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A review by inkandmyths
Cranesong by Rona Wang
4.0
I want to thank Rona Wang, for writing a collection of short stories as powerful as this one, as well as the publisher, Half Mystic Press, who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
The idea of short stories has always fascinated me — as someone who reads mostly full-length novels, I could never quite imagine that a story that’s only as long as the first chapter in your usual novel could move me in the same way as a book of 400 pages. Well. After reading Cranesong, I can certainly say that only because a story doesn’t fill as many pages or isn’t told in as many words, it doesn’t mean that it can’t still make the reader feel just as deeply.
The stories found between the pages of Cransesong are a blend of things: contemporary and everyday life stories turn into tales that are generations old; some stories seem almost mythological at times, while others are mixed with magical realism elements; even the modern stories seem to be filled with some kind of magic. One of my favourite stories in Cranesong and one that I cannot stop thinking about is "The Evolution of Wings"; it’s brimming with longing for a home that you feel is not yours anymore. One quote that especially stuck with me is this one:
“I wondered if the sparrows had forgotten their names, their families, their past lives. I wondered if they still remembered how to speak in their first languages, or if those words had been etched away by the incessant chirping. I wondered if they still searched for home, a light smudged on the endless horizon.”
Rona Wang’s writing is all sharp edges and honesty. While reading, I felt almost uneasy, because I’m used to soft words full of colour, used to reading about a world that’s sugarcoated and much kinder than reality — it was strange to come across someone who writes about the ugly things, too.
Themes among the stories of Cranesong are just as different as the characters it’s made out of. “Home” seems to be a major theme; I caught glimpses of it throughout many of the stories. Leaving home and coming back. Finding a place to call home — or missing just that, feeling an emptiness where the warmth of welcoming arms should be. Another theme the stories in this collection seem to share is this: an ache, a feeling of not belonging and, at the same time, the desperate desire to do just that. A world in which white is the default, a world that refuses to accept people it labels as different, the hostility of people who behave cruelly just because they know they won’t be held responsible. Some of the stories were terrifying in the way they portrayed all the ugly things humans do to each other on a daily basis.
“But right then, in the rain, we kept laughing, the sweetest birdsong nobody could ever steal from us.”
But between all that, Rona Wang weaves in hopeful intervals: small acts of kindness, friendship and love. So many moments of not giving in, of being brave despite it all. Of the possibility that if there isn’t yet a place you belong in, you have, inside yourself, the ability to create a whole world that’s meant to hold you. With her words, Rona manages to clear out a space filled will light, even among all the darkness, and I think that’s incredibly powerful.
Overall, Cranesong is a collection made out of various stories, told through characters that all have something incredibly unique about them — and yet, ever story carries a feeling with it that binds this collection together, every character is resilient in ways that match the strength of the others. This creates a feeling of intense hope that manages to stay predominant even throughout all the devastating things that happen. And through it all, there is a melody, almost like a song:
“Music was different when the notes lived inside of a soul instead of around it.”
The idea of short stories has always fascinated me — as someone who reads mostly full-length novels, I could never quite imagine that a story that’s only as long as the first chapter in your usual novel could move me in the same way as a book of 400 pages. Well. After reading Cranesong, I can certainly say that only because a story doesn’t fill as many pages or isn’t told in as many words, it doesn’t mean that it can’t still make the reader feel just as deeply.
The stories found between the pages of Cransesong are a blend of things: contemporary and everyday life stories turn into tales that are generations old; some stories seem almost mythological at times, while others are mixed with magical realism elements; even the modern stories seem to be filled with some kind of magic. One of my favourite stories in Cranesong and one that I cannot stop thinking about is "The Evolution of Wings"; it’s brimming with longing for a home that you feel is not yours anymore. One quote that especially stuck with me is this one:
“I wondered if the sparrows had forgotten their names, their families, their past lives. I wondered if they still remembered how to speak in their first languages, or if those words had been etched away by the incessant chirping. I wondered if they still searched for home, a light smudged on the endless horizon.”
Rona Wang’s writing is all sharp edges and honesty. While reading, I felt almost uneasy, because I’m used to soft words full of colour, used to reading about a world that’s sugarcoated and much kinder than reality — it was strange to come across someone who writes about the ugly things, too.
Themes among the stories of Cranesong are just as different as the characters it’s made out of. “Home” seems to be a major theme; I caught glimpses of it throughout many of the stories. Leaving home and coming back. Finding a place to call home — or missing just that, feeling an emptiness where the warmth of welcoming arms should be. Another theme the stories in this collection seem to share is this: an ache, a feeling of not belonging and, at the same time, the desperate desire to do just that. A world in which white is the default, a world that refuses to accept people it labels as different, the hostility of people who behave cruelly just because they know they won’t be held responsible. Some of the stories were terrifying in the way they portrayed all the ugly things humans do to each other on a daily basis.
“But right then, in the rain, we kept laughing, the sweetest birdsong nobody could ever steal from us.”
But between all that, Rona Wang weaves in hopeful intervals: small acts of kindness, friendship and love. So many moments of not giving in, of being brave despite it all. Of the possibility that if there isn’t yet a place you belong in, you have, inside yourself, the ability to create a whole world that’s meant to hold you. With her words, Rona manages to clear out a space filled will light, even among all the darkness, and I think that’s incredibly powerful.
Overall, Cranesong is a collection made out of various stories, told through characters that all have something incredibly unique about them — and yet, ever story carries a feeling with it that binds this collection together, every character is resilient in ways that match the strength of the others. This creates a feeling of intense hope that manages to stay predominant even throughout all the devastating things that happen. And through it all, there is a melody, almost like a song:
“Music was different when the notes lived inside of a soul instead of around it.”