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wealhtheow's review
4.0
Ah Lee is supposed to go to school and be a good girl, but then she falls in love with a classmate. How can she date with a grandmother and a great-grandmother and innumerable aunts keeping watch over her? And how can she have a relationship without revealing that she died at 16 and has been killing and eating humans ever since?
Hilarious and touching and lovely. Each of the characters has so much personality, and I love the way Ah Lee's family works.
Hilarious and touching and lovely. Each of the characters has so much personality, and I love the way Ah Lee's family works.
sarrie's review
5.0
I really, really enjoyed this. It tells us a young girl's story about her school crush but also about her family's secret. I won't spoil anything for it - I think it's worth going into blind. I also think it's worth taking the time to read as it's very short.
Possibly my favorite part of this was the way it was written. I'm not sure if it was translated or written to seem translated, but it added something very rich to the story for me. It was done just enough that I could follow perfectly but the added language that I'm not familiar with and learned along the way enhanced it.
I was also totally unfamiliar with the... kind of person we encounter (no spoilers remember?). The reveal and story at the end was made that much stronger upon learning. This is going up there with some of my favorite short fiction. Try this out.
Possibly my favorite part of this was the way it was written. I'm not sure if it was translated or written to seem translated, but it added something very rich to the story for me. It was done just enough that I could follow perfectly but the added language that I'm not familiar with and learned along the way enhanced it.
I was also totally unfamiliar with the... kind of person we encounter (no spoilers remember?). The reveal and story at the end was made that much stronger upon learning. This is going up there with some of my favorite short fiction. Try this out.
foomple's review
4.0
I absolutely loved this story, and I loved the way the author's use of English gives the reader a sense of the --I've never had a good word for this-- the "mental mouth-feel"(?) of Malay as a language.
This tale includes so many great ingredients: gender, Southeast Asia, a little romance, a lot of family, and the vengeful returned dead; what's not to love? Thank you Moon for recommending it!
CW:emotional abandonment of a kid by her parents in response to pregnancy; deaths in childbirth; also, while the appropriateness of the term "cannibalism" could be debated, there is certainly the hunting and eating of humans --though I promise it's a more heartwarming story than all that makes it sound...
You can read it here.
This tale includes so many great ingredients: gender, Southeast Asia, a little romance, a lot of family, and the vengeful returned dead; what's not to love? Thank you Moon for recommending it!
CW:
You can read it here.
abetterjulie's review
3.0
Heard about this on the SF Squeecast. I hadn't heard of this folklore before. The humor and the pain were both lovely and in good balance.
elusivity's review
3.0
A story of vampires, Malaysian-style, with aunts galore to critique over a young girl's every thought and action, with much close attention & stern love. Aside from the eating of entrails, life after death is not so different from life before death, after all.
dontsaycat's review
4.0
Due motivi (ma non i soli) per leggere questa novelette:
a. Il piacere di leggere di vampiri non generici, strettamente legati al folklore dell'ambientazione, dei quali si viene ad apprendere il giusto necessario man mano che la storia si evolve. (E per una volta viene voglia di approfondire.)
b. La rivisitazione dei trope dello YA paranormal romance con personaggi con cui ci si può effettivamente relazionare perché inseriti in un contesto reale e complesso. Il contrasto tra la protagonista e le zie funziona perché la ragione non sta da una sola parte: l'adolescente non è stupida perché decide di ribellarsi, e le donne anziane non sono stupide perché hanno una mentalità d'altri tempi e si oppongono ai desideri della nipote.
Ancora più che una semplice risposta al genere questa è la storia di una famiglia (d'altronde lo dice anche il titolo). L'ho trovata molto bella e la consiglio vivamente.
a. Il piacere di leggere di vampiri non generici, strettamente legati al folklore dell'ambientazione, dei quali si viene ad apprendere il giusto necessario man mano che la storia si evolve. (E per una volta viene voglia di approfondire.)
b. La rivisitazione dei trope dello YA paranormal romance con personaggi con cui ci si può effettivamente relazionare perché inseriti in un contesto reale e complesso. Il contrasto tra la protagonista e le zie funziona perché la ragione non sta da una sola parte: l'adolescente non è stupida perché decide di ribellarsi, e le donne anziane non sono stupide perché hanno una mentalità d'altri tempi e si oppongono ai desideri della nipote.
Ancora più che una semplice risposta al genere questa è la storia di una famiglia (d'altronde lo dice anche il titolo). L'ho trovata molto bella e la consiglio vivamente.
tsana's review
5.0
A longer story (novelette) about a teenage girl with a surfeit of aunts, all of them undead. Being sixteen and undead is not so bad when you have so many aunts looking after you, but not being allowed to have friends at your new school is a bit harder. An excellent story on the longer side (novelette range by Hugo definitions) that’s slightly gory (people are eaten) but otherwise a fun read.