The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories

Starred review from February 29, 2016
Questions of identity galvanize the 15 stories in this outstanding collection of fantastical fiction, giving them extraordinary gravity and resonance. In "Good Hunting," the human companion of a supernatural creature from Chinese folklore contrives an ingenious way to help her adapt to a steampunk future. The title tale (which swept the Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy Awards), in which a mother expresses love for her son through the magically animated origami animals she creates, is one of several in which the author uses Chinese-American experience to explore how all individuals assimilate into society. Whether writing about Asian culture and history, as in "The Literomancer" and "All the Flavors," or extraterrestrial civilizations, as in "The Bookmaking Habits of Select Species" and "An Advanced Reader's Picture Book of Comparative Cognition," Liu (The Grace of Kings) universalizes the experiences of his characters, who realize at some point, as the protagonist of "Mono No Aware" does, that "we are defined by the places that we hold in the web of others' lives." Gracefully written and often profoundly moving, these stories are high-water marks of contemporary speculative fiction.

Corey Brill and Joy Osmanski have similar styles in narrating these 15 short stories. Their understated deliveries mirror the aloofness of the author's literary voice. The presentations are straightforward and engaged, permitting the intensity of the stories to evoke empathy in the listener. It's a powerful combination. The award-winning title story explores the complex relationship between a young Chinese-American and his mother, who was a mail-order bride, when he rediscovers an origami tiger she made for him. "The Man Who Ended History" uses time travel to learn the fate of a woman's relative who was subjected to medical experimentation by the Japanese in WWII in the infamous Unit 731. From science fiction to fantasy, each story is powerful in its simplicity. J.E.M. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine