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4.02 AVERAGE
4.02 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
These stories are lovely. The title story was my favourite and weirdly made me want to purchase an air fryer
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This rating is just an overall rating of the whole collection - there were some stories that deserved a higher rating (I especially liked 'Our sleeping lungs opened to the cold'), and others that I didn't think were as good. Overall though, I did really enjoy it.
What if …
In these twenty short stories, ranging in length up to thirty-two pages, Ms Tan takes us on journeys where smart ovens can help lonely people (at least for a while) and where a homeless man makes his mark with a ballpoint pen.
These are quirky stories, often darkly disturbing. Clever, compact, and compelling.
My favourite was ‘Pang & Co. Genuine Scribe Era Stationery Pty Ltd.’ I am not sure why, except that I wanted to enter the pages to talk to the homeless man.
I liked the cleverness of ‘Smart Ovens for Lonely People’, and the quirkiness of the worlds Ms Tan
creates (albeit briefly) for her characters to inhabit.
Who would not want a cat shaped smart oven?
If you enjoy unusual short stories, then I can recommend this collection.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
In these twenty short stories, ranging in length up to thirty-two pages, Ms Tan takes us on journeys where smart ovens can help lonely people (at least for a while) and where a homeless man makes his mark with a ballpoint pen.
These are quirky stories, often darkly disturbing. Clever, compact, and compelling.
My favourite was ‘Pang & Co. Genuine Scribe Era Stationery Pty Ltd.’ I am not sure why, except that I wanted to enter the pages to talk to the homeless man.
I liked the cleverness of ‘Smart Ovens for Lonely People’, and the quirkiness of the worlds Ms Tan
creates (albeit briefly) for her characters to inhabit.
Who would not want a cat shaped smart oven?
If you enjoy unusual short stories, then I can recommend this collection.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
I read the first story in this collection then thought, “Wait, WHAT?!” and read it again because it seemed too bizarre to really be written on the page. And yet it was.
The surrealism and readability continued, with some stories set in the future, some in a parallel universe, and others teetering on the edge of reality while threatening to topple into a chaotic dystopia.
I’ve read novels with a similar vibe, but where in a novel the eerie chaos can become monotonous in its lack of shape, the opportunity for boredom never appears in this book because the issues, ideas and new perspectives come thick and fast, with a few recurring themes: loneliness, the beginnings and endings of relationships, and many many cats.
The collection is startlingly contemporary and the author skilled in creating sentences that are both lighthearted and deep, and choc-a-block full of cultural context while avoiding explicit pop culture references in all but two stories. It’s unlike any book I’ve read before.
The surrealism and readability continued, with some stories set in the future, some in a parallel universe, and others teetering on the edge of reality while threatening to topple into a chaotic dystopia.
I’ve read novels with a similar vibe, but where in a novel the eerie chaos can become monotonous in its lack of shape, the opportunity for boredom never appears in this book because the issues, ideas and new perspectives come thick and fast, with a few recurring themes: loneliness, the beginnings and endings of relationships, and many many cats.
The collection is startlingly contemporary and the author skilled in creating sentences that are both lighthearted and deep, and choc-a-block full of cultural context while avoiding explicit pop culture references in all but two stories. It’s unlike any book I’ve read before.
adventurous
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
This was all I was promised. A little of Ted Chiang. A little bit of George Saunders. AND lots of cats! What's not to like?
My favourites were the intricately folded 'A Girl Is Sitting on A Unicorn in the Middle of a Shopping Centre', the ominous yet strangely comforting 'Lola Metronome and Calliope St Laurent Having a Picnic at the End of Civilisation as We Know It' and the twisting 'You Put The U In Utopia.'
My favourites were the intricately folded 'A Girl Is Sitting on A Unicorn in the Middle of a Shopping Centre', the ominous yet strangely comforting 'Lola Metronome and Calliope St Laurent Having a Picnic at the End of Civilisation as We Know It' and the twisting 'You Put The U In Utopia.'
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
challenging
funny
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
challenging
dark
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes