Before all else, K-Ming Chang is a poet and that fact is made obvious throughout this entire novel. I can’t even put into words how amazing the prose is; without being convoluted and impossible to follow, K-Ming Chang writes a vulgar, mythical story about generational trauma, the ugliness and the unreliability of the human body and mind, family dynamics, the violent hunger of love, and the plight of moving away from one’s home (country or building) to try and survive in another.

You can just tell that K-Ming Chang writes poetry and short stories because on a line-by-line level, this book is unbelievable. I genuinely believe that not one line, not one word, is wasted. Given that this is a work of magical realism, the whole narrative is an extended metaphor but every single paragraph holds its very own unique, contained metaphor and I found myself highlighting damn-near every single page. This is one of those books that you have to stick with. Even while I’m writing this review, I acknowledge that this book really isn’t for everyone. There isn’t a traditional plot. Instead, K-Ming Chang presents a non-linear narrative following three main speakers–Daughter, Mother, and Grandmother–and conveys the complexities of their relationships through traditional Taiwanese myths. Although the female relationships take centre stage in this story, I really enjoyed how she spoke of the men, of how they were physically present but absent in all the ways that mattered, in ways that aggravated the female relationships, souring them in some instances, strengthening them in others. All this comes together to create a crass, strange story that speaks on a very relatable and real truth: it’s not easy to escape your lineage.

Some of my favourite quotes:

You don’t know about gold, about grieving what you could have owned. Your grandmother’s grief has grown its own body. She raises it like another child, one she loves better than me and my sister, one that can never leave her.

I’ll home him better than any country.

My husband is gone in the head and your father is gone everywhere else. She said men were synonymous with missing.

I remembered watching families in restaurants fighting to pay a bill, and maybe that was what Meng and Jiang were fighting over: a bill they were too proud to let the other take. To say a daughter is a debt they could afford to pay.

once when you were little I said you could love your father or your mother but you had to pick one the one you love is your leash the other is a house you burn down

I understand animals that eat their runts. Better to swallow them back into your body than let them be taken, buried outside of you.

You define a daughter as something done to you at night without your permission

Content Warnings

brianareads's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.5

Content Warnings

readingpicnic's review against another edition

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5.0

I’ve never read a book with so much pissing in it

Content Warnings

siobhanward's review against another edition

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challenging dark slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

So I'm going to start off by mentioning that this book is full of detailed, graphic descriptions. If that's not your vibe, this book is worth taking a pass on.

That said, I really liked the idea of this book, but I struggled a lot with the stream of consciousness narrative. I really waver back and forth on this kind of narrative, but typically I find them challenging to read since there isn't necessarily a plot to follow. What I could follow, I enjoyed, but there were some parts that were almost jarringly out of place and I struggled with. I like the direction Chang was going with this book, but I found some of the execution to be lacking.

Content Warnings

jacq_s's review against another edition

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challenging dark funny slow-paced

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

3.75

Content Warnings

alecrigdon's review against another edition

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challenging slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

Content Warnings

snowwhitehatesapples's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.0

Review can also be found at Snow White Hates Apples.

Brimming with imagery and symbolism, vulgarity and rawness, Bestiary by K-Ming Chang is a familiar story of alienation, resilience and survival told in (while being made unfamiliar by) bizarre prose saturated with magical realism. There are layers upon layers in this story, made complex by two main factors.

The first of which is that there is no traditional plot structure as the story unravels without linearity. It jumps from one point of view to another, switching between Daughter, Mother and Grandmother without much care for order. But, despite this, it is clear that Bestiary is a story of identity, though there’s a notable lack of names.

The other is the significance of vulgarity in this book. Now, I’m not someone who shies away from vulgarity in literature, but there is just way too much of it here. The first half of the book is especially bursting with mentions of body parts and bodily functions. A small part of me hesitantly believes that the closeness of filth and the Asian characters here are meant to be ironic because Asians have been stereotyped as dirty. But, a greater part of me is unsure of their significance within the story and outside of it—the potential contexts elude me despite the familiarity.

Everything considered, this book was difficult for me to read and took a lot out of me while I attempted to understand it. It is powerful, yes, and the parts I did understand broke my heart. Even so, I remain undecided if Bestiary is brilliantly creative or has a tad too much surrealism.

Nevertheless, I recommend this book for anyone who loves Asian literature and magical realism, and who has the brain power to process its rich imagery and symbolism. If you get squeamish easily but really want to read this book, be prepared to take lots of breaks in between pages.

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