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laurareads87's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
I just assume that any book by Ted Chiang is going to receive a five-star rating from me, and Stories of Your Life and Others unsurprisingly met that expectation. I'd read some of the stories in this collection before and I've taught the film Arrival, based on one of them, in a university Cultural Studies class. What Ted Chiang does remarkably well, in my mind, is take what might seem like a simple premise -- for example, what if a technology existed to disrupt the ability to respond to beauty (or lack thereof) in human faces, thereby eliminating lookism? -- and explore it from multiple angles in a remarkably brief number of pages. His writing ranges from exhilarating to tragic to hilarious but is always, always thought-provoking in the best possible way. Highly, highly recommend.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Medical content, Mental illness, Death, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Bullying, Sexism, and Racism
rileyeffective's review
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Car accident, Death, Infertility, Medical content, Cancer, and Grief
Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, and Bullying
annabend's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
"You can watch the night travel up the tower from the ground up to the sky..."
At the base of the immense pillar, tiny Babylon was in shadow. Then the darkness climbed the tower, like a canopy unfurling forward. It moved slowly enough that Hillalum felt he could count the moments passing, but then it grew faster as it approached, until it raced past them faster than he could blink, and they were in twilight...
For the first time, he knew night for what it was: the shadow of the earth itself, cast against the sky.
How beautiful is that quote? And there's plenty more to love about Ted Chiang's stories. Although I definitely didn't enjoy all of them, I still think Chiang's writing is great. Each story is the type of science fiction that inspires the imagination. Each leaves some food for thought as you can see Chiang play out a different what-if scenario. I loved the addition of author notes at the end of this edition — it added a lot of interesting context about how the author thinks.
My favourite story is predictably the one that inspired <i>Arrival</i>, "Story of Your Life." I liked the process of thinking about which storytelling choices were made in the movie versus the short story. For example, there's a lot more physics and scientific method in the story, and a greater sense of inevitability, and why is that? I also love linguistics, especially when it's paired up with speculative fiction, so the story was easy to love.
A close second was "Tower of Babylon." The Biblical story of the tower has always intrigued me precisely for its applicability to fantasy. Ted Chiang creates a whole culture for the people working on the tower at different levels and it's very cool to see. The ending is a bit surreal and dream-like, which is somehow more satisfying than an obvious conclusion.
"Understand," "Seventy-Two Letters" and "Liking What You See: A Documentary" were interesting stories too, which were a little more like puzzle pieces that I didn't connect with as much. Still, intriguing enough, with some topics I haven't seen explored in most sci-fi.
"Division by Zero" went right over my head. There is a lot of complicated math concepts that just didn't work as vessels for literary concepts in my brain. Any metaphors were completely lost on me.
"The Evolution of Human Science" is definitely the weakest. It's so short, there's barely anything to remember about it. Chiang's work in this collection is really most impactful when it's long, complicated and intricate.
"Hell Is the Absence of God" is way too theological for my tastes. Although many of the stories mention or deal with religion, I think this one requires the reader to have a greater emotional/spiritual connection to religion than I do. The tone just wasn't for me, even though angels causing natural disasters and bodily injuries when they visit the Earth is an intriguing concept.
Content Warnings
Minor: Suicide attempt and Suicidal thoughts
bwwilhelm's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use, Drug abuse, Grief, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Ableism, Death, and Medical content
Minor: Acephobia/Arophobia, Child death, Infertility, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Violence, and Xenophobia
mar's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Child death, Death, Violence, and Grief
manarnia's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
This collection was great! There were times when it dragged or lost my interest, but overall I found it a really compelling and fun read. Also smart. Like really smart. Like is Ted Chiang an actual genius? Probably!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, and Child death
Moderate: Medical content
Minor: Xenophobia, Death, Grief, and Murder
booksthatburn's review
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
These stories play with math, language, and science, situating their more technical aspects within various strange and internally consistent rule-sets which stretch into the fantastic while wearing the clothes of the scientific, all to tell deeply moving stories about people in strange worlds which are almost like our own. From a literal interpretation of the Tower of Babel wherein they reach to the heavens, to a mathematical formalism so destabilizing that it drives the theorist to despair, to a contemplation on beauty and appearance which refuses to ever quite take a side on its central question. One of the strengths of this collection is the worldbuilding, the way the details vary from story to story but they're all extremely immersive, exploring the strange corners of each premise while still feeling complete and focused. My favorites were "Tower of Babylon" and "Understand", closely followed by "Story of Your Life" (upon which the 2016 film, "Arrival" is based). Several of them were uncomfortable in a good way, but that experience will obviously vary widely.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence
Minor: Ableism, Bullying, Racism, Sexism, Suicide, and Torture
Tower of Babylon: CW for death. Understand: CW for anxiety, PTSD, panic attacks, major character death (not depicted), death (not depicted). Division by Zero: CW for mental illness, attempted suicide. Story of Your Life: CW for death (not depicted). Seventy-Two Letters: CW for sexism, racism, eugenics, violence, torture (not depicted), death (not depicted). The Evolution of Human Science: No major CWs. Hell is the Absence of God: CW for bullying (not depicted), ableism, discussion of suicide, major character death, death. “Liking What You see: A Documentary”: CW for sexism (minor), ableism (minor).
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