Reviews

Sorry Please Thank You: Stories by Charles Yu

hannahlees's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective fast-paced

4.0

clarisa's review against another edition

4.0

Update: I loved it. it might just be because the stories were different, or because of the way Yu writes, but so far, this is my favorite book this year.

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So far... it is fucking great.

graves's review against another edition

adventurous reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

itacuz's review against another edition

adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

I started listening to the audio book for How to Live Safely in a Science Fiction Universe after finishing the audiobook I was reading and started reading Sorry Please Thank You after finishing the physical book I was reading. I soon had to choose one to stop reading because they were blurring in my mind too much to discern what was coming from which book. This isn’t to say they are exactly the same, but Charles Yu’s writing style is so distinct and playful, I wanted to make sure I had it straight which world he was playing in before moving onto the next one. 

This is with full respect for the author, and the form I’m ascribing him to, but a lot of the stories in here read like short stories taken off of Tumblr and improved upon. I want to stress that improved because they’re all well written and interesting. I just mean they read like the posts you’d see while scrolling that make you stop and go “woah, I would read that book, I can’t believe I saw thid on Tumblr of all places”. So this is that book. This is the better version of whatever late night mindblower you reblogged with your own take while putting private thoughts in the tags. Some of them you may have just read and scrolled past, but that was only two out of the thirteen for me.

This short story collection is divided up into three sections, named Sorry, Please, and Thank You. Throughout, Charles Yu plays with form, sometimes to a remarkable degree, and other times disregards tinkering for the sake of simply telling an interesting story. I wasn’t sure why stories were grouped together the way they were, Standard Loneliness Package fit the Sorry section, but First Person Shooter came across as not fitting anywhere else so it just ended up there. I don’t really care because the stories as manipulations of science fiction was what I was interested in. There is a final section titled All of the Above and its only story is Sorry Please Thank You. It felt more like a scene than a story, though if it were scene you could compliment it saying it was a whole story in just one scene. While most of these stories felt gathered for the sake of the collection, this one felt written for it.

My favorite stories were Standard Loneliness Package, Troubleshooting, Open, and Adult Contemporary. I’d say all the stories in Sorry Please Thank You have a theme of choosing the type of life you want to live and living with your choice of life. These stories all hit that mark, feeling funny and sad throughout. Troubleshooting could be the thesis of the entire collection while the other three are just really good stories. I think starting the book with Standard Loneliness Package was a fantastic choice. It was probably the most grounded story and could serve as the pitch episode for Charles Yu’s season of Black Mirror. 

If you want to get a feel for Charles Yu before diving into one of his larger, full length novels, I would start here. It’s not an intimidating length, and some of the stories have sentences take up an entire page for sake of form, further shortening the book. I felt finishing this that I had a much better idea of what to expect in How to Live Safely in a Science Fiction Universe and Interior Chinatown. I look forward to seeing how he lives up to or subverts those expectations as move on from this one.

susanm_82's review against another edition

medium-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No

2.5

hairol's review against another edition

4.0

charles yu is my favorite brand of straight asian man... self aware himbo... nerdy... just hanging out... having some fun...

kayleefromband's review against another edition

funny reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

jsilber42's review against another edition

5.0

Good news - if you enjoyed Charles Yu's "How to Survive in a Science Fictional Universe" or "Interior Chinatown", and you like short stories, you'll enjoy "Sorry Please Thank You". All the characteristic bits of his writing style are on display here (though not in each story) - the metafiction, the clever Charlie Kaufman-esque mindbending ideas, the heart, the insight into the human condition, the loneliness, the humor. Some stories are more accessible than his novels; some are a bit more confusing or experimental, but many are brilliant, and nearly all are enjoyable (only a few were duds for me). Most of the stories are pretty short and the entire collection is only a couple hundred pages long, so it's a pretty brisk read.

Some standouts: the opener, "Standard Loneliness Package", was the strongest, longest, and most Charles Yu-ian story here, with the brilliant hook of a company that outsources negative experiences (via some sort of neural transfer tech) to underpaid grunt workers in a call center. "Troubleshooting" takes the form of a user manual for a mysterious tech device that translates your wishes, thoughts, desires into real-world effects, but not a boring regular manual. Rather, it's a philosophical manual that questions the reader with passages that reflect on the nature of loss, desire, and good. "Open" explores the masks we put on around others, when a couple in a struggling relationship discover a portal to an endless, dreamlike dinner party where they are always popular, happy, and "on". "Yeoman" is a darkly funny take on Star Trek in the vein of Scalzi's "Redshirts". "The Book of Categories" is a modern take on Borges' concepts of infinity and libraries. "Adult Contemporary" is sort of a cross between David Fincher's "The Game" and "The Truman Show" where a retiree discovers that the house he's buying is more than just a house, it's an experience.

The ones that I didn't care for: "Human for Beginners" is an excerpt from a sort of how-to manual for aliens living as humans that didn't really work for me (it didn't help that "Troubleshooting" did the instruction manual thing much much better). "Note to Self" was a clever concept (a person writing to versions of themself in alternate universes) that was amateurishly executed and disappointing. "Designer Emotion 67" takes the form of a speech from a pharmaceutical executive to shareholders, but fails to do much with the concept beyond some weak humor and broad satire.

Despite a few weak stories, this is a great overall collection. Highly recommended.

lovelybookshelf's review against another edition

dark emotional lighthearted reflective sad fast-paced

3.0

Satirical speculative fiction that's as unsettling as it is funny. This collection didn't blow me away or anything, but Charles Yu always comes up with fascinating premises, so it was still fun to see where he took these stories.

brigittegong's review against another edition

4.0

A very interesting collection of short stories that are maybe best described as “Black Mirror if Black Mirror weren’t so cynical.” Some were a bit too high-concept for me to completely understand but I still enjoyed most, if not all, of the stories.