Reviews tagging 'Trafficking'

The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories by Ken Liu

5 reviews

k_aro's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.75

A really, really good book that I also am kind of uncomfortable in reading. The book is, I guess inevitably, about Chinese history, tracing all kinds of past atrocities and conflicts, all of which is marred by the decay of history, the anti-Communist and Sinophobic world we currently live in, as well as complications around how we should talk about all of these things. These stories have also all been written at various points in Liu's life, which may or may not change how we can read them/where his feelings have changed.

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.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Child abuse, Medical content, Rape, Blood, Confinement, Death, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Death of parent, Racism, Xenophobia, Drug use, Gaslighting, Grief, Murder, Sexual assault, Torture, Trafficking, War, and Violence

Moderate: Bullying, Infidelity, Gun violence, Sexual content, Colonisation, Animal death, and Kidnapping

Minor: Dementia and Addiction

safiewafie's review against another edition

dark hopeful reflective sad fast-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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Torture, Violence, Rape, Body horror, Child death, Racism, Sexual violence, Abortion, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Animal death, and War

Moderate: Trafficking and Suicide

lynxpardinus's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional informative reflective sad

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Trafficking, Violence, Colonisation, Genocide, Medical content, Medical trauma, Child abuse, Death of parent, Racism, Suicide, War, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Rape, Racial slurs, Infidelity, Police brutality, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Cancer, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexual violence, and Slavery

Minor: Dementia and Sexual content

kalira's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Ken Lie has a brilliant approach to weaving together history and realism with fantastical/speculative fiction elements, drawing it all into poignant and deeply emotional relief.

It took me a long time to read this anthology, largely because the stories are very good . . . and sometimes, so painful and heavy and immediate that upon finishing I needed to set the book aside and take some time. Both to process the story and to give myself a little emotional space to breathe.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Sexual violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Genocide, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Child death, Religious bigotry, Slavery, Classism, Cultural appropriation, Gore, Trafficking, Vomit, Hate crime, Fire/Fire injury, Body horror, Death, War, Alcohol, Colonisation, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, Torture, Violence, Chronic illness, and Grief

readerette's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

These stories are beautiful and dark. A number of them will probably come back to me in nightmares. They were worth reading, but be warned. I had to keep to a story or two per day to manage the emotional impact. Some of the stories also felt quite academic given their sources in science or history--not bad, but not what I'm used to in fiction.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Death, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Medical content, Physical abuse, Torture, and Violence

Minor: Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, and Trafficking