Reviews tagging 'Cannibalism'

Strange Beasts of China by Yan Ge

5 reviews

laurareads87's review against another edition

mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

Strange Beasts of China follows an unnamed narrator who writes about beasts: creatures of various kinds who inhabit the city of Yong'an and who are different in some way but 'otherwise are just the same as humans.'  Each chapter relates the story of one type of beast, while also touching on the relationships between the narrator and other characters, particularly her professor and his assistant.  The whole book has a sort of eerie, mysterious tone, and the writing is beautiful.  The author addresses many themes -- labour exploitation, gendered oppression, urban alienation, grief -- in nuanced ways.  I will say I did like the beginning of the book more than the ending, and the 'twists' at the end felt abrupt and a bit out of place, but overall I really enjoyed this and would happily read more from the same author.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Animal cruelty, Vomit, Suicide, Violence, Misogyny, Death, Medical content, Sexism, Grief, Alcoholism, Mental illness, and Cannibalism

theatrix's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.0

This was a quick and engrossing and thought-provoking read, but also challenging, both due to the wide range of disturbing themes (there are many, but most are touched on pretty briefly), and due to the style, which doesn't baby you with explanations and trusts you to put pieces together yourself.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol

Moderate: Child death

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Body horror, Death, Toxic relationship, Self harm, Abandonment, Death of parent, Genocide, Grief, Stalking, Chronic illness, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Addiction, Blood, Pregnancy, Torture, Alcoholism, Cannibalism, Xenophobia, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Murder, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Slavery, Trafficking, and Vomit

clarabooksit's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, Child death, Death, Body horror, Alcohol, Colonisation, Grief, Trafficking, Suicide, Self harm, Racism, Panic attacks/disorders, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Gore, Blood, Stalking, Cannibalism, Animal death, Genocide, and Injury/Injury detail

econsidine's review

mysterious reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Strange Beasts of China was a book recommended to me almost unanimously by my new coworkers when I asked them about their favorite book of the past six months. Not only was it a good book, they said, but it was a book they were sure I was going to like. That's a bold claim from people I've only known for two weeks.

However, they were totally correct. I loved reading this book. It's the story of a romance novel-writer/newspaper columnist/cryptozoologist consistently finding herself obsessed with the lives of various 'beasts' that live in her fictional city of Yong'an. From there, the book becomes much harder to describe — it's episodic, it's twisty, it's speculative and fantastic, it seems absurd at times and yet deeply real at others — so I don't have much else to say about it other than that I promise it's a fascinating read the entire time.

'Strange' is a fitting descriptor for this book. But I mean 'strange' in the most wonderful way I can picture. There isn't any book I can think of to compare it to. The result is something I want to recommend to everyone I know without having the right words to describe why I'm recommending it. But I promise — I promise — it's worth the read.

A special shout out to Jeremy Tiang's translation skills, as this could not have been an easy one. Having not read it in its original language, I'm obviously not the best judge. Maxwell Massa reviewed the translation a bit more critically here: https://artsfuse.org/232750/book-review-strange-beasts-of-china-an-exuberant-chinese-fantasy/ and notes some interesting Chinese folklore context that I definitely didn't know when I was reading. That being said, I still greatly enjoyed the book without that context, so whether or not you need it is up to you.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide and Death

Moderate: Violence, Vomit, Stalking, and Kidnapping

Minor: Cannibalism

kylieqrada's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Strange is definitely the correct adjective for this book. It reads like a mix between a bestiary and a series of interconnected short stories, with an overarching meta-plot that breaks the fourth wall. At points I definitely lost track of what was going on, but for the most part I really enjoyed this one.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Child death, Death, Grief, Medical content, Mental illness, Murder, Slavery, Terminal illness, and Trafficking