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westontori's review against another edition
3.0
Each story left me with so many unanswered questions. Beautiful, very strange, and deeply unsatisfying.
riotsquirrrl's review against another edition
4.0
The author has such a beautiful and unique style and I'm just so glad that many of her problems with her previous work have been resolved in this one. In this comic the architecture and the beautifully rendered human bodies make sense along with the fantastic elements of the stories. It's a beautiful way of rendering the trans experience and the possibilities of a trans future.
jmanchester0's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
If you can, lose yourself in these 8 curiosities (narratives definitely do not describe them) from the fascinating mind of Bishakh Som. Especially the gorgeous Swandive.
nasek2's review against another edition
4.0
great! didn't always connect but felt very seen and hope others like me might share that
ecote525's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 stars...beautiful artwork and thought-provoking short stories with interesting dialogue/character interactions...I'm not sure if I really got a lot of it (as I'm not the intended audience) and I was always left with wanting more, but the journey sure was eye-opening. Definitely worth a re-read.
shea_proulx's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
juliafran's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
fareehareads's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Slightly uncomfortable, unsettling, and really trippy.
This is a very weird short story collection. Each one had this almost eerie quality and I loved all of the stories in it for different reasons. My review here is going to be really vague but that's kind of because I think you should just read it for yourself. It really felt like I was experiencing a twilight zone episode (but the speculative south asian version of course). I loved the first two stories the most. I also loved the random and sporadic inclusion of words that are common in South Asian households, it added an element of familiarity in an otherwise unfamiliar setting.
There are fantastical beasts in this, creative speculative elements, and a feminist exploration of relationships that I found to be really compelling. It's fascinating and beautiful, borderline creepy collection. I think it's a great transition into fall reading as well.
This is a very weird short story collection. Each one had this almost eerie quality and I loved all of the stories in it for different reasons. My review here is going to be really vague but that's kind of because I think you should just read it for yourself. It really felt like I was experiencing a twilight zone episode (but the speculative south asian version of course). I loved the first two stories the most. I also loved the random and sporadic inclusion of words that are common in South Asian households, it added an element of familiarity in an otherwise unfamiliar setting.
There are fantastical beasts in this, creative speculative elements, and a feminist exploration of relationships that I found to be really compelling. It's fascinating and beautiful, borderline creepy collection. I think it's a great transition into fall reading as well.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Self harm, and Blood
halschrieve's review against another edition
5.0
EVERYONE READ THIS!!!!!
If you like speculative fiction, brief but deeply enticing graphic novel short stories with their own detailed worldbuilding, gorgeous watercolor art, strange creatures, indictments of microagressions, visions of trans futures, narratives of gay love, and a commitment to dialogue and characters that are consistently fully realized even in the shortest scenes-- this is the book for you. I think its closest cousin that I've read is Jillian Tamaki's BOUNDLESS, but Som's architectural mania, interest in spaces and place, and exquisitely detailed visuals + the unique lens into particular characters' lives make this a unique and unbeatable treat.
Where do I start? It's hard for me to summarize without totally giving away the arc of each story, but here are the highlights that made me text four different people screenshots of pages:
--a white woman encounters a white man she met once at a party at a coffee shop in Brooklyn. She drags on a leash a creature named Kiki, who is three, and who has the face of a brown-skinned young child, but the body of a cat. The woman narrates Kiki's training regimen and explains how she is blogging about Kiki's care. Kiki seems to be trying to speak. The woman says Kiki has athsma.
--Two trans Desi academics meet at a conference. One, a trans woman geographer, gives a stunning talk; the other, a genderqueer person named Amrit, talks at her/flirts with her for a long time about their experience as being both South Asian and trans. The geographer invites Amrit to her room and draws a map in blood on the wall. The map comes alive; it is a real future of realized, cohesive, beautiful trans South Asian community. It may also be a spaceship.
--A shy, potentially visionary South Asian architect is dragged to a party by his white girlfriend, who ignores him. She meets a mysterious woman in the kitchen who turns out to be her boyfriend's ex, who may be a time traveler. The white woman is the same woman as in the first story of the anthology; this story reveals that her narrative from the first story is incomplete or misremembered.
--There is a story where a girl goes on a solitary walk; she feeds bread to a bird, an apple to a bird-cat, and then her own finger to a sphinxlike creature with wings, who carries her into the sky. The narration is a lesbian's letter to a lover.
Som has a knack for women's interior monologues, for tragedy depicted in monochrome as a memory, for older women's sexuality and desire and wisdom, for compassionate renderings of people carelessly dealing with others, and for the complexities and non-linear temporality of friendship and love. Her art is gorgeous and worth thumbing through each story several times; her writing is hyperspecific and boundlessly invigorating. The stories are perfectly consumable, lush, and full of surprises.
If you like speculative fiction, brief but deeply enticing graphic novel short stories with their own detailed worldbuilding, gorgeous watercolor art, strange creatures, indictments of microagressions, visions of trans futures, narratives of gay love, and a commitment to dialogue and characters that are consistently fully realized even in the shortest scenes-- this is the book for you. I think its closest cousin that I've read is Jillian Tamaki's BOUNDLESS, but Som's architectural mania, interest in spaces and place, and exquisitely detailed visuals + the unique lens into particular characters' lives make this a unique and unbeatable treat.
Where do I start? It's hard for me to summarize without totally giving away the arc of each story, but here are the highlights that made me text four different people screenshots of pages:
--a white woman encounters a white man she met once at a party at a coffee shop in Brooklyn. She drags on a leash a creature named Kiki, who is three, and who has the face of a brown-skinned young child, but the body of a cat. The woman narrates Kiki's training regimen and explains how she is blogging about Kiki's care. Kiki seems to be trying to speak. The woman says Kiki has athsma.
--Two trans Desi academics meet at a conference. One, a trans woman geographer, gives a stunning talk; the other, a genderqueer person named Amrit, talks at her/flirts with her for a long time about their experience as being both South Asian and trans. The geographer invites Amrit to her room and draws a map in blood on the wall. The map comes alive; it is a real future of realized, cohesive, beautiful trans South Asian community. It may also be a spaceship.
--A shy, potentially visionary South Asian architect is dragged to a party by his white girlfriend, who ignores him. She meets a mysterious woman in the kitchen who turns out to be her boyfriend's ex, who may be a time traveler. The white woman is the same woman as in the first story of the anthology; this story reveals that her narrative from the first story is incomplete or misremembered.
--There is a story where a girl goes on a solitary walk; she feeds bread to a bird, an apple to a bird-cat, and then her own finger to a sphinxlike creature with wings, who carries her into the sky. The narration is a lesbian's letter to a lover.
Som has a knack for women's interior monologues, for tragedy depicted in monochrome as a memory, for older women's sexuality and desire and wisdom, for compassionate renderings of people carelessly dealing with others, and for the complexities and non-linear temporality of friendship and love. Her art is gorgeous and worth thumbing through each story several times; her writing is hyperspecific and boundlessly invigorating. The stories are perfectly consumable, lush, and full of surprises.