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3.82 AVERAGE
3.82 AVERAGE
mysterious
relaxing
slow-paced
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I’m not sure what I just read…but that’s okay (?)
I just finished and I can’t help asking myself.. “wait, what?”
I felt this way through a lot of the book. I had to reread many passages, on at least one occasion almost an entire chapter. That’s not to say, I didn’t like it. I tried explain the premise of this book to several people and they looked at me like I was nuts. It was like trying to explain a dream. If you’re up for something surreal, this is for you.
Surreal, complex, sometimes vague, altogether intriguing.
4/5
I just finished and I can’t help asking myself.. “wait, what?”
I felt this way through a lot of the book. I had to reread many passages, on at least one occasion almost an entire chapter. That’s not to say, I didn’t like it. I tried explain the premise of this book to several people and they looked at me like I was nuts. It was like trying to explain a dream. If you’re up for something surreal, this is for you.
Surreal, complex, sometimes vague, altogether intriguing.
4/5
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
After 8 separate google searches containing various assortments of the words ‘Strange’ ‘Beasts’ ‘China’ and ‘Explanation,’ I think I finally understand...
This novel is a mesmerizing blend of fantasy and mythology, following a cryptozoologist as she documents the mysterious and fantastical creatures living alongside humans in the fictional city of Yong’an. Through her investigations, she uncovers hidden truths about these strange beasts and, ultimately, about herself. I loved the way this book was structured, where each chapter takes you through the lore of a different strange beast and how it relates to the nameless narrator’s life and experiences.
I did stumble upon an article that lamented about the English translation and how it does little to highlight the references to Chinese culture and Buddhism, so it was a helpful foundation to better understand. These references included Zhong Kui, the name of a character’s father, is also a figure in Chinese religion and is a renowned demon killer. Another being how the introduction and conclusion to each chapter was written in Classical Chinese, which Maxwell Olin Massa compares to if we were to read it in Latin, but the English translator utilized the same writing style for both these paragraphs as well as the rest of the chapter so this was overlooked as a craft move by English readers. I also missed many of the Buddhist references.
However, these drawbacks did not deter from my overall enjoyment of the book and I felt excited to escape into Yong’an for the duration of the novel.
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I don't even know where to begin. This was a touching, magical, and breathtaking read — potentially one of my all-time favourite books. Yan Ge's writing is peculiar and pensive, leaving you removed from the physical realities of the story, yet deeply entrenched in the emotions. The storybeats are slow, fragmented, and surprising; the framework of connected tales lead to a very even, beating pace, but demands patience of the reader. At times, the book is almost silly in its surrealism, but Yan manages to ground the concept in the language she uses and the base emotions she plays with. In the end, it's all about love, belonging, and the stories we tell. This truly feels like a masterpiece that I can reread over and over and uncover something new every time.
quality of writing: N/A enjoyment: 1/10 page count: 232 i truly hated this book. it was grotesque and uncomfortable and the gore and body horror was genuinely terrifying for me. some people seemed to have loved it though? idk it’s not for me. i also read a translation from chinese to english which is why i did not give a rating on quality of writing since that feels unfair when i didn’t read it in the original language. and i will say that it being a translation was apparent i feel like i missed so much because it couldn’t be translated accurately. chinese is structured very differently and it’s very apparent in this translation. the entire book had a creepy dreamlike (nightmarish) quality to it and was pretty confusing. the writing SEEMED choppy but i think that’s just a translation and cultural thing. the whole time i was reading this i was just holding my breath and trying to force myself through it. it was so uncomfortable and scary and felt like a nightmare. the characters were all weird and confusing and vague but the message was still decipherable despite the details being confusing. i don’t want to give anything away so all ill say is each chapter is about a different kind of “beast” and that the book questions what makes a human a human and what differentiates it from a beast.
Is this what they mean when they say that a book isn’t plot driven?
It was engaging enough that I finished it quite quickly. As part of the working class, I know so much what it means to live payday to payday. This books was like that, you kinda just flip the page hoping for some payoff to happen and then hold on to that for the next couple of pages and then you’re done.
Brevity is a gift. The author and the translator used that to their advantage.
It was engaging enough that I finished it quite quickly. As part of the working class, I know so much what it means to live payday to payday. This books was like that, you kinda just flip the page hoping for some payoff to happen and then hold on to that for the next couple of pages and then you’re done.
Brevity is a gift. The author and the translator used that to their advantage.