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3.78 AVERAGE
3.78 AVERAGE
challenging
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
I forced myself to finish this book. The writing was too florid for my liking. There were way too many coy similes and metaphors and the author kept using nouns as verbs. I found it distracting.
challenging
dark
funny
I don’t think I can fully understand or explain why I like K-Ming Chang’s writing so much, but I love it.
When I learned she had a shory story collection coming out, I knew I had to read it. I enjoyed Bestiary last year but found it confusing and opaque at times, and I think the short story form focuses Chang on a narrower range of ideas and symbols which was extremely successful.
These stories are gross. They’re weird. They are about displacement and colonization, about myth and girlhood and family. Chang is poetic and powerful. There’s no facts here, only stories that somehow are true anyways.
My favorite stories here were, as usual for me, the more focused ones (though Chang is anything but focused, which challenges me to build those connections and pay attention). Dykes, about desire and loss and drowning in it, literally. Meals for Mourners, chronicling one family’s worth of stories. Anchor, about the price we pay when we hurt each other.
Oh yeah, and there’s some great humor in here too.
Her prose is just such a joy to read, such a great use of language. Incomparable. I could highlight even more of these stories as standouts, but I just love being able to enter her mind. This was great.
When I learned she had a shory story collection coming out, I knew I had to read it. I enjoyed Bestiary last year but found it confusing and opaque at times, and I think the short story form focuses Chang on a narrower range of ideas and symbols which was extremely successful.
These stories are gross. They’re weird. They are about displacement and colonization, about myth and girlhood and family. Chang is poetic and powerful. There’s no facts here, only stories that somehow are true anyways.
My favorite stories here were, as usual for me, the more focused ones (though Chang is anything but focused, which challenges me to build those connections and pay attention). Dykes, about desire and loss and drowning in it, literally. Meals for Mourners, chronicling one family’s worth of stories. Anchor, about the price we pay when we hurt each other.
Oh yeah, and there’s some great humor in here too.
Her prose is just such a joy to read, such a great use of language. Incomparable. I could highlight even more of these stories as standouts, but I just love being able to enter her mind. This was great.
challenging
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Chang's stories are vibrant and have the flow of poetry, the lilt of songs, and the sombre sound of grief. The women and girls on these pages are defined and indefinable. They are sisters, mothers, lovers, nieces, and in-laws.
With each story, there are ways of being and existing that are culturally specific but also recognizable. What can be lost in emigrating and who and what is kept?
Chang also uses phrases that are cryptic yet encapsulate what it means to be othered, to be queer, and to exist in a world where certain identities are slurred. Stories that thrill, question, and illuminate experiences that will resonate as well as start conversations.
With each story, there are ways of being and existing that are culturally specific but also recognizable. What can be lost in emigrating and who and what is kept?
Chang also uses phrases that are cryptic yet encapsulate what it means to be othered, to be queer, and to exist in a world where certain identities are slurred. Stories that thrill, question, and illuminate experiences that will resonate as well as start conversations.
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
adventurous
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I admired but didn't always love this collection of short fiction, including flash fiction as well as more traditional length short stories. K-Ming Chang's writing is so unique, full of strange and beautiful images and ideas, which the book focuses on more than character or plot. Her style feels more akin to poetry than fiction, especially the flash fiction which was my favourite. The stories are surreal, dark, sexy, queer, deeply weird.
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
tense
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Haunting and wild and too beautiful for words.
just don’t care for her writing style
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
sad
tense
slow-paced