You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
kastelpls 's review for:
The Future is Japanese: Science Fiction Futures and Brand New Fantasies from and about Japan
by Project Itoh, Catherynne M. Valente, Rachel Swirsky, Masumi Washington, Hideyuki Kikuchi, Bruce Sterling, Ekaterina Sedia, Felicity Savage, Nick Mamatas, Issui Ogawa, David Moles, Pat Cadigan, Toh EnJoe, Ken Liu, Tobi Hirotaka
"I think of myself as a giant Japanese robot in a manga and smile."
Mono no Aware is a bizarre short story that can be summarized as a Japanese guy who thinks in Japanese and does Japanese things. Ken Liu is not Japanese; he is American Chinese. So unsurprisingly, there were many strange mistakes even the novice Japanese student will notice.
For example, the first kanji is something every child should know by heart. It's the kanji for umbrella. Umbrellas are quite important -- imagine a world without umbrellas -- and not being able to write the kanji for umbrella is pretty sad. Writing that kanji is kids' stuff. The protagonist's handwriting is atrociously bad even for someone who hasn't written Japanese in years. Go has no "villains" whatsoever. And the "giant Japanese robot" lines are so cheesy and corny.
While one may argue they're done for literary effect, it's undeniably racist to let this go. Imagine an American writer writing a story about France: he or she would make all the characters talk cryptically everyday. Mono no Aware is similar in that aspect: it's shallow in personifying the essence of Japanese culture.
So in the end, Mono no Aware is a sappy short story that tries to be Japanese. Ken Liu may be a decent writer for all I know, but he uses his Asian heritage too liberally. Mono no Aware is a nonsensical piece of fiction that shouldn't have won the Hugo Award.
Mono no Aware is a bizarre short story that can be summarized as a Japanese guy who thinks in Japanese and does Japanese things. Ken Liu is not Japanese; he is American Chinese. So unsurprisingly, there were many strange mistakes even the novice Japanese student will notice.
For example, the first kanji is something every child should know by heart. It's the kanji for umbrella. Umbrellas are quite important -- imagine a world without umbrellas -- and not being able to write the kanji for umbrella is pretty sad. Writing that kanji is kids' stuff. The protagonist's handwriting is atrociously bad even for someone who hasn't written Japanese in years. Go has no "villains" whatsoever. And the "giant Japanese robot" lines are so cheesy and corny.
While one may argue they're done for literary effect, it's undeniably racist to let this go. Imagine an American writer writing a story about France: he or she would make all the characters talk cryptically everyday. Mono no Aware is similar in that aspect: it's shallow in personifying the essence of Japanese culture.
So in the end, Mono no Aware is a sappy short story that tries to be Japanese. Ken Liu may be a decent writer for all I know, but he uses his Asian heritage too liberally. Mono no Aware is a nonsensical piece of fiction that shouldn't have won the Hugo Award.