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A review by imbookingit
What the Zhang Boys Know by Clifford Garstang
3.0
3.5 stars
What the Zhang Boys know was an uneven collection of short stories, with a very definite voice that bound them even tighter than the shared location.
The stories I enjoyed most were the ones that directly involved the Zhang Boys. I found that the author's style worked very well for me with these, and I was able to identify with the characters fast enough to be invested, even in the small space of an individual story.
I wish that the story "What the Zhang Boys Know about Life on the Planet Earth" had ended the book. I loved how it tied into the other stories that preceded it with a very different viewpoint.
The story that did end the book did a better job of wrapping up the life of the Zhangs, but didn't tie up the entire book in the same way. What I liked best about the book as a whole was the way the the stories interwove.
Unfortunately, when it came to the stories that weren't about the Zhang boys, I didn't connect with the characters, and I didn't think the distinctive voice added to the stories. These generally looked at the characters at low point in their lives, when they were in the midst of making bad decisions, and it was difficult to care in the time I spent with each one. The couple with a relationship with hints of 50 Shades of Gray, the gay couple with a missing dog, that couldn't connect with each other, the novelist and the sculptor that got to know their neighbors very well... I just didn't relate.
I also didn't get a sense of the Chinatown setting for the building. The building itself had such promise (why did it have a gallery of artwork, anyway?), but I never had a sense of it either. The book was a collection of portraits of the characters, with a blurred background behind them, just enough detail to cause me to wonder.
It is possible that I'm missing some of the point of this-- I often have trouble with Literary Writing by male authors.
The plots are interesting, and might work better for someone else. Certainly, I'm happy I got to know the Zhang Boys and their immediate family, and perhaps you'll see more reward in the others as well.
What the Zhang Boys know was an uneven collection of short stories, with a very definite voice that bound them even tighter than the shared location.
The stories I enjoyed most were the ones that directly involved the Zhang Boys. I found that the author's style worked very well for me with these, and I was able to identify with the characters fast enough to be invested, even in the small space of an individual story.
I wish that the story "What the Zhang Boys Know about Life on the Planet Earth" had ended the book. I loved how it tied into the other stories that preceded it with a very different viewpoint.
The story that did end the book did a better job of wrapping up the life of the Zhangs, but didn't tie up the entire book in the same way. What I liked best about the book as a whole was the way the the stories interwove.
Unfortunately, when it came to the stories that weren't about the Zhang boys, I didn't connect with the characters, and I didn't think the distinctive voice added to the stories. These generally looked at the characters at low point in their lives, when they were in the midst of making bad decisions, and it was difficult to care in the time I spent with each one. The couple with a relationship with hints of 50 Shades of Gray, the gay couple with a missing dog, that couldn't connect with each other, the novelist and the sculptor that got to know their neighbors very well... I just didn't relate.
I also didn't get a sense of the Chinatown setting for the building. The building itself had such promise (why did it have a gallery of artwork, anyway?), but I never had a sense of it either. The book was a collection of portraits of the characters, with a blurred background behind them, just enough detail to cause me to wonder.
It is possible that I'm missing some of the point of this-- I often have trouble with Literary Writing by male authors.
The plots are interesting, and might work better for someone else. Certainly, I'm happy I got to know the Zhang Boys and their immediate family, and perhaps you'll see more reward in the others as well.