From the Bookshelf of Apocalypse Whenever…

The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories

Ken Liu

Start date: October 15, 2020

Finish date: November 1, 2020

Discussion: AW BOOK CLUB (spoilers)

Discussion leader: Gertie

Why we're reading this: November discussion, read anytime, discussion opens November 1st. https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/..…more
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What Members Thought

Jan 21, 2017 Gertie rated it it was amazing

Wow. Not a word I used often in describing books, but this one rightfully earned it. (Last year's Wow book. )

I didn't actually enjoy this book throughout - in fact, some parts were quite painful, and I had to take breaks between listenings (I got the audiobook from "Larry"). This is a great example of books that have value that goes beyond enjoyment. You can respect and appreciate, sometimes while you're hating every word.

Let's start with the variety of stories. Typically anthologies have a com Wow. Not a word I used often in describing books, but this one rightfully earned it. (Last year's Wow book. )

I didn't actually enjoy this book throughout - in fact, some parts were quite painful, and I had to take breaks between listenings (I got the audiobook from "Larry"). This is a great example of books that have value that goes beyond enjoyment. You can respect and appreciate, sometimes while you're hating every word.

Let's start with the variety of stories. Typically anthologies have a common theme - genre, a topic, a character. In this case, it's a rather unusual collection of highly imaginative science-fiction, and what I would call historical fiction. Many are a mix of both. The other theme that seems to tie the stories together is the numerous Asian references. Ken Liu is a Chinese-born American, and his Asian heritage seeps into every story in different ways. Not only are there Chinese references, but also Japanese, Filipino, Korean, and more. Personally, for me this was both a benefit and a downside. On one hand, there are historical and cultural references that I am not familiar with, on the other hand, I feel like I gained at least a smidgen of insight into some things I am ignorant about.

Many of these can be found individually online; I highly recommend you seek them out.

The title story is of a boy raised in the U.S. by an American father and a Chinese mother who speaks very little English. It's really a rather heart-wrenching story, his coldness, her suffering, but also quite touching as well.
The most impactful story is difficult to write about. I'm actually tearing up right now. "The Man Who Ended History: A Documentary" was... heartbreaking, depressing, terrifying. Also, important. This story focuses on the atrocities committed during WWII by Japan in "Unit 731" in experimentation to create biological weapons and learn about the human body, in the worse ways possible. The victims were mostly Chinese, and also Korean, Russian, Mongolian, and Allied prisoners of war. This was the first I have heard of the "Asian Auschwitz". As a 46 year old reasonably intelligent woman who doesn't completely hide from the world, how the hell did I not know about this? Not only did these events occur, the doctors were never charged with war crimes, and in fact, the United States was complicit in the matter, by granting immunity in exchange for the ill-gained medical data. Sadly there were other experimentation sites as well.
The story has a time travel element to it, but that's mainly a device to give us a glimpse into the past, although tangentially the time travel concept is interesting on its own, with so many potential avenues to explore. But in this story, the focus is on the war crimes. I'm going to call them that. There are such graphic descriptions of acts so horrific I had hoped they weren't true. But they are. I'm not sure what to say about it honestly. It's the sort of behavior that frankly boggles my mind, but we've seen over and over that humans are capable of atrocities. Regular people who have families, friends, hobbies; people who smile and open the door for others, and consider things like civic duty. It's difficult to reconcile the Janus aspect of this, the two extremely different sides of a person, and the story tries to address this in some fashion, though I still just can't even make any sense of it.
Off the top of my head, I really enjoyed a few of the sci-fi stories, which were so impressively creative and imaginative. The first story is about how different civilizations (aliens) approach "books". Another story features characters whose souls are kept outside their bodies in physical objects, which of course has some potential issues, especially if your soul is an ice cube.
One tale of people traveling through space and deciding whether to be immortal and keep their kids young forever, or to die and let their kids grow up, goes in very interesting directions and is more well fleshed-out than I'd expect a short story to be, thankfully.

Overall, it's a diverse, fascinating, well-written set of stories that will certainly get a reaction out of you, and is very worth reading. This one goes at the top of my 2017 recommendations list. ...more

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Oct 09, 2016 Michele rated it it was amazing

I am deeply impressed with this book. Many of the stories are of the darker, more sorrowful kind, by which I mean they turn on failings or weaknesses that are all too common to homo sapiens -- fear, prejudice, shame, misunderstanding. Others are vivid illustrations of our common goodnesses: love, hope, openness, looking forward, the ability to work for something greater than ourselves. A few are simply playful, agile and entertaining exercises in "what if?". The title story and "The Literomancer ...more

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