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4.22 AVERAGE
4.22 AVERAGE
"tower of babylon": ☆☆☆
"understand": ☆☆½
"division by zero": ☆☆☆☆☆
"stories of our life": ☆☆☆☆☆
"seventy-two letters": ☆☆
"the evolution of human science": ☆☆☆
"hell is the absence of god": ☆☆☆☆☆
"liking what you see: a documentary": ☆☆☆☆½
final rating: ☆☆☆☆
i was very pleasantly surprised by how much i enjoyed this, given that i don't really tend to like short fiction as much!
"understand": ☆☆½
"division by zero": ☆☆☆☆☆
"stories of our life": ☆☆☆☆☆
"seventy-two letters": ☆☆
"the evolution of human science": ☆☆☆
"hell is the absence of god": ☆☆☆☆☆
"liking what you see: a documentary": ☆☆☆☆½
final rating: ☆☆☆☆
i was very pleasantly surprised by how much i enjoyed this, given that i don't really tend to like short fiction as much!
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Incredible. An absolute must-read for everyone that appreciates books. The concepts are original, interesting, and thought-provoking. The implications are immense. These stories possess such rich depth. Even if you didn’t care about the depth of content, the stories are still fascinating - like Black Mirror in a way.
informative
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
dark
lighthearted
mysterious
The collection is very varied it terms of quality.
Some stories are total bangers, Tower Of Babylon, Understand, and Hell Is The Absence Of God.
Others have more difficulties catching my attention or interests. Lots of interesting plot devices and story ideas, but they didn't speak to me as much.
Some stories are total bangers, Tower Of Babylon, Understand, and Hell Is The Absence Of God.
Others have more difficulties catching my attention or interests. Lots of interesting plot devices and story ideas, but they didn't speak to me as much.
adventurous
challenging
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I chose this book of short stories after seeing Arrival, the movie that is based on the story "The Story of Your Life." That story is at about the midpoint of the collection. I was a little disappointed in the story after seeing the movie, which I thought was a richer and more emotional rendering.
My favorite story in this collection is the first one, "Tower of Babylon." it takes a familiar legend as a seed and grows a completely different set of circumstances from it. It is an epic story, not in length but in scale. Chiang imagines how a culture can grow up on a man-made tower, and also imagines many technical details of a tower to heaven--the engineering feats that are necessary, but practical ones, such as how to feed the workers, as well. And yet, he retains the conceit that the tower is built to breach the barrier between heaven and earth, and that in fact there is such a barrier to be breached. The ending is nothing like the original tale, but completely interesting and believable.
Most of the stories have both the strength and the weakness of science fiction--imagining a different set of conditions than our world/universe has, but leaving human nature the same. Chiang is good at setting the scene and not focussing too much on that scene, but rather on the logical consequences of it. His imagination for alternate ways that the world could work are fun. But he is an imperfect stylist; there is a monotony and distance in his voice in most of the stories, and he has particular tics that get annoying when reading for awhile (his use of contractions like "would've" is one of them). You know that the main enjoyment of the story is coming from the premise rather than the writing when you keep flipping forward to find out how many pages are left.
Only one story was particularly off-putting to me: "Understand." In creating a character whose mind is enhanced and becoming self-aware, the voice he chose is that of a tedious mansplainer, and the fact that all of the characters (including his super-intelligent foe) were men just compounded the problem.
But it's too seldom the case that writers of science fiction are focused on the human condition as revealed by alternate worlds, and so I am glad to see Chiang writing this kind of story.
My favorite story in this collection is the first one, "Tower of Babylon." it takes a familiar legend as a seed and grows a completely different set of circumstances from it. It is an epic story, not in length but in scale. Chiang imagines how a culture can grow up on a man-made tower, and also imagines many technical details of a tower to heaven--the engineering feats that are necessary, but practical ones, such as how to feed the workers, as well. And yet, he retains the conceit that the tower is built to breach the barrier between heaven and earth, and that in fact there is such a barrier to be breached. The ending is nothing like the original tale, but completely interesting and believable.
Most of the stories have both the strength and the weakness of science fiction--imagining a different set of conditions than our world/universe has, but leaving human nature the same. Chiang is good at setting the scene and not focussing too much on that scene, but rather on the logical consequences of it. His imagination for alternate ways that the world could work are fun. But he is an imperfect stylist; there is a monotony and distance in his voice in most of the stories, and he has particular tics that get annoying when reading for awhile (his use of contractions like "would've" is one of them). You know that the main enjoyment of the story is coming from the premise rather than the writing when you keep flipping forward to find out how many pages are left.
Only one story was particularly off-putting to me: "Understand." In creating a character whose mind is enhanced and becoming self-aware, the voice he chose is that of a tedious mansplainer, and the fact that all of the characters (including his super-intelligent foe) were men just compounded the problem.
But it's too seldom the case that writers of science fiction are focused on the human condition as revealed by alternate worlds, and so I am glad to see Chiang writing this kind of story.
challenging
emotional
mysterious
reflective