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A review by joshvet
Sorry Please Thank You by Charles Yu
2.0
"It's the Age of Science Fiction" Charles Yu claims in his story, "Yeoman," and while that may be true, only a few stories in this collection further the argument that Yu will be a starring writer in this new age.
"Yeoman," like the unfortunate many in this collection, begins interestingly enough. Yu's prose is humorous and he shows immense creativity with the breadth of the collection, but breadth is no replacement for depth, which looms out-of-reach for the majority of these stories.
His topics are varied, many reminiscent of George Saunders' pre-Tenth of December works (see "Designer Emotion 67", for a story that could nearly fit in Saunders' excellent In Persuasion Nation). But where Saunders triumphs with satire and humanity, Yu struggles to fully develop one or the other, leaving the reader disappointed that his stories conclude short of a (satisfying) conclusion.
His stories almost succeed and are very readable due to his compelling ideas and fluid style. Yet one could simply read the first story in the collection, the very good "Standard Loneliness Package", and move on, for now. Here's to Yu's next collection, may it deliver on the promise he shows.
"Yeoman," like the unfortunate many in this collection, begins interestingly enough. Yu's prose is humorous and he shows immense creativity with the breadth of the collection, but breadth is no replacement for depth, which looms out-of-reach for the majority of these stories.
His topics are varied, many reminiscent of George Saunders' pre-Tenth of December works (see "Designer Emotion 67", for a story that could nearly fit in Saunders' excellent In Persuasion Nation). But where Saunders triumphs with satire and humanity, Yu struggles to fully develop one or the other, leaving the reader disappointed that his stories conclude short of a (satisfying) conclusion.
His stories almost succeed and are very readable due to his compelling ideas and fluid style. Yet one could simply read the first story in the collection, the very good "Standard Loneliness Package", and move on, for now. Here's to Yu's next collection, may it deliver on the promise he shows.