The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories – Ken Liu

Back when I originally started trying to read more diversely I found “Invisible Planets”, a Chinese Sci-fi short story collection curated by Ken Liu. I devoured it quickly and was fascinated by the something intangible but distinctly different I could feel in those stories. That book led me to Cixin Liu and the Three Body Problem, which I picked up soon after (which was translated by Ken Liu) and I felt I was finally purposefully reading a bit more diversely. When I saw this book on the shelves at Waterstones though I thought it was about time to give Ken Liu, the Author a chance, and boy oh boy was it worth it!

This collection is made up of 13 stories that span everything from “harder” sci-fi to speculative fiction, across many different time periods: from 1500s China to an atemporal future. Therefore choosing a favourite story is nigh impossible. The range of characters is impressive and their motivations and feelings as varied as the themes and stories themselves. Many of these have worn awards or been nominated for awards: the most noteworthy of them possibly the titular “The Paper Menagerie” which is the only story to win all three of the Hugo, Nebula and World Fantasy awards.

And if I had to pick a story to highlight* this would indeed be the one: a fantastical tale of gripping familiarity, it follows a boy of mixed culture (Chinese mother and American father) trying to grow up in an America where the different is frowned upon. In spite of his mother’s difficulty with English and her power to animate origami creatures, Jack wants nothing to do with it and just wants to be a regular, American, boy who shuns her mother’s language, heritage and power all for the sake of fitting in.

All these stories, no matter how fantastical, all have a very tangible element of human reality deeply embedded in them that tells us as much about ourselves as about these characters on the page. I believe in an art with a purpose, art that tries to move, shift or simply make the subject think. This collection has definitely done so with me, I could never stop thinking about what I’d do in those scenarios and what that meant about me. I have left this book a little different that when I first opened it. There is nothing better than that. M.

*Short commentaries on two other stories can be found here