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zimmerea's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Probably a 4 stars on quality but a 2 on personal enjoyment. A fun collection of short stories, but one that will either speak to you or bore you.
ptarmigan_cirque's review against another edition
Really not my jam. I should have known at: avant-garde fiction writer
jjfranz77's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
motifenjoyer's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
4.0
"We can't imagine what the growing environment underground is like. We can only infer what it is."
masonanddixon's review against another edition
4.25
Bizarre and intense. Can Xue crafts strange, ephemeral worlds of longing and loneliness where her narrators seem perpetually on the verge of uncovering something, some hidden object, character, location, or answer that will cement their slippery, often unsettling, sometimes horrifying worlds into an understandable order. Only for it to slip away, but her characters, often trapped in strange dreamy loops, fail to react. They instead press on— doing the same things, eating the same meals, rummaging through the detritus of their dreamscapes. The few stories that do have typical conclusions are still drenched in uncertainty— they offer what feel like folkloric truths, profundity, advice for living and dying, but do they or are they comforting stories for anxious minds? Can Xue seems to offer a literature of questions. Not for those expecting answers, but instead looking to know what to ask. The mundanity of dreams and nightmares.
humdrum_ts's review against another edition
mysterious
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
2.5
bridgey_bear's review against another edition
4.0
These stories were all very interesting. I enjoyed them, but I didn't understand all of them probably because of a cultural gap. I will definitely try to read more. I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads.
thehoodie's review against another edition
4.0
I have no idea what happened in most of these stories, but I liked it. This would probably be 5 stars if I read it again, but who knows?
catpdx's review against another edition
4.0
I suspect this is a love-it-or-hate-it type of collection; I loved it - it's such a rare and total pleasure to read something so original and so deeply strange, but anyone looking for tight, accessible writing and who recoils at the word "experimental" should be warned. Her stories aren't easily described - they're dreamy, yes, but also grounded in striking material imagery; vividly visual, but relentlessly disorienting. In short: they're very, very weird.
catiaacribeiro's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0