The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories

Average Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.2

I've obviously known a little about the wonderful translations that Ken Liu has done and his own fantasy work The Grace of Kings has been on my radar for a while, but I never planned on reading any of them soon. But when our Stars and Sorcery book club chose the award winning Paper Menagerie short story as our final pick of 2019, I thought why not read the whole collection. And wow was that a great decision on my part.

I really don't have enough words to describe the beauty of this book. The stories are fascinating but brutal, the worlds are unique, the writing is sublime and emotional, and the author weaves so many important themes in so few words. And as an Asian immigrant myself, there were many stories here that felt deeply personal and really resonated with me. There is a reason why so many of these stories have been nominated or won awards, and I highly recommend anyone who loves speculative fiction, particularly hard sci-fi, to give this collection a try. 

Below are my individual reviews for the stories:

The Bookmaking Aspects of Select Species

By telling us how every different species has it's own way of reading, writing and interpretation, the author weaves a lovely tale about the beauty of books, albeit in their various forms.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

State Change

I really don't know how to explain this story without spoiling it, so I'll just say it was an interesting way of asking us all to try to live life to the fullest and not feel limited by the boundaries that have been created for us.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Perfect Match

This was terrifyingly prophetic and probably gave a glimpse of what our lives might become in the future, every step being controlled or manipulated by algorithms and all of us just falling into the trap of living in an echo chamber and believing we are happy. But it also felt very inevitable and left me feeling a bit hopeless.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Good Hunting

This is at once a cautionary tale about how technological advances can be both good and bad, replacing ancient traditions with more material comforts; but also increase the wealth gap. It's also ultimately a tale of ingenuity and survival and hope and I loved it.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Literomancer

CW: racial slurs and graphic torture

What started off as an innocent tale of friendship and the magic of language turned into one full of brutality. This is a story that brought to light the utter havoc that war wreaks on ordinary people. I couldn't stop crying and wish I hadn't read something so painful.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Simulacrum

A very compelling futuristic tale which has commentary about the pros and cons of capturing human memories in an AI like device to always carry with us; but at its heart, it's the story of a father and daughter who are stuck in their relationship because no one is ready to understand how the other has changed and evolved over the years.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Regular

I can't really explain this story properly except that it's a murder mystery but also a very interesting commentary on the perils of using advanced technology that make us entirely dependent on them. This would make a wonderful full length novel too.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Paper Menagerie

This one left me sobbing and now I totally understand why it's won so many accolades. A beautiful but sad story of empathy, belonging, and a mother's love for her son, even when the son is unable to find a connection to her.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

An Advanced Reader's Picture Book of Comparative Cognition

This story definitely had too much of science and jargon, so I can't say I understood a lot of it. But ultimately it's message is that there are lots of ways to love someone, and we shouldn't really expect anyone to change their passion for our sake.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Waves

This story takes from many creation myths that we know and weaves it's own creation story, albeit a more highly advanced and futuristic one. Quite fascinating with its discussions about what defines humanity and death. I liked reading it but I can't say I understood it fully.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Mono No Aware

Set in a post apocalyptic future and using the game Go as a metaphor, this is an absolutely wonderful story about the importance of being selfless and doing what's right for the whole community, not just us as an individual. It also really demonstrates the stark difference between the cultures of America and Japan, and what it means to carry forward your heritage.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

All the Flavors

Based on the Chinese gold rush of the 19th century in Idaho, this is a tale of the resilience of Chinese men who came here to live better lives, and who in turn touched the hearts of the communities where they lived in, before all the anti-Chinese sentiment took hold in the country. A very beautiful tale of bravery, grit, loyalty and unlikely friendships.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A Brief History of the Trans-Pacific Tunnel

Set in an alternative history timeline where WWII never happened but there was a cooperative agreement between the Western Powers and Imperial Japan, on surface this feels like a story of human ingenuity but when we dig deeper, it's about labor exploitation and how much the glorious technological advances have been made on the backs of workers who had no choice.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Litigation Master and the Monkey King

CW: torture

While bringing some light upon the Yangzhou Massacre, this is a story about how ordinary people sometimes have to do extraordinary things, just because it's right even though they may never see the consequences of their actions. A true tale of bravery.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Man Who Ended History: A Documentary

CW: graphic descriptions of rape, torture and human experimentation

Told with a time travel backdrop and in the form of a documentary, this is the story of Unit 731 of Imperial Japan during WWII and the inhumane human experiments that were conducted on Chinese and Allied prisoners and people. I was horrified that I had no idea about this part of Asian history despite being so familiar with the Holocaust which occurred at the same time. I would definitely ask everyone to read more about the history of Unit 731 after you are done with this story.

This novella raises some very important questions for which there are no easy answers - should we forget wartime atrocities so that people can move on? Is asking the states that committed such crimes against humanity to apologize not valid? How much culpability do other countries bear when they cover up such crimes for their own selfish goals? How important is it for the people in the present to feel a connection to their past and process that trauma? There are many such thought provoking questions that come to mind while reading this story and it's left to us find our own answers. I couldn't imagine another brilliant way to end this excellent book.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

4.5*

“A kitten's tongue tickles the inside of my heart.”

You all know that feeling, yes?

This is a gorgeous short story collection. In fact, I loved it so much I'm considering giving Ken Liu's full length novels a go as well.

Short stories are so much detail and meaning and a ton of unsaid things being louder than the written word... all in very compact packages. I wish it wasn't a library loan so I could put it on my shelf and return to it in a couple of months and reread the last couple of stories to better enjoy them.

Nevertheless, I really loved State Change, Good Hunting and Paper Menagerie.

All I want to do right now is read short stories and this collection is a large part of the reason why.

This is a fantastic collection, and I loved so many of the stories! There are, I think 15 stories in the collection. Usually when I read a collection I put a post it in it and write down the titles of the stories I love. My post it has 12 titles on it...

State Change, The Perfect Match, Good Hunting, The Literomancer, The Regular, The Paper Menagerie, The Waves, Mono No Aware, All the Flavors, A Brief History of the Trans-Pacific Tunnel, The Litigation Master and the Monkey King, The Man Who Ended History: a Documentary.

I absolutely adored this entire collection. I was already a huge fan of Liu because of The Grace of Kings, but this collection has made me a fan for life.

The first story is the only one that failed to really resonate with me; I appreciated the abstract nature and creativity of it, but it didn't do anything for me.

But everything else...man. Buckle up. Ken Liu is so wildly inventive and thought provoking. He enables you to consider deep concepts or relatively unknown pieces of history or culture. One of the major recurring themes are memories and storytelling and how these shape us into who we are and who we want to be.

Some of my favorite stories were “State Change”, about a girl whose soul is an ice cube; “Good Hunting”, a cyberpunk inspired story about magic fading and changing in a tech world; “The Literomacer”, about a young American girl whose family moved to Taiwan; “All The Favors”, a story about Chinese immigrants in Idaho and retelling the (mythological version)story of Guan Yu and his sworn brothers; “The Paper Menagerie”, a true masterpiece of short fiction about a second generation Chinese boy whose mother brings toy animals to life; and the final story, “The End of History”, which is completely harrowing and incredible. The End of History is the first time a short story made me pause half way through because it was just so intense. But it's worth it, and it brings the story of Unit 731 into more awareness.

I'm gushing about this short story collection even now. I had thought that I had stopped loving short stories, but it turns out that I just needed to find some more than engaged me. Excited to read Liu's other short stories after this!

Ken Liu is an incredible story teller, he has a way with words, wit, and feelings. He's able to build these creative worlds with developed characters and flourishes of emotion and hope in short stories.  (Which speaks strongly to his skills as an author, especially considering some popular books of 600+ pages that are mostly filler.) 
This collection covers various topics and spans different genres. There's a good mix of space, sci-fi, fantasy, magical realism, and speculative fiction. The Paper Menagerie was my favorite and struck me to the core. As a first generation kid growing up in a community where barely anyone looked like me I related to the kid so much. But now as an adult, I can see how the sons actions of self preservation impacted his mother and his future self. I had to put the book down and call my mom!
I also enjoyed Mono no Aware, Simulacrum, and Good Hunting.

At the beginning some of the stories felt too neat, too timid (after having just read the violent force that are Alice Bradley's [b:Her Smoke Rose Up Forever 27059 Her Smoke Rose Up Forever James Tiptree Jr. https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1395145994l/27059.SX50.jpg 27713] stories) but I warmed up to them. And then I especially appreciated how he used some stories to educate us (Unit 731).

Despite a shaky start — a thoughtful story that's a tad too clinical for my liking — this collection blew me away. Ken Liu talks in the preface about prizing the logic of metaphors and you can see how carefully he prizes that in his stories. Nearly every one works on multiple levels without feeling heavy handed. Some stories he manages to write historical fiction that's somehow science fiction at the same time, others are straight ahead sci-fi thrillers that could easily warrant an entire book.

I tore through the collection and found myself surprised at the risks Liu was willing to take, yet still somehow managed to pull it all off. Magical realism, cultural commentary, steampunk, old-school sci-fi, historical fiction, cyber noir it's all here and all wonderfully done.

A collection of Asian-inspired short stories. My personal favourite was “State Change”, where everyone's soul manifests as an object such as an ice cube or a candle, and you have to focus on keeping it intact to stay alive. Another standout was “Mono no aware”, a heartwarming story about Go and being the last Japanese person aboard a spaceship. Some of the stories are inspired by more serious topics from history such as the discrimination faced by Chinese immigrants during the 1850s American gold rush and Japan's WW2 war crimes.

Ken Lui's book of short stories deftly uses sci fi and fantasy elements to broach some pretty heavy subjects, but still manages to make them really good reads. The spectrum is pretty wide between all out sci fi/fantasy stories to straight up fiction, but all have a lot of thoughtful subject matter to chew on, especially in relation to Japanese and Chinese history and immigration. There are dashes of myth and fantastical flashes of futuristic worlds that will keep you turning pages and each story reels you in with a human element that could have easily gotten lost in the imaginative elements. However, Ken Lui never strays away from telling a human story, and sometimes it's more profound for having been told in such a narrative as fictional story telling. As far as short story collections go, I would say this is one of the best I've read and not giving it that last star is basically my own bias on short stories on a whole having not enough story to really grab me mind, heart and soul as full novels do, however, I do think Ken Lui's stories are quite exceptional and very much worth reading.