A review by jayisreading
Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang

challenging reflective medium-paced

3.75

This collection was definitely a mixed bag, with either me enjoying the short story or caring very little about it (if at all). Without a doubt, though, Chiang really knows how to craft a world and situation; even for the short stories I struggled with due to disinterest, I was still impressed with the way he wove everything together. Furthermore, each story posed such interesting questions and challenges to reflect on, whether it be the unreliability of mathematics as we know it, reckoning with the undeniable presence of God and His angels, or reconfiguring one’s reality through language. Perhaps not surprisingly, the gem of this collection is “Story of Your Life,” which may have been one of the best short stories I have read in a long while. (It has certainly incentivized me to finally get around to watching Arrival.) I now understand why it has received as much praise as it has.

To me, the short stories that are worth reading are: “Story of Your Life” (this one is a must, I’d say), “Tower of Babylon,” “Understand,” and possibly “Hell Is the Absence of God.”
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