The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories

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!