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roxxie's review against another edition
informative
slow-paced
3.0
When I first started reading it, I had no idea what to expect. I try to start every book without many expectations, this way I can't really get too disappointed. This companion connects Asian mythology to the lives of Asian Horror/Ghost Story Writers in a series of intensely personal and emotional essays rather than simply a collection of ghost stories. Which I actually hoped for.
It was interesting reading about the background of all those ghost stories, which always star a female ghost. But unfortunately, I don't really know all those stories which were marked. Or maybe I did hear of some of them, but just a slightly different version. As it is with all kind of mythological creatures, every culture has them in a slightly different version.
It was quite interesting reading about the writers' backgrounds, but nevertheless I hoped for more ghost story time.
It was interesting reading about the background of all those ghost stories, which always star a female ghost. But unfortunately, I don't really know all those stories which were marked. Or maybe I did hear of some of them, but just a slightly different version. As it is with all kind of mythological creatures, every culture has them in a slightly different version.
It was quite interesting reading about the writers' backgrounds, but nevertheless I hoped for more ghost story time.
llyrian's review
2.0
Thank you for the ARC Netgalley!
I really tried with this one, I dnf'd and restarted 3 times, but I have to say I found this extremely tough to read and can't see how a general fantasy reader could easily enjoy this book.
It's mainly the constant references in parenthesis that really broke the flow of the stories and made it a bit too tedious to read.
I'm gonna give it another go in a bit, see if my perspective changes, but for now I'll leave this at 2 stars.
I really tried with this one, I dnf'd and restarted 3 times, but I have to say I found this extremely tough to read and can't see how a general fantasy reader could easily enjoy this book.
It's mainly the constant references in parenthesis that really broke the flow of the stories and made it a bit too tedious to read.
I'm gonna give it another go in a bit, see if my perspective changes, but for now I'll leave this at 2 stars.
annarella's review
5.0
I fell in love with the cover and loved the essays that made me learn a lot about lore and myths.
All these essays are well written, intriguing, and well researched.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine
All these essays are well written, intriguing, and well researched.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine
joann_l's review
informative
medium-paced
3.0
I honestly wasn’t sure what to expect from this collection: Modern horror? Literary criticism? Traditional tales of terror? It intrigued me regardless.
What Unquiet Spirits delivers is a combination of all of the above. It is memoir, criticism, history, and ethnography in balanced fusion. Each chapter is written by an Asian female author and in it she discusses both her own writing, the cultural and historical inspiration for her characters, the origins of some feminine demon, ghost, or creepy — a unquiet spirit — which haunts her and the pages she has produced. In some chapters the author draws on a deeper well of literature of the past and ponders the future of the female spirit archetype that is the focus of their chapter.
The books is divided by and devotes its pages equally to feminine spirits across the Asian continent, from East to Southeast to South Asia. I was pleasantly surprised to see such attention given to Southeast Asian spirits and archetypes (my favorite was always the pontianak, the evil spirit of a woman who lurks in the dark under the protection of a banana tree. In my recollection, she can be “pinned” to the tree with a needle or a pin and made to do the pin-holder’s bidding. But, beware to that horrid individual if the offending metal is ever removed!)
While the collection examines different demons and feminine archetypes from across a swath of very diverse cultures, it ultimately makes a singular, united appeal to the reader. Their call to action is unmistakable: Asian women, as a whole, alive or dead, demonic or angelic, monstrous or victimized, are powerful beings. Asian women have been too long overlooked in the literary world and deserve more than the whispered, submissive voice they have been too long assigned by Orientalists; hear them shout, scream, screech!
For that reason alone, Unquiet Spirits is worth reading. But there is more.
The authors reveal facets of the Asian feminine that have rarely been visible, that is to Western audiences. To Asian women, we have always known they were there, even when our patriarchal societies told us to ignore them, to castigate them, to revile these demonic women as ill-influences on ourselves and our communities, yet still, Unquiet Spirits is sure to deliver novelties and new knowledge to Asian/Asian American readers.
the_bookworm_rabbit's review
challenging
emotional
medium-paced
4.0
This is not my normal type of read, howenever, I am very thankful to have been given the chance to read on advanced copy.
This collection of essays deals with a lot of very sensitive and personal topics, and each author's individual experiences and voice is given a chance to shine through. This is definitely not a light-read, but it is an important one. More stories like this need to be told.
This collection of essays deals with a lot of very sensitive and personal topics, and each author's individual experiences and voice is given a chance to shine through. This is definitely not a light-read, but it is an important one. More stories like this need to be told.
phaederator's review
informative
3.5
This collection of essays written by Asian horror authors comprises a variety of voices from the academic to the conversational, from a variety of ancestral lands, and from new homelands across the Asian diaspora. Through ghost stories, allegories, and traditional folk tales, these women are able to parse their experiences and those of their parents and grandparents as they’ve left their homes behind. Filled with ruminations on longing, belonging, and feeling in between, Unquiet Spirits brings all of these voices together to give a picture of the stories that bind us all to our history and shape our understanding of ourselves.
As with any collection, there are essays that were more accessible to me, and more strongly written. I will say that the number of authors and the wildly varying styles did sometimes make the whole feel disjointed, but I found very few essays that really didn’t resonate. In addition to reading about some truly fascinating and terrifying (and mostly female) otherworldly creatures, I realized that the tales of the unquiet woman are cautionary in nature, but also reveal how frightened the status quo is of women who find their voice. This is a theme that I see in folktales from other cultures as well, and it was interesting to see how some authors identified with and claimed the hungry spirits as their own.
Recommended for students of folklore, fans of fairy tales, and anyone with interest in the stories of the women of the Asian diaspora.
Recommended for students of folklore, fans of fairy tales, and anyone with interest in the stories of the women of the Asian diaspora.
Thank you to Netgalley and Black Spot Books for the ARC. All opinions are my own.
dontwritedown's review
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.0
And I encourage you to raise scissors and blades over these threads over your own head and allow yourself bith your fears and desires. And perhaps through stories of spirits and ghosts, we can further explore our place in this world; within, without, and between cultures; and in confronting our cultural and existential fears, anxieties, and angst, we might become more human, and less of an unsettled spirit.
It's hard to find a single quote in an anthology that nicely ties up a common theme, but I feel that might do.
Unquiet Spirits is a look at the Asian woman's life experiences, especially in those stuck in the diaspora and even if you are not Asian or a woman, these words will stick with you.
This book is obviously more for a sociology or Asian culture class, but I think it's a fantastic read for anyone.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape and Racism
Moderate: Xenophobia
sarahbythebook's review
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.5
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an e-ARC of Unquiet Spirits!
If you are looking for an anthology on Asian mythology, this is not the book for you.
If, however, you are interested in a book that explores the experience of women of the Asian diaspora that is framed through Korean, Chinese, Thai, Philippine, Japanese, and other Asian folklore, this is definitely a book you should pick up.
And if this collection teaches you anything, it should be that unquiet spirits are real, just not in the ways we might expect.
I personally want everyone to read Unquiet Spirits. The topics discussed are incredibly timely—the pandemic, women's rights and power, depression, racism—makes this a powerful and moving collection of essays from women across the Asian diaspora grappling with ghosts, both those in fiction and the metaphorical kind. These women who write horror fiction draw connections between the ghosts and spirits of folklore—fox demons, substitute-seekers, the ever hungry ghosts—and demonstrates just how real these creatures are in their day to day life and in their past.
If you are looking for an anthology on Asian mythology, this is not the book for you.
If, however, you are interested in a book that explores the experience of women of the Asian diaspora that is framed through Korean, Chinese, Thai, Philippine, Japanese, and other Asian folklore, this is definitely a book you should pick up.
And if this collection teaches you anything, it should be that unquiet spirits are real, just not in the ways we might expect.
I personally want everyone to read Unquiet Spirits. The topics discussed are incredibly timely—the pandemic, women's rights and power, depression, racism—makes this a powerful and moving collection of essays from women across the Asian diaspora grappling with ghosts, both those in fiction and the metaphorical kind. These women who write horror fiction draw connections between the ghosts and spirits of folklore—fox demons, substitute-seekers, the ever hungry ghosts—and demonstrates just how real these creatures are in their day to day life and in their past.
"Otherness transforms us into scapegoats, witches, dolls, and monsters. For many of us, monster is the label of choice." –Angela Yuiko Smith
As a white woman, there are without a doubt ideas in this book that are inaccessible to me. The racism that these women experienced or watched their parents suffer is not a reality I will know. However, there are other parts of this story that couldn't feel more real to my life and situation that if I'd written it myself (which wouldn't happen because I don't have the talent of these authors). The hunger for dreams you've had to let go of, the anxiety and depression that can hang onto us like a weight, conflicted feelings as we cannibalize some of the best parts of our lives for "progress", the difficulties of navigating a world hostile to the female body and our "sexual vulnerability".
"In her eyes, I see a fox, a spirit that now lives in me. And we're angry. Feral. We want retribution." –Celine Murray
I expected essays more on the subject of how these different authors interpret different kinds of spirits in their fiction, but instead they delivered heartfelt explorations of themselves and their experiences to explain why their respective cultures might have created such unquiet spirits. The authors mix memoir with folklore and advice for readers in captivating essays that are equal parts familiar and new.
"Tap into whatever your culture perceives a madwoman to be and watch the berth you're given widen; watch the leash you're on extend." –Nadia Bulkin
These women also go beyond the traditional undead ghouls we as readers associate with horror. One author includes the Christian idea of the Holy Spirit to explore the role of religious assimilation in immigrant populations. Another uses the yamauba to theorize about the strangeness—especially any deviation off the path toward motherhood— that turns women into witches in society's eyes. This chapter in particular is very poignant for an American reader in light of Roe v. Wade.
"I am reminded that the spirit is not just a silent reminder, a haunting of the awful things that have happened in the past. The spirit is also something that animates us, that moves us to be better and stronger and braver than we are now." –Gabriela Lee
Overall, I'd give this book a rating of 4.5 stars. This book has more lines that I've highlighted because they resonated with me than probably any book I've read in a decade. My only "complaint" (even that feels too harsh) is that there are two essays that stand out as not really jiving with the rest of the collection. Grace Chan's "Holy Revelations" centering on the Holy Spirit feels strange to me in a collection of stories about traditional folklore, but I think the overall point of the essay helps it fit better. "The Agency of Modern Kunoichi" by Tori Eldridge discusses female ninjas, which is incredibly cool but so unlike the rest of the figures of folklore that it doesn't mesh as well with the rest of the essays. It is still wonderfully written, and I want to get the author's novels in the near future. Both of these essays are good in their own right, they just felt somewhat disconnected to the others in terms of their content.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide
Moderate: Racism, Death, Gun violence, Sexism, Hate crime, Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, and Rape
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