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4.58 AVERAGE
4.58 AVERAGE
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
So this story is a beautiful telling of a boy's strained relationship with his Chinese mother, and it really made me cry!
It was really beautifully written. The magical realism element about his magical paper menagerie created by his mother was really well done - it was odd to see it published in a fantasy outlet because the way it was written doesn't feel like fantasy at all. At some points, I couldn't tell if the paper menagerie was his imagination or actually happening! It was beautiful.
The last part of the story, his mother's note, was the most beautiful, even if it was also the saddest. The only thing that seemed off to me was the big jump in time from childhood to adulthood, it was a bit abrupt. I would've liked more!
The language barriers/communication issues hit close to home. My husband is French and though we now both speak French to each other and his English is perfect, when we first started dating my French was pretty basic and it was a challenge to communicate with his family. At times it was frustrating and I sometimes felt a bit left out. I eventually improved my French by insisting we speak French at home, but until then, it was a struggle to find my place within his family. Language barriers are rough. Not only does it block you from communicating fully, it makes it hard to fit in and be accepted. We've had lots of discussions about what we will teach any future child (I think he will speak French and me English, but who knows how that will work out once they are school age!).
Anyway, The Paper Menagerie is a beautiful story about a little boy's imagination, culture identity, and family relationships. Highly recommended.
It was really beautifully written. The magical realism element about his magical paper menagerie created by his mother was really well done - it was odd to see it published in a fantasy outlet because the way it was written doesn't feel like fantasy at all. At some points, I couldn't tell if the paper menagerie was his imagination or actually happening! It was beautiful.
The last part of the story, his mother's note, was the most beautiful, even if it was also the saddest. The only thing that seemed off to me was the big jump in time from childhood to adulthood, it was a bit abrupt. I would've liked more!
The language barriers/communication issues hit close to home. My husband is French and though we now both speak French to each other and his English is perfect, when we first started dating my French was pretty basic and it was a challenge to communicate with his family. At times it was frustrating and I sometimes felt a bit left out. I eventually improved my French by insisting we speak French at home, but until then, it was a struggle to find my place within his family. Language barriers are rough. Not only does it block you from communicating fully, it makes it hard to fit in and be accepted. We've had lots of discussions about what we will teach any future child (I think he will speak French and me English, but who knows how that will work out once they are school age!).
Anyway, The Paper Menagerie is a beautiful story about a little boy's imagination, culture identity, and family relationships. Highly recommended.
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Perfect short story to start off the 2020 reading year. So moving!!!
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I didn't expect to like this story as much as I did. For some background: I am a first-generation American, the daughter of two South Asian immigrants. I typically don't like fiction about the first-generation American experience (think [a:Jhumpa Lahiri|3670|Jhumpa Lahiri|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1378932972p2/3670.jpg], [a:Neel Patel|17088888|Neel Patel|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1522984697p2/17088888.jpg]), but I really liked The Paper Menagerie. Perhaps it's the fact that it focuses (much more realistically than many first-gen stories I've seen that focus on the "assimilation struggle" of first-gen characters) on a child's rejection of a parent's culture after harassment from his peers. Every child of immigrants that I know has been mocked or bullied for their skin color or their parents' accent or their brought-from-home lunch at some point in their lives. Most react not by leaning into their parents' culture or an insular Asian community, but by "Americanizing" every aspect of their lives. Despite the fact that this story rang more true to life than others for me, it has a wonderful supernatural element--the living paper origami--that keeps the story light and delightful and provides a non-forced mechanism for conveying Jack's mother's story and his connection to her.
Not quite sci-fi, but would recommend to anyone looking for a true-to-life (yet fictional) account of a child of immigrants' experience.
Not quite sci-fi, but would recommend to anyone looking for a true-to-life (yet fictional) account of a child of immigrants' experience.
It is extraordinary how such few pages can contain a flood of emotion within them. The sense of loss and acceptance narrated in this story made me shed a few tears. You can never know what someone is going through, what skeletons they carry, what the past holds until they tell you. And sometimes even after knowing the whole story, it is too late to make amends even if you could do anything in your power to change your previous actions.
The Paper Menagerie is devastating. I couldn't stop them tears.
I've seen this on shelves at several bookstores and have always wanted to read it solely for the beautiful cover. I got a chance today to listen to it instead . LeVar Burton reads this in 50-odd minutes on his podcast "LeVar Burton Reads"
https://bit.ly/3OiliWY.
Ken Liu is a genius. This one short story explores multiple themes including childlike wonder and imagination, identity and the diasporic experience, racism, parental love, death and magic. This story is an example of how powerful this word-limited medium of a short story can be.
Keeping all that aside, the story is devastating. I couldn't stop the tears streaming down my face.
Read it, or listen to it. And be prepared to cry your heart out.
I've seen this on shelves at several bookstores and have always wanted to read it solely for the beautiful cover. I got a chance today to listen to it instead . LeVar Burton reads this in 50-odd minutes on his podcast "LeVar Burton Reads"
https://bit.ly/3OiliWY.
Ken Liu is a genius. This one short story explores multiple themes including childlike wonder and imagination, identity and the diasporic experience, racism, parental love, death and magic. This story is an example of how powerful this word-limited medium of a short story can be.
Keeping all that aside, the story is devastating. I couldn't stop the tears streaming down my face.
Read it, or listen to it. And be prepared to cry your heart out.