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

challenging informative reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? N/A
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5


"You can watch the night travel up the tower from the ground up to the sky..."

At the base of the immense pillar, tiny Babylon was in shadow. Then the darkness climbed the tower, like a canopy unfurling forward. It moved slowly enough that Hillalum felt he could count the moments passing, but then it grew faster as it approached, until it raced past them faster than he could blink, and they were in twilight... 

For the first time, he knew night for what it was: the shadow of the earth itself, cast against the sky.

How beautiful is that quote? And there's plenty more to love about Ted Chiang's stories. Although I definitely didn't enjoy all of them, I still think Chiang's writing is great. Each story is the type of science fiction that inspires the imagination. Each leaves some food for thought as you can see Chiang play out a different what-if scenario. I loved the addition of author notes at the end of this edition — it added a lot of interesting context about how the author thinks.

My favourite story is predictably the one that inspired <i>Arrival</i>, "Story of Your Life." I liked the process of thinking about which storytelling choices were made in the movie versus the short story. For example, there's a lot more physics and scientific method in the story, and a greater sense of inevitability, and why is that? I also love linguistics, especially when it's paired up with speculative fiction, so the story was easy to love.

A close second was "Tower of Babylon." The Biblical story of the tower has always intrigued me precisely for its applicability to fantasy. Ted Chiang creates a whole culture for the people working on the tower at different levels and it's very cool to see. The ending is a bit surreal and dream-like, which is somehow more satisfying than an obvious conclusion.

"Understand," "Seventy-Two Letters" and "Liking What You See: A Documentary" were interesting stories too, which were a little more like puzzle pieces that I didn't connect with as much. Still, intriguing enough, with some topics I haven't seen explored in most sci-fi.

"Division by Zero" went right over my head. There is a lot of complicated math concepts that just didn't work as vessels for literary concepts in my brain. Any metaphors were completely lost on me. 

"The Evolution of Human Science" is definitely the weakest. It's so short, there's barely anything to remember about it. Chiang's work in this collection is really most impactful when it's long, complicated and intricate.

"Hell Is the Absence of God" is way too theological for my tastes. Although many of the stories mention or deal with religion, I think this one requires the reader to have a greater emotional/spiritual connection to religion than I do. The tone just wasn't for me, even though angels causing natural disasters and bodily injuries when they visit the Earth is an intriguing concept.
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