I really enjoyed this book. I honestly don't read a lot of short story collections, so I wasn't entirely sure what to expect, but I found each story to be very engrossing. I would definitely recommend this to others, especially those who are fans of short stories.
One thing I really liked about Te-Ping Chen's writing is that there was a certain unassuming - or perhaps nonjudgmental is a better word - quality to it. She writes in a way that to me really allows the space for readers to come to their own conclusions. I wouldn't be surprised to find that readers came away with different thoughts or different opinions about characters from each story. I also think that she crafts characters really beautifully - there is subtlety to her writing of their emotions that really resonated with me, and also really provided the realism to the more magical realism-esque stories in the collection.
It is difficult to review short stories without providing any spoilers, so I will simply say that some of the stories that resonated with me most were "Flying Machine," "New Fruit," and "Hotline Girl." Flying Machine stands out the most for me as I found the main character Cao Cao so easy to root for and be invested in.
One final thought I have (and I won an advance reader's copy so I'm not sure how the final product looks), is that it's a really beautiful novel in appearance. I like the cover a lot as well as the design of the book.
One thing I really liked about Te-Ping Chen's writing is that there was a certain unassuming - or perhaps nonjudgmental is a better word - quality to it. She writes in a way that to me really allows the space for readers to come to their own conclusions. I wouldn't be surprised to find that readers came away with different thoughts or different opinions about characters from each story. I also think that she crafts characters really beautifully - there is subtlety to her writing of their emotions that really resonated with me, and also really provided the realism to the more magical realism-esque stories in the collection.
It is difficult to review short stories without providing any spoilers, so I will simply say that some of the stories that resonated with me most were "Flying Machine," "New Fruit," and "Hotline Girl." Flying Machine stands out the most for me as I found the main character Cao Cao so easy to root for and be invested in.
One final thought I have (and I won an advance reader's copy so I'm not sure how the final product looks), is that it's a really beautiful novel in appearance. I like the cover a lot as well as the design of the book.