dlaboy 's review for:

Scattered All Over the Earth by Yōko Tawada

4.0

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This turned out to be such a fun read and a very interesting portrayal of immigrant experiences, particularly surrounding language and ethnicity. It got me thinking more about how arbitrary the boundaries of language are within and among countries, and the same sometimes goes for ethnic identity. These facets of our identity are fluid and constantly evolving, though we often ignore this given their slower rate of change compared with other characteristics like emotions. I enjoyed how Yoko Tawada managed to creatively intertwine the disparate lives of all the characters as they grappled with the ways their self-perception slowly changed over time