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4.11 AVERAGE
4.11 AVERAGE
New personal rule: If I'm not vibing after three stories in a collection, it's a DNF.
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Chung is a clearly gifted author, and I love what she was up to here. However, her execution fell short for me.
I loved the diversity and range of her stories. Truly beautiful premises! Loved also the ending stories.
2 main complaints, both related to over explaining (these mostly applied to the middle stories):
- Chung needs to end her stories sooner. Truly just take out the ending paragraphs of many of these stories. I may have— like a true a$$hole— taken a pencil to the book and started crossing out much of the final bits.
- Chung is too didactic. Generally speaking, readers who pick up short story collections know that the child who finally stands up to his parents and goes to the place he felt most himself as a kid after has decided to live life on his own terms without being told that several times.
—> In my writing which is way worse than Chungs’s, I notice these tendencies to overexplain when I’m not confident in my writing.
I loved the diversity and range of her stories. Truly beautiful premises! Loved also the ending stories.
2 main complaints, both related to over explaining (these mostly applied to the middle stories):
- Chung needs to end her stories sooner. Truly just take out the ending paragraphs of many of these stories. I may have— like a true a$$hole— taken a pencil to the book and started crossing out much of the final bits.
- Chung is too didactic. Generally speaking, readers who pick up short story collections know that the child who finally stands up to his parents and goes to the place he felt most himself as a kid after has decided to live life on his own terms without being told that several times.
—> In my writing which is way worse than Chungs’s, I notice these tendencies to overexplain when I’m not confident in my writing.
I soMetimes find it hard to read short story collections because each story you have to go through the exposition and world building and that can be annoying. That was not the case here. I really enjoyed this collection.
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
“Green Frog: Stories” by Gina Chung
In this intelligent, thoughtful, somewhat melancholy masterpiece of short stories, Gina Chung explores the lives of Korean and Korean-American figures, mostly women, who in some way or another are considering purpose and next steps. There is a constant theme of movement forward in Chung’s writing, but what forward means is often the central question. In “The Arrow,” a young woman becomes pregnant out of wedlock and rekindles her relationship with her mother as a result. In “You’ll Never Know How Much I Loved You,” the woman always finds a reason to release her dream of being a singer. In “Human Hearts,” a Kumiho is sent to avenge her sister’s death despite her hesitance. And in “Green Frog,” an artist daughter navigates her commitment to her father and her future stretched out before her. Each story in this collection is incredible, but it is this titular piece which captured my attention and crystallized my lens.
Chung’s writing is particularly fascinating to me for how rich it is, yet surprisingly does not feel like it. I found myself slowly moving through each story, as if on a sailboat gliding through at only the pace of our surroundings. I would be immersed in the story and realize how much time has passed compared to how quickly I can usually read stories. It makes me want to pick up her novel next to see how she builds a narrative in this deep style. I also appreciated that Chung wrote some stories as myth, some as metaphor, and some as a simple slice of life. Her range is remarkable.
Although I am not sure how much these stories will stick with me, there is no denying this is a remarkable collection and one which has solidified Gina Chung as an author I will be adding to my list of authors to pursue other readings. This was a beautiful, reflective, and exquisitely crafted collection for anyone who loves the short story genre.
In this intelligent, thoughtful, somewhat melancholy masterpiece of short stories, Gina Chung explores the lives of Korean and Korean-American figures, mostly women, who in some way or another are considering purpose and next steps. There is a constant theme of movement forward in Chung’s writing, but what forward means is often the central question. In “The Arrow,” a young woman becomes pregnant out of wedlock and rekindles her relationship with her mother as a result. In “You’ll Never Know How Much I Loved You,” the woman always finds a reason to release her dream of being a singer. In “Human Hearts,” a Kumiho is sent to avenge her sister’s death despite her hesitance. And in “Green Frog,” an artist daughter navigates her commitment to her father and her future stretched out before her. Each story in this collection is incredible, but it is this titular piece which captured my attention and crystallized my lens.
Chung’s writing is particularly fascinating to me for how rich it is, yet surprisingly does not feel like it. I found myself slowly moving through each story, as if on a sailboat gliding through at only the pace of our surroundings. I would be immersed in the story and realize how much time has passed compared to how quickly I can usually read stories. It makes me want to pick up her novel next to see how she builds a narrative in this deep style. I also appreciated that Chung wrote some stories as myth, some as metaphor, and some as a simple slice of life. Her range is remarkable.
Although I am not sure how much these stories will stick with me, there is no denying this is a remarkable collection and one which has solidified Gina Chung as an author I will be adding to my list of authors to pursue other readings. This was a beautiful, reflective, and exquisitely crafted collection for anyone who loves the short story genre.
fast-paced
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
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:
Yes
I really loved some of the stories and I enjoyed all of them to some degree. An interesting mix of mostly literary fiction, with some fantasy and sci fi as well.
emotional
hopeful
reflective
fast-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
