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A review by speculativebecky
That We May Live by Dorothy Tse, Enoch Tam, Chan Chi Wa, Zhu Hui, Yan Ge, Chen Si'an
4.0
That We May Live IS a collection of Chinese speculative fiction in translation from Two Lines Press’ new Calico Series. It features seven short stories by six contemporary Chinese writers. Normally I’d share the name of the editor but here no editors’ names are specified anywhere in the book. Aren’t anthologies meant to have a preface or afterword? Without anything except the stories themselves and short bios of the authors and translators, this collection feels a bit adrift, with no context for its existence.
That aside, I did enjoy reading this collection. The stories were varied in how much they appealed to me, but since it's an anthology collecting work from multiple authors I was always excited to read the next one. This book is also immaculately constructed, for those aesthetically-minded among you, the bright orange title pages for each of the stories are beautiful, and I loved how they incorporate the title, author, translator, and a quote from each story.
These stories are not speculative in a straightforward SFF sense, they are surreal tales that often left me unsure about the takeaway, yet more often than not emotionally impacted. I feel these stories certainly speak to a cultural context that I’m unfamiliar with, and likely operate on a metaphorical level to which I’m missing the references. (Another reason I would have appreciated some commentary from an editor or the translators.) It stands alone fairly successfully nonetheless, and I’m so glad I picked up this collection to get these strange and fascinating tastes of the included authors’ writing.
My favorite stories were the first and last. Sour Meat by Dorothea Tse, translated by Natascha Bruce is one of the most unsettling stories I’ve read in a while, reminding me of Carmen Maria Machado or Samanta Schweblin. Flourishing Beasts by Yan Ge, translated by Jeremy Tiang, is a delicate and intriguing tale about these beings who grow from the earth like saplings and are cut down to be carved into beautiful furniture. I am excited after these introductions to seek out more of these two authors' work especially.
That aside, I did enjoy reading this collection. The stories were varied in how much they appealed to me, but since it's an anthology collecting work from multiple authors I was always excited to read the next one. This book is also immaculately constructed, for those aesthetically-minded among you, the bright orange title pages for each of the stories are beautiful, and I loved how they incorporate the title, author, translator, and a quote from each story.
These stories are not speculative in a straightforward SFF sense, they are surreal tales that often left me unsure about the takeaway, yet more often than not emotionally impacted. I feel these stories certainly speak to a cultural context that I’m unfamiliar with, and likely operate on a metaphorical level to which I’m missing the references. (Another reason I would have appreciated some commentary from an editor or the translators.) It stands alone fairly successfully nonetheless, and I’m so glad I picked up this collection to get these strange and fascinating tastes of the included authors’ writing.
My favorite stories were the first and last. Sour Meat by Dorothea Tse, translated by Natascha Bruce is one of the most unsettling stories I’ve read in a while, reminding me of Carmen Maria Machado or Samanta Schweblin. Flourishing Beasts by Yan Ge, translated by Jeremy Tiang, is a delicate and intriguing tale about these beings who grow from the earth like saplings and are cut down to be carved into beautiful furniture. I am excited after these introductions to seek out more of these two authors' work especially.