The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories by Ken Liu

Book Review

Title: The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories by Ken Liu

Genre: Anthology

Rating: 3.5 Stars

I have heard a lot about Ken Liu especially his fantasy books but I thought I would start with the most recommended book of his which is The Paper Menagerie. Since this is a short story collection I am going to follow the same process I have with other collection and review the stories individually before wrapping the review up with my thoughts on the collection as a whole.

The Bookmaking Habits of Select Species

The Bookmaking Habits of Select Species was a great introduction to Ken Liu’s writing as it blends lyrical speculative fiction with hard science fiction elements. The story is short so there isn’t much to say about it other than it documents the bookmaking habits of three different species and how reading or their interpretation of it changes. The main objective of the story, I believe, is drawing attention to how we make memories and pass the relevant information on to the next generation.

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State Change

State Change was an interesting story where people’s soul’s manifest into a physical form when they are born similar to His Dark Materials. Rina’s soul is an ice cube meant to represent how short and fragile her life will be and for a long time she lives her life terrified that the ice cube will melt and she will die. However, this changes when a young man named Jimmy comes to work at her office and worms his way into her closed off world. Over time Rina finds herself wanting to be more daring like her old friend, Amy, in order to be closer to Jimmy and she does become more daring. During one of these daring acts she accidently lets the ice cube melt but she doesn’t die. After this she receives a letter from Amy, whose soul was a packet of cigarettes, and she explains she went through the same thing were she smoked all the cigarettes and yet didn’t die because the form of her soul shifted as she grew older and she encourages Rina not to be afraid when her state change comes.

The Perfect Match

The Perfect Match is essentially the story of an AI named Tilly and the mission between Sai and Jenny to take it down. When we first meet Sai he is one of Tilly’s faithful users but after switching Tilly off during a date on a whim and the date goes badly because of it he ends up getting into a conversation with his neighbour, Jenny who he has always seen as a bit crazy. Jenny doesn’t believe in letting the AI control every aspect of your life and open Sai’s eye to the truths of the world that Tilly never bothered to reveal to him. He agrees to help Jenny upload a virus into Tilly that will destroy it but they are caught. When they meet the founder of Tilly, they quickly realise how futile their mission was and that the man is right about another rising up in place of Tilly if she was removed. He offers them the chance to work for him as they see the flaws in Tilly’s design and might be able to make a difference from the inside and while we don’t know if Sai and Jenny accept the offer we can see that Sai accepts that Tilly is going to play a huge role in his life whether he likes it or not.

Good Hunting

Good Hunting was a story that was used in the making of Love, Death and Robots, I believe it is called on Netflix. We are following Liang and his father as they are hunting Hulijing, fox creatures that bewitch human men. They chase one of these Hulijing to a temple where Liang actually encounters the daughter of the creature they are chasing. She explains to him that what he knows about them is wrong and tells him what the Hulijing are really like. This is overshadowed by the fact that Liang’s father succeeds in killing the girl’s mother and he learns her name is Yan when he lies to protect her. They continue meeting in secret for years but Yan’s magic is fading and she finds it harder and harder to transform into her fox form. They soon learn it is because the new railways runs through a major qi line and is bleeding the magic out of the land and eventually one day it is gone. Yan feels this but Liang’s father does to and he takes his own life as without the magic and spirits he has no purpose but Liang and Yan must try and survive in this new world. Liang for the next ten years learn all he can about the machinery and even becomes a trusted advisor to the British company when he ends up meeting Yan again, selling herself on the street to survive. They have a few encounters but the most memorable is the last one where Yan reveals that her esteemed lover has slowly been turning her into a robot as he finds them more sexual attractive than humans and it gave her an idea. She asks Liang to craft her a mechanical body that can turn into a fox so she can be her true self again and he agrees. The final form is dazzling and magical in its own way and Yan promises to return to Liang again with others of her kind trapping in their human forms so together they can set them free. Good Hunting was a bittersweet story and I will definitely have to watch the Netflix show to see it in all its glory.

The Literomancer

The Literomancer is a heart-breaking story that almost moved me to tears. We are following Lilly Dyer whose family have moved to China because of her father’s work which she doesn’t understand yet. She is bullied by the military children for not being one of them and she eventually crosses paths with Mr. Kan and his adopted grandson, Teddy. Mr. Kan introduces Lilly to the idea that words are magic and can tell us about the past or the future depending on how you look at them. Lilly forges a strong friendship both with Teddy and Mr. Kan and she seems to be adjusting to her new life. However, Mr. Kan frequently discussing his own hard life with the children and one innocent conversation with her father, directly involves Lilly in the brutal murders of both Mr. Kan and Teddy. Her father can’t cope with what he has been forced into and decides to move them back to America but Lilly is devastated by the loss of her friend even though she understands that they are free now and decides to carry the magic of words home with her, even though she knows a little part of her will always remain in China with her friends. Honestly, unless Liu can top this story I have a feeling it is going to be my favourite in the collection.

Simulacrum

Simulacrum was another unhappy story as we are introduced to Paul, the inventor of the simulacrum and his daughter, Anna along with his wife, Erin. Growing up Anna had a relatively normal childhood even though her experiences were used in the development of the simulacrum until one day she finds her father in bed with four virtual women. Through her mother she learns that her father wasn’t always faithful and the virtual women which her mother viewed as a form of pornography helped him maintain his faithfulness to his wife. However, Anna saw this as the cultured image of her father shattering and their relationship was never the same after that. By the time Anna leaves for the college the pair aren’t speaking anymore, until the day of Erin’s accident. Erin pleads with her daughter to forgive her father and she already has agreeing to stay with him until she learns of her simulacrum which she views as a violation of her sense of self and leaves once more. Anna views the simulacrum as an excuse for her father not to face his problems and to excuse his behaviour while Paul sees the digital version of Anna as a way of keeping his daughter close to him when the real one has drifted so far away. The story ends with a recording of Erin explaining to Anna that she has done the same thing to her father, compressed him down into a singular memory making him cease to exist as a person and begs them both to move on from the past especially now that she has died but I don’t think it will be resolved anytime soon since the pair has drastically different opinions on the simulacrum.

The Regular

The Regular is one of the longest stories so far in the collection and it definitely was thrilling plunging more into crime, science fiction territory and I loved it. We are mainly following Ruth Law, a private investigator after she is hired by the mother of a murdered prostitute called Mona to find out what happened to her daughter. We know from the opening segment that Mona/Jasmine was murdered by a new client and he wanted something implanted in her face, which turns out to be recording device. The man wants to devices to blackmail important people within world politics as he is looking to make a lot of money in a short period of time and he has figured out that the street workers are the way to do it but only the high end ones. Ruth begins tracking him down and uses her knowledge from working with the police and her connections there too to help track down his next potential victim. Carrie is obviously frightened when Ruth explains the situation but agrees to go along with her plan in order to stop the man once and for all. The final confrontation was amazing and Liu really packs in a lot of Ruth’s trauma and how it comes back to haunt her in these final moments but she manages to follow through and stop the killer before he can claim another life. I would definitely read something like this if Liu ever writes a full length novel similar to this story as it was gritty, action packed and impactful in the space of a few pages.

The Paper Menagerie

We have finally reached the story the collection is named after and I couldn’t wait to get into it as Liu’s stories span so many different genres I didn’t know what to expect from it at all. Compared to the previous story The Paper Menagerie is very short but it was no less impactful. We follow the relationship between a mother and her son over the years, he is the child of a Chinese-American marriage and suffers the racism in the America that makes him choose to abandon his Chinese heritage in favour of his American one. However, his mother made him paper animals as a child that were infused with magic so they moved, at this point they haven’t moved for years because the relationship between the boy and his mother got so bad. When she develops cancer and dies, the boy continues on with his life until the animals come back to life and inside his beloved tiger is a letter from his mother explaining her life and how she came to marry his father which isn’t a happy story but her son brought her a lot of joy and made her feel complete. The letter ends with the mother asking why her son won’t talk to her anymore as the pain she feels worsens. Again this is a very bittersweet story but we leave it believing that the boy will embrace more of his Chinese heritage to honour the sacrifices his mother made for him to have a happy and normal childhood even if it meant sacrificing all the joy their relationship brought her so he could be happy.

An Advanced Readers’ Picture Book of Comparative Cognition

An Advanced Readers’ Picture Book of Comparative Cognition is one man lament for his wife. We learn that this couple met, married and had a daughter but the mother’s dream was always to explore the stars and when she is given the chance to she wants her daughter to go with her. Not being able to bear losing his wife and daughter, the husband fights this but ultimately the decision is given to the daughter and she chooses to stay with her father. Throughout the story the father thinks about the memories he made with his wife and daughter and how by the time his wife emerges from her cryosleep, he will be dead and their daughter will be an old woman or dead herself and the pain it causes it him but he also experiences happiness knowing the woman he loves his fulfilling her dream beyond the stars.

The Waves

The Waves opens with Maggie telling her children the story of Nu Wa and the creation of man as they are heading for a new planet aboard the Sea Foam. However, they recieved a transmission from Earth explaining they have found the answer to immortality and want to share our with them. After done debate she and her husband leave it up to each member of the crew about whether they grow old and die or become immortal but for each adult immortal one child must also become immortal to make sure they don't overpopulate the ship. Of their own two children Lydia decide to remain mortal and their teen year old son Bobby becomes immortal. After generations have been born and died they finally arrive at their destination where humans have transitioned into machines and Maggie is once again given a choice. Initially she refuses watching the immortal children including Bobby become machines but she eventually makes the change as well. After more time passes she leaves the planet with her granddaughter, Bobby's child of creation and they find another branch of civilization that has transcends beyond the physical form and she faces a choice once more and she takes it. The story ends with Maggie considering what actually makes us human and how she now resembled the old gods as she has no one so she decides to create, by mutating a gene in the creatures of this planet she ensures that one day they will evolve into a species similar to humans. This was a really interesting look at humanity and what it means to be human and how our choices can step away or humanity one piece at a time.

Mono No Aware

Mono No Aware is the story of Hiroto, a Japanese boy who is preparing for the end of the world. Like many children Hiroto isn’t afraid even when they are told by the Japanese Government that there aren’t enough ships for everyone to leave Earth and they are most likely going to do. His mother has a connection to an American man who build a ship called the Hopeful and agrees to Hiroto onto the ship even though it means the death of the rest of his family. As an adult Hiroto works maintaining the solar sail that allows the ship to move through space and has a great relationship with Mindy. One day they spot a tear in the solar sail which seems impossible to repair but Hiroto finds a way, while he manages to fix the sail he can’t return to the ship as he doesn’t have enough fuel in his boosters and he would run out of air but the time someone came for him as no one knows the paths of the solar sail like he does and he surrenders to death to save others. During his dying moments he reflects on his life and in particular his father who taught him how to play Go as he is reunited with those he has lost throughout the years.

All the Flavors

At first we are introduced to Obee and Crick, these men aren't nice people in fact they hurt people and burn a town to the ground because they feel someone slighted them. However, their actions allowed for some good when a band of Chinamen come through the town during the gold Rush. The town is still being rebuilt so the people are respectful even if they don't like the foreigners because of what Obee and Crick did. We are then introduced to Lily, a young girl who becomes infuriated with the Chinamen. She ends up becomes friends with one, Lau Guan who get father calls Logan and he begins to tell her stories about Guan Yu, a Good of War when she is alone but he does tell her beforehand that not all stories are made up making me think he might be Guan Yu, given how his appearance differs from his other countrymen. Lily learns the beginnings of the story as Chang Sheng is born with a red face but even when warned the child won't survive, he does and his father recognises early on that he had the makings of a great general but they are quickly deceived by the ruling family leaving the father imprisoned with his wife and son on the verge of starving on a daily basis but the boy sells firewood in return for god's but he never forgets the slight he was dealt. Meanwhile Lily becomes good friends with the Chinese men and even her father bits things for his store that the Chinamen like in order to have a good relationship with them even if they don't fully understand their at times odd customs. In between learning more about the story we witness the town change their opinions on the Chinamen until Obee accuses Logan of murder. In the trial, Logan proves that Obee is lying and he tells Lily that when he wins he will build his home there even if his countrymen return home as he has found something there he has been searching for although we never find out if Logan wins the case or not before the story ends.

A Brief History of the Trans-Pacific Tunnel

A Brief History of the Trans-Pacific Tunnel was an interesting alternate history on the aftermath of World War II with the Japanese and American Governments working together to build a tunnel under the Pacific ocean. We are primarily following one worker’s romance with an American woman as he explains the abuse he suffered during the building of the tunnel. Overall, it was a decent story with an impactful ending but it didn’t have much of a plot. The details were well thought out on a micro-level, but the bigger picture was too implausible for my liking. The relationship was nicely handled though and I enjoyed the snippets about the history of the tunnel. However, apart from the ending, I wasn't that interested in the story.

The Litigation Master and the Monkey King

The Litigation Master and the Monkey King is a story about Tian, a litigator, who is a rogue telling the poor to read who uses criminal methods to empower the powerless. While this story starts off very quirky and light-hearted it quickly takes a darker turn. The story is primarily about the historical atrocities and the regime that sought to cover it all up. We follow Tian as he navigates some difficult choices with some excruciating consequences and knowing it will make no difference in the end. It genuinely feels reading this anthology that Liu’s stories are building to something as each has become darker as the collection progresses and I can’t wait to see what the final story has in store for me as it is one of the longest in the collection.

The Man Who Ended History: A Documentary

The Man Who Ended History: A Documentary is a story about the atrocities Japan committed upon China in World War II. The atrocities are not limited to human experimentation, torture, and rape. The main premise of the story is that there has been a breakthrough in physics where humans from the present can go back in time and observe history in the moment much like how we can witness historical events through VR. One of our characters suggests allowing the use of the technology to go back and witness the Japanese atrocities in China with the view of informing the world of the truth and force the Japanese to be more open about their role in the events. Let’s just say that this story is insanely dark from beginning to end and what makes it difficult to read is knowing that these events in some way actually happened as Liu is of Chinese descent and would have either lived through these events or had family members that did which made it almost impossible to read at times and put a really dark note on the end of the collection which I think was the point of it.

Buy it here:

Paperback/Hardcover: amazon.co.uk amazon.com

Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk amazon.com