physically manifest as small items that we must keep close at all times, which is easy enough if your soul is a rock or a cigarette package, not so much when it’s something as fragile as an ice cube. It’s the subtle twists at the end, however, where there magic happens.
“Good Hunting” was probably my favorite in the collection, being a story about ghosts, demons, steam-trains, and eternal change. Once a world of magic and monsters, China has seen all of that disappear as the railroad makes its way across the land. Faced with the loss of his family’s legacy, Liang befriends a young shapeshifter and comes to understand the nature of change and the mechanics of being an agent of change.
“The Regular” is a story I didn’t expect much out of, as crime stories and murder mysteries really aren’t my thing, but then we learn that Regulators are . . . and what they’ve done to Ruth’s capacity for emotion. There is a lot going on in this story, with much of it either in the past or beneath the surface of the narrative, and the climax is one of the most powerful scenes in the collection.
“A Brief History of the Trans-Pacific Tunnel” is comprised of stories within stories, with excerpts from A Brief History of the Trans-Pacific Tunnel (1960) and The Ignoramus’s Guide to American History (1995) interspersed within the tale of interracial romance, with one man’s reminiscing being the final, darkest piece that brings it all together.
An uneven collection (for me, at least), that was far heavier on politics, history, and sociology than I anticipated, The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories didn’t amaze me like The Grace of Kings did, but it may be the perfect appetizer for those not yet ready to commit to one doorstopper with another on the way later this year.
Before you start getting disappointed, however, let me say that I blame the format, not necessarily the content. I’ve always been drawn to doorstopper fantasy novels like The Grace of Kings, where we have six or seven hundred pages to immerse ourselves in the world, so it’s not a surprise that many of these stories fell flat or felt a little shallow.
Having said all that, I’d be remiss if I didn’t heap some praise on those stories that did work for me.
“State Change” hooked me from the start, with a young woman’s strange obsession with freezers, glaciers, and ice cubes. Rina lives in a world where our souls physically manifest as small items that we must keep close at all times, which is easy enough if your soul is a rock or a cigarette package, not so much when it’s something as fragile as an ice cube. It’s the subtle twists at the end, however, where there magic happens.
“Good Hunting” was probably my favorite in the collection, being a story about ghosts, demons, steam-trains, and eternal change. Once a world of magic and monsters, China has seen all of that disappear as the railroad makes its way across the land. Faced with the loss of his family’s legacy, Liang befriends a young shapeshifter and comes to understand the nature of change and the mechanics of being an agent of change.
“The Regular” is a story I didn’t expect much out of, as crime stories and murder mysteries really aren’t my thing, but then we learn that Regulators are . . . and what they’ve done to Ruth’s capacity for emotion. There is a lot going on in this story, with much of it either in the past or beneath the surface of the narrative, and the climax is one of the most powerful scenes in the collection.
“A Brief History of the Trans-Pacific Tunnel” is comprised of stories within stories, with excerpts from A Brief History of the Trans-Pacific Tunnel (1960) and The Ignoramus’s Guide to American History (1995) interspersed within the tale of interracial romance, with one man’s reminiscing being the final, darkest piece that brings it all together.
An uneven collection (for me, at least), that was far heavier on politics, history, and sociology than I anticipated, The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories didn’t amaze me like The Grace of Kings did, but it may be the perfect appetizer for those not yet ready to commit to one doorstopper with another on the way later this year.
Thanks to Saga Press for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Beautiful stories. I forgot how powerful a well-writtem short story can be. I especially liked the one set in a mining town in San Francisco.
I've been reading this slowly. So slowly I forgot when I started. I would recommend reading it this way.
I've been reading this slowly. So slowly I forgot when I started. I would recommend reading it this way.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Enjoyed the following stories:
The Paper Menagerie
"'If I say "love," I feel here.' She pointed to her lips. 'If I say "ai," I feel here.' She put her hand over her heart."
"You know what the Chinese think is the saddest feeling in the world? It's for a child to finally grow the desire to take care of his parents, only to realize that they were long gone."
An Advanced Readers' Picture Book of Comparative Cognition
"All parents make choices for their children. Almost always they think it's for the best."
The Paper Menagerie
"'If I say "love," I feel here.' She pointed to her lips. 'If I say "ai," I feel here.' She put her hand over her heart."
"You know what the Chinese think is the saddest feeling in the world? It's for a child to finally grow the desire to take care of his parents, only to realize that they were long gone."
An Advanced Readers' Picture Book of Comparative Cognition
"All parents make choices for their children. Almost always they think it's for the best."
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated