Reviews tagging 'Grief'

The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories by Ken Liu

12 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

talonsontypewriters's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, Body horror, Racism, Xenophobia, War, Gun violence, Gore, Torture, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Grief

Moderate: Genocide, Animal death, Slavery, Bullying, Racial slurs, Death of parent, Colonisation, and Child death

Minor: Infidelity, Excrement, Sexual content, Alcohol, Cancer, and Suicide

Surveillance ("The Perfect Match"). Eye trauma/gore, violence against sex workers ("The Regular").

10stormlight's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

3.75

Some really conceptually interesting and thought provoking stuff. A collection of very emotional (and sometimes heartrending) stories. Primarily sci fi and magical realism with a heavy historical influence. 

As a warning, there is a ton of *extremely* graphic content in here. In fact, I think this may be the most explicitly graphic book I have ever read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Torture, Violence, Gore, Rape, Suicide, Body horror, Death, Grief, Medical content, Xenophobia, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing, Racism, Child death, Sexual content, War, Death of parent, Confinement, Gun violence, and Murder

Minor: Terminal illness, Bullying, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Sexism, Fire/Fire injury, and Racial slurs

kthudson15's review against another edition

This book was very good, would recommend. The only reason I DNFed is because I’m in a fragile mental state & some of the stories were sad (in a good way; I just can’t handle them currently). The last story has some content that was not helping my mental health so I decided it was better to just stop than push through. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture and Grief

Moderate: War, Child death, Death of parent, Racism, Genocide, and Violence

Minor: Racial slurs and Murder

ruthhelizabeth's review against another edition

challenging dark informative medium-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Racism, Racial slurs, Murder, Misogyny, Medical trauma, Gun violence, Gore, Confinement, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Rape, Pregnancy, Genocide, Kidnapping, Hate crime, Xenophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Death, Blood, War, Torture, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Suicide

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

konfx's review against another edition

challenging inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Stalking, Violence, War, Xenophobia, Torture, Gore, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Genocide, Grief, Murder, and Racism

lookingforlittlelibraries's review against another edition

challenging informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Body horror, Medical trauma, Gore, Grief, Racism, Rape, Violence, and War

Moderate: Racial slurs, Colonisation, and Cultural appropriation

fromjuliereads's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful informative reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.0

This collection of short stories was so well done! I don't normally read short story collections, but I always loved reading short stories for study purposes. These were unlike any I had read.

These stories incorporate real places and history into science fiction and fantasy. They are raw, unique, heartbreaking, and in many ways, eye opening. While a couple were a bit long or not for me, I had quite a few that I thoroughly enjoyed and could still find appreciation for all of them.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Blood, Colonisation, Cursing, Death, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, War, and Xenophobia

annaluzia's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I think this is one of the most impressing books I've read in a very long time. the experience reading this was indescribable, I don't even know where to start. maybe by rereading it again and again 
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) 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Medical content, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Murder, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Torture, Violence, and Xenophobia