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callymac's review
4.0
Another great collection. Feels like Yoon is obsessed with bodies or something...
arirang's review
2.0
The exciting publisher Tilted Axis, founded in 2015 by MBI-winning [b:The Vegetarian|25489025|The Vegetarian|Han Kang|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1478196580s/25489025.jpg|18449744] translator Deborah Smith, has as their mission statement:
Moving Parts is the second collection of short stories they have published from Thai writer Prabda Yoon, translated by Mui Poopoksakul, after [b:The Sad Part Was|33544543|The Sad Part Was|Prabda Yoon|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1489570411s/33544543.jpg|54314844], which was notable as one of only a handful of Thai fiction to have been translated into English.
Moving Parts is a collection of 11 short stories, spread over 160 pages, linked thematically as they all centre on a particular part of the body, and typically with a slightly uncanny flavour.
For example, in New Hand, a boy plucks up the courage to ask a girl if he can hold her hand, except in the world of the story this involves the girl literally giving her hand to the boy for him to look after overnight. In Mock Tail, perhaps my favourite story, a girl is contemplating sleeping with her boyfriend for the first time, but her real concern is that he will discover her secret: she was born without a tail, a mocktail, a group looked down on by society and the object of a particularly prized form of porn movie.
I suspect this collection suffered for me by comparison to my immediate prior read, Samanta Schweblin's [b:Mouthful of Birds: Stories|39872813|Mouthful of Birds Stories|Samanta Schweblin|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1524088122s/39872813.jpg|6753362], but I didn't find the collection particularly compelling. Most of the stories have an interesting idea like the two above, but don't really then do much with it, and at times the subject matter (buttplugs, love motels, predatory teachers, porn movies, a penis-less man) seemed to be trying too hard to be provocative.
I note from Gumble Yard's reviews (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2247333789 and https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2511946682) that he found The Sad Part Was significantly stronger than Moving Parts, so perhaps I should try the earlier work.
But while it is great to see Tilted Axis widening the scope of international literature in English, I would struggle to recommend this particular collection.
To shake up contemporary international literature.I have very much enjoyed the previous books of theirs I have read - [b:The Devils' Dance|39296289|The Devils' Dance|Hamid Ismailov|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1521203946s/39296289.jpg|60875117], [b:The Impossible Fairy Tale|29875895|The Impossible Fairy Tale|Han Yujoo|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1463953407s/29875895.jpg|50248673] and [b:One Hundred Shadows|30967023|One Hundred Shadows|Hwang Jungeun|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1469021712s/30967023.jpg|51582202].
Tilted Axis publishes the books that might not otherwise make it into English, for the very reasons that make them exciting to us – artistic originality, radical vision, the sense that here is something new.
Tilting the axis of world literature from the centre to the margins allows us to challenge that very division. These margins are spaces of compelling innovation, where multiple traditions spark new forms and translation plays a crucial role.
As part of carving out a new direction in the publishing industry, Tilted Axis is also dedicated to improving access. We’re proud to pay our translators the proper rate, and to operate without unpaid interns.
Moving Parts is the second collection of short stories they have published from Thai writer Prabda Yoon, translated by Mui Poopoksakul, after [b:The Sad Part Was|33544543|The Sad Part Was|Prabda Yoon|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1489570411s/33544543.jpg|54314844], which was notable as one of only a handful of Thai fiction to have been translated into English.
Moving Parts is a collection of 11 short stories, spread over 160 pages, linked thematically as they all centre on a particular part of the body, and typically with a slightly uncanny flavour.
For example, in New Hand, a boy plucks up the courage to ask a girl if he can hold her hand, except in the world of the story this involves the girl literally giving her hand to the boy for him to look after overnight. In Mock Tail, perhaps my favourite story, a girl is contemplating sleeping with her boyfriend for the first time, but her real concern is that he will discover her secret: she was born without a tail, a mocktail, a group looked down on by society and the object of a particularly prized form of porn movie.
I suspect this collection suffered for me by comparison to my immediate prior read, Samanta Schweblin's [b:Mouthful of Birds: Stories|39872813|Mouthful of Birds Stories|Samanta Schweblin|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1524088122s/39872813.jpg|6753362], but I didn't find the collection particularly compelling. Most of the stories have an interesting idea like the two above, but don't really then do much with it, and at times the subject matter (buttplugs, love motels, predatory teachers, porn movies, a penis-less man) seemed to be trying too hard to be provocative.
I note from Gumble Yard's reviews (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2247333789 and https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2511946682) that he found The Sad Part Was significantly stronger than Moving Parts, so perhaps I should try the earlier work.
But while it is great to see Tilted Axis widening the scope of international literature in English, I would struggle to recommend this particular collection.
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