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lucky_stars's review
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
I want to get my hands on the original Chinese since I definitely feel like some things had to be lost in translation. (Even if my Chinese isn’t the best, I’d be willing to struggle for this if I get the extra money to purchase a copy of 异兽志).
Although I might also be saying that because I spent a good portion of the book feeling like I was missing something. Sometimes things connected in ways that seemed impossible since the supposed conclusion reached in one story was contradicted in another.
The narrator’s relationship with the professor was one that endlessly confused me, even as it intrigued me. At times I thought they were lovers, other times just more disappointed mentor and student, and with the Heartsick Beasts story maybe literal creator and invention . The only consistency was the very unhealthy relationship, a common thread in a book that blurs the line between what it means to be beastly. (Lucia is perfect though and I won’t hear a word against her.)
The beasts are brilliantly constructed, although repetitive at times since there is so much death and melancholy. My favorite stories were the Impasse Beasts, the Heartsick Beasts, and the Flourishing Beasts.
The setting of Yong’an is hard to pin down. Most of the time is spent in either the Dolphin Bar or the narrator’s apartment, with a whole lot of un-described mostly unremarkable restaurants that Zhong Liang drags her to. However, despite this, I couldn’t offer a description of any of these locations. There are references to more concrete areas when talking about where the beasts live that are more conversational. These places feel real and made me feel like the narrator was letting me in on some deep secret. The timeline is similarly opaque. You’re left in this timeless place where the only way you can track things is based on subtle hits from secondary characters (their deaths, their institutionalization, their references to the narrator’s books/newspaper column being published). It’s very hypnotic and surreal. It’s strange yes (made even stranger by the epilogue), but there’s whimsy in it even as the beasts brutally commit suicide or otherwise die.
Common thematic ideas: Beasts are whoever the government decides to disenfranchise; Living must include pain to be worthwhile and Death is inevitable (and even an escape from living); People are beasts; Identity is a narrative, not a static idea.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Death, Suicide, Violence, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Self harm, Terminal illness, and Murder
Moderate: Alcoholism, Genocide, Toxic relationship, and Forced institutionalization
Minor: Dementia and Vomit
ohlhauc's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
This was a disappointing read.
Each chapter follows a formula of describing a new beast, sharing a story tinged with mystery involving the narrator and that beast, and then revealing the true nature of the beast that explains the mystery. Each story builds upon each other in the sense that they take place one after each other in the timeline.
I liked the idea of the book and can see why others would like per other reviews, but I was bored. SUPER bored reading this. Even the social commentary fell flat as I felt it was so subtle that it was easy to miss if you weren't expecting it (as I was) and then, the ideas didn't share new perspectives or interpretations on common issues like environmentalism, racism, confinement, state control, etc. It felt basic and the stories themselves lacked a tension or energy. There was always a mystery so that drove the plot forward, but the reveals were predictable, which I'm not against in and of itself, but it felt like the resolutions were too neat and full of coincidences and plot conveniences.
I really only finished this as it was part of a larger project. If the other reviews and the plot sparks your interest, you may like this. But you may also be bored like me so it's hard to say whether or not I'd recommend it.
Each chapter follows a formula of describing a new beast, sharing a story tinged with mystery involving the narrator and that beast, and then revealing the true nature of the beast that explains the mystery. Each story builds upon each other in the sense that they take place one after each other in the timeline.
I liked the idea of the book and can see why others would like per other reviews, but I was bored. SUPER bored reading this. Even the social commentary fell flat as I felt it was so subtle that it was easy to miss if you weren't expecting it (as I was) and then, the ideas didn't share new perspectives or interpretations on common issues like environmentalism, racism, confinement, state control, etc. It felt basic and the stories themselves lacked a tension or energy. There was always a mystery so that drove the plot forward, but the reveals were predictable, which I'm not against in and of itself, but it felt like the resolutions were too neat and full of coincidences and plot conveniences.
I really only finished this as it was part of a larger project. If the other reviews and the plot sparks your interest, you may like this. But you may also be bored like me so it's hard to say whether or not I'd recommend it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Forced institutionalization, and Medical content
Moderate: Death of parent, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, Slavery, Torture, Violence, and Vomit
Minor: Pregnancy
State-sanctioned euthanization/murder
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