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A review by mikeypwest
The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories by Ken Liu
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Awesome compilation and book here! I was very impressed with Liu's short stories and feel like he is one of the most skilled 'author-artists' I've come across in a long time. I feel like a lot of these stories will just stick with me for a while - mostly because of the haunting feeling they invoked in me. Liu has a great way to convey a ton of thought, emotion, and context into these short stories.
These stories cover all sorts of genres: magical realism, sci-fi, fantasy (more fantasy-lite), alternate history, and historical fiction (and sometimes a mix of these). Important topics/themes that are touched upon here:
culture (especially when cultures collide), sacrifice, loss, death, identity, unrighteous authority, moral duty, xenophobia, humanity, and relationships.
Most of Liu's stories touch on aspects of Chinese culture in some way. (Liu is a Chinese American). Many touch on the Chinese/American culture dynamic. Others are influenced by Chinese history (and/or Japanese in a couple of cases). A lot of his stories made me dive a bit deeper into that history (and he does provide references for some of them). While I still feel ignorant of much of Chinese history, these stories definitely taught me more than I previously knew.
Liu is a master at what he does here. Each story was compelling in its own way and a few stories here are straight-up haunting. Warning: he does incorporate some HEAVY topics (torture, murder, racism, sexual violence, genocide) as part of his story-telling, but they are not there for shock value but to open our eyes to the broader philosophical and moral meanings/context. I feel like I could spend hours on some of these stories just researching the historical context as well as musing on the moral and philosophical meanings that are present.
Overall, I wouldn't call this book outright "entertaining", but the stories within are at an artistic/literary level that I feel is unmatched (at least I can't remember reading anything so artistically captivating). I will say while not a popcorn read, all of the stories did grab my interest - some in a very intense way. (There is a sci-fi detective story that I felt was a little more of a popcorn story, but it was the outlier here). There are some REALLY fascinating sci-fi premises for his stories as well. All in all, if you want to read some stuff that may make you feel uncomfortable and make you think about the complexities (and dark side!) of humanity, I cannot recommend this book more.
My favorites: Waves, All the Flavors, Mono No Aware, The Man Who Ended History, and The Regular (as an honorary mention).
These stories cover all sorts of genres: magical realism, sci-fi, fantasy (more fantasy-lite), alternate history, and historical fiction (and sometimes a mix of these). Important topics/themes that are touched upon here:
culture (especially when cultures collide), sacrifice, loss, death, identity, unrighteous authority, moral duty, xenophobia, humanity, and relationships.
Most of Liu's stories touch on aspects of Chinese culture in some way. (Liu is a Chinese American). Many touch on the Chinese/American culture dynamic. Others are influenced by Chinese history (and/or Japanese in a couple of cases). A lot of his stories made me dive a bit deeper into that history (and he does provide references for some of them). While I still feel ignorant of much of Chinese history, these stories definitely taught me more than I previously knew.
Liu is a master at what he does here. Each story was compelling in its own way and a few stories here are straight-up haunting. Warning: he does incorporate some HEAVY topics (torture, murder, racism, sexual violence, genocide) as part of his story-telling, but they are not there for shock value but to open our eyes to the broader philosophical and moral meanings/context. I feel like I could spend hours on some of these stories just researching the historical context as well as musing on the moral and philosophical meanings that are present.
Overall, I wouldn't call this book outright "entertaining", but the stories within are at an artistic/literary level that I feel is unmatched (at least I can't remember reading anything so artistically captivating). I will say while not a popcorn read, all of the stories did grab my interest - some in a very intense way. (There is a sci-fi detective story that I felt was a little more of a popcorn story, but it was the outlier here). There are some REALLY fascinating sci-fi premises for his stories as well. All in all, if you want to read some stuff that may make you feel uncomfortable and make you think about the complexities (and dark side!) of humanity, I cannot recommend this book more.
My favorites: Waves, All the Flavors, Mono No Aware, The Man Who Ended History, and The Regular (as an honorary mention).
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual violence, Xenophobia, and Violence