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The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories
- Narrated by: Corey Brill, Joy Osmanski
- Length: 15 hrs and 41 mins
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A publishing event: Best-selling author Ken Liu selects his award-winning science fiction and fantasy tales for a groundbreaking collection - including a brand-new piece exclusive to this volume.
With his debut novel, The Grace of Kings, taking the literary world by storm, Ken Liu now shares his finest short fiction in The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories. This mesmerizing collection features all of Ken's award-winning and award-finalist stories, including: "The Man Who Ended History: A Documentary" (finalist for the Hugo, Nebula, and Theodore Sturgeon Awards); "Mono No Aware" (Hugo Award winner); "The Waves" (Nebula Award finalist); "The Bookmaking Habits of Select Species" (Nebula and Sturgeon Award finalist); "All the Flavors" (Nebula award finalist); "The Litigation Master and the Monkey King" (Nebula Award finalist); and the most awarded story in the genre's history, "The Paper Menagerie" (the only story to win the Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy Awards).
A must-have for every science fiction and fantasy fan, this beautiful book is an anthology to savor.
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Florence Fein grows up in Brooklyn in the 1930s, in a family that is gaining a foothold in the middle class. At City College she becomes engaged politically with the left-leaning student groups, and eventually, in the midst of the Depression, she takes a job with a trade organization that has a position for her in Moscow. There, she falls in love with another expatriate American and has a son. Soon after, Florence is sent to a work camp and her son to an orphanage.
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Point of View of characters, past and present collide
- By Angela Adams on 01-29-19
By: Sana Krasikov
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The Darling
- By: Russell Banks
- Narrated by: Mary Beth Hurt
- Length: 14 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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The Darling is Hannah Musgrave's story, told emotionally and convincingly years later by Hannah herself. A political radical and member of the Weather Underground, Hannah has fled America to West Africa, where she and her Liberian husband become friends and colleagues of Charles Taylor, the notorious warlord and now ex-president of Liberia. When Taylor leaves for the United States in an effort to escape embezzlement charges, he's immediately placed in prison.
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Complex and compelling
- By Ellen H. Anderson on 02-05-05
By: Russell Banks
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My Soul to Keep
- By: Tananarive Due
- Narrated by: Peter Francis James
- Length: 18 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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When Jessica marries David, he is everything she wants in a family man: brilliant, attentive, ever youthful. Yet she still feels something about him is just out of reach. Soon, as people close to Jessica begin to meet violent, mysterious deaths, David makes an unimaginable confession: More than 400 years ago, he and other members of an Ethiopian sect traded their humanity so they would never die, a secret he must protect at any cost.
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A Book I Can't Keep
- By Mistsofjade on 07-19-20
By: Tananarive Due
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Love and Other Ways of Dying
- Essays
- By: Michael Paterniti
- Narrated by: Richard Poe
- Length: 14 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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In the 17 wide-ranging essays collected for the first time in Love and Other Ways of Dying, he brings his full literary powers to bear, pondering happiness and grief, memory and the redemptive power of human connection. In the remote Ukranian countryside, Paterniti picks apples (and faces mortality) with a real-life giant; in Nanjing, China, he confronts a distraught jumper on a suicide bridge.
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Incredibly intimate voice for humanity
- By Ed Hodges on 01-02-16
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The Vagrants
- By: Yiyun Li
- Narrated by: Jackie Chung
- Length: 11 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Yiyun Li is the winner of the prestigious Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award. The Vagrants, set in 1979 China, is the story of those affected by the execution of a 28-year-old counterrevolutionary. Though suffering, Li's characters nevertheless struggle to maintain hope amid cruel circumstance.
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Lovely prose, good story, deadly narration
- By Athene on 05-10-13
By: Yiyun Li
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Robot Uprisings
- By: Daniel H. Wilson, John Joseph Adams - editor
- Narrated by: Emily Beresford, Tamara Marston, A.T. Chandler, and others
- Length: 14 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Humans beware. As the robotic revolution continues to creep into our lives, it brings with it an impending sense of doom. What horrifying scenarios might unfold if our technology were to go awry? From self-aware robotic toys to intelligent machines violently malfunctioning, this anthology brings to life the half-formed questions and fears we all have about the increasing presence of robots in our lives.
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Has some bright spots
- By ChrisM. on 10-22-15
By: Daniel H. Wilson, and others
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How Long 'Til Black Future Month?
- Stories
- By: N. K. Jemisin
- Narrated by: Shayna Small, Gail Nelson-Holgate, Robin Ray Eller, and others
- Length: 14 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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N. K. Jemisin is one of the most powerful and acclaimed speculative fiction authors of our time. In the first collection of her evocative short fiction, Jemisin equally challenges and delights listeners with thought-provoking narratives of destruction, rebirth, and redemption.
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Great! One quibble with the audiobook editing
- By L on 03-05-19
By: N. K. Jemisin
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When Heaven and Earth Changed Places
- A Vietnamese Woman's Journey from War to Peace
- By: Le Ly Hayslip, Jay Wurts
- Narrated by: Nancy Kwan
- Length: 3 hrs and 3 mins
- Abridged
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This haunting memoir tells the brutal story of the Vietnam War from the perspective of an innocent victim whose childhood was dominated by violence, devastation, and conflicts between the teachings of her culture and the realities of war. The youngest in a close-knit Buddhist family, Le Ly Hayslip was 12 years old when U.S. helicopters landed in her village. She was raped and "ruined" for marriage by Viet Cong soldiers, imprisoned and tortured by the South Vietnamese, and sentenced to death by the Viet Cong. Ultimately fleeing to the U.S. with her children, she finally found peace, and in 1986, she was reunited with her family in Vietnam. The story of her homecoming, interwoven with her memories of the war years, paints a vivid picture of a noble, optimistic woman and her native country.
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Difficult to listen to
- By heatherhg on 07-01-07
By: Le Ly Hayslip, and others
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The Association of Small Bombs
- By: Karan Mahajan
- Narrated by: Neil Shah
- Length: 9 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Story
When brothers Tushar and Nakul Khurana, two Delhi schoolboys, pick up their family's television at a repair shop with their friend, Mansoor Ahmed, one day in 1996, disaster strikes without warning. A bomb - one of the many "small" bombs that go off seemingly unheralded across the world - detonates in the Delhi marketplace, instantly claiming the lives of the Khurana boys, to the devastation of their parents. Mansoor survives, bearing the physical and psychological effects of the bomb.
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A tragedy of manners
- By jdukuray on 07-22-16
By: Karan Mahajan
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The Vine of Desire
- By: Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan
- Length: 11 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Anju and Sudha formed an astounding, almost psychic connection during their childhood in India. When Anju invites Sudha, a single mother in Calcutta, to come live with her and her husband, Sunil, in California, Sudha foolishly accepts, knowing full well that Sunil has long desired her. As Sunil's attraction rises to the surface, the trio must struggle to make sense of the freedoms of America - and of the ties that bind them to India and to one another.
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Vine of desire
- By Mz Shantay on 03-27-21
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Unfortunately cannot recommend
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For Franny, the end of everything is just the beginning of her adventure. The world as we know it is no more. Cities are mobile. Electricity is rare. Reading is a relic of the past. After an explosive encounter with a mysterious stranger, Franny, a 14-year-old orphan girl, embarks on an epic quest to find the mysterious pilots who steer the cities, hoping that if she finds them, she will get answers about her family's past - and the world's future.
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Not For Me
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Introducing a new translation of Laozi’s classic work that makes the intimidating approachable and the complex comprehensible. Translated by best-selling author Ken Liu and read by acclaimed actor B.D. Wong, this new take on the Dao De Jing speaks directly to the sensibilities of a modern audience. Liu dispenses with footnotes and the granular details of academic debate in favor of presenting Laozi’s invaluable writing as clearly and colorfully as possible.
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EXCELLENT
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Stories of Your Life and Others
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Stories of Your Life and Others presents characters who must confront sudden change-the inevitable rise of automatons or the appearance of aliens-while striving to maintain some sense of normalcy. In the amazing and much-lauded title story (the basis for the 2016 movie Arrival), a grieving mother copes with divorce and the death of her daughter by drawing on her knowledge of alien languages and non-linear memory recollection.
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Amazing collection of short stories
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Exhalation
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Masterful and singular
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Wily, charming Kuni Garu, a bandit, and stern, fearless Mata Zyndu, the son of a deposed duke, seem like polar opposites. Yet in the uprising against the emperor, the two quickly become the best of friends after a series of adventures fighting against vast conscripted armies, silk-draped airships, and shapeshifting gods.
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Unfortunately cannot recommend
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EXCELLENT
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Masterful and singular
- By R on 05-15-19
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Waste Tide
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Mimi is a "waste girl". A member of the lowest caste on Silicon Isle, located off China’s southeastern coast, and home to the world’s largest electronic waste recycling center. There, thousands of miles from home, Mimi struggles to earn a living for her family and dreams of a better life. Luo Jincheng is the head of one of three clans who run the island, a role passed down from his father and grandfather before him. As the government enforces tighter restrictions, Luo in turn tightens the reins on the waste workers in his employ. Ruthlessness is his means of survival.
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Intriguing (warning, spoilers ahead)
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Vagabonds
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This genre-bending novel is set on Earth in the wake of a second civil war...not between two factions in one nation, but two factions in one solar system: Mars and Earth. In an attempt to repair increasing tensions, the colonies of Mars send a group of young people to live on Earth to help reconcile humanity. But the group finds itself with no real home, no friends, and fractured allegiances as they struggle to find a sense of community and identity, trapped between two worlds.
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Someone please give Ms. Woo Zeller some feeback!
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Beyond the Aquila Rift: It's shorthand for the trip no one ever hopes to make by accident. The one that will screw up the rest of your life, the one that creates the ghosts you see haunting the shadows of company bars across the whole Bubble. Men and women ripped out of time, cut adrift from families and lovers by an accident of an alien technology we use but rarely comprehend.
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Great story, mediocre audio book.
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The Cleaners
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Gui is a professional cleaner at A Fresh Start, scrubbing away the unpleasant layers of memory that build up on the personal objects of his customers. Memory-blind himself, he can’t feel those wounds. Clara can, and she prefers them irretrievable. Until her sister, Beatrice, ultrasensitive to memory, raises one that could change Clara’s mind. For Gui, the past is gone. For Clara and Beatrice, deciding what to remember reaches to the heart of their shared history.
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A touching story about family and memory
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By: Ken Liu
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The Year's Top Short SF Novels 2
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Short novels are movie length novels that may well be the perfect length for science fiction stories. This unabridged audio collection presents the best-of-the-best short science fiction novels published in 2011, by current and emerging masters of this form. In "The Ice Owl", by Carolyn Ives Gilman, an adolescent, female, Waster, in the iron city of Glory to God finds an enigmatic tutor who provides her with much more than academic instruction while a fundamentalist revolt is underway.
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GOD CREATED HEAVEN, MEN CREATED HELL
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By: Carolyn Ives Gilman, and others
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To Hold Up the Sky
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From Cixin Liu, the New York Times best-selling author of The Three-Body Problem, To Hold Up the Sky is a breathtaking collection of imaginative science fiction.
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Superlatives all around!
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Jumpnauts
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In a future where the world is roughly divided into two factions, the Pacific League of Nations and the Atlantic Division of Nations, tensions are high as each side waits for the other to make a move. But neither side is prepared for a powerful third party that has apparently been an influential presence on Earth for thousands of years—and just might be making a reappearance very soon. With the realization that a highly intelligent alien race has been trying to send them messages, three rising scientists within the Pacific League of Nations form an uneasy alliance.
By: Hao Jingfang, and others
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Vampires in the Lemon Grove
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In the collection's marvelous title story, two aging vampires in a sun-drenched Italian lemon grove find their hundred-year marriage tested when one of them develops a fear of flying. In "The Seagull Army Descends on Strong Beach, 1979", a dejected teenager discovers that the universe is communicating with him through talismanic objects left in a seagull's nest. "Proving Up" and "The Graveless Doll of Eric Mutis" find Russell veering into more sinister territory.
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Stylish modern magic realism
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Michael Chabon masterfully renders the funny, tender, and captivating first-person narrative of Art Bechstein, whose confusion and heartache echo the tones of literary forebears like The Catcher in the Rye's Holden Caulfield and The Great Gatsby's Nick Carraway. The Mysteries of Pittsburgh incontrovertibly established Chabon as a powerful force in contemporary fiction, even before his Pulitzer Prize-winning The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay. An unforgettable story of coming of age in America, it is also an essential milestone in American fiction.
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Disappointing
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By: Michael Chabon
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Expert Political Judgment
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The intelligence failures surrounding the invasion of Iraq dramatically illustrate the necessity of developing standards for evaluating expert opinion. This audiobook fills that need. Here, Philip E. Tetlock explores what constitutes good judgment in predicting future events, and looks at why experts are often wrong in their forecasts. Tetlock first discusses arguments about whether the world is too complex for people to find the tools to understand political phenomena, let alone predict the future.
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Five-star book, one-star reading
- By Christian Tarsney on 01-23-19
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The Emperor's Blades
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- By: Brian Staveley
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The emperor of Annur is dead, slain by enemies unknown. His daughter and two sons, scattered across the world, do what they must to stay alive and unmask the assassins. But each of them also has a life-path on which their father set them, destinies entangled with both ancient enemies and inscrutable gods.
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4 Primary Crimes Committed By The Author
- By Captain Spanky Of Nazareth on 05-09-16
By: Brian Staveley
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Jade Shards
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- By: Fonda Lee
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- Length: 3 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Fonda Lee returns to the acclaimed Green Bone Saga with four prequel short stories that delve into the personal histories of the Kaul and Ayt families.
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fonda lee will forever and always be an icon
- By Christian Moniz on 11-10-23
By: Fonda Lee
What listeners say about The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Renee Tang
- 05-17-18
Fantastic collection, great stories!
Ken Liu is an incredible talent and mesmerizing storyteller. His tales remind me of the creativity of Phillip K. Dick.
I wished Audible listed the chapter NAMES in the listings, instead of just the chapter numbers.
1. Introduction
2. The Book Making Habits of Select Species
3. State Change
4. The Perfect Match
5. Good Hunting
6. The Literomancer
7. Simulacrum
8. The Regular, Part 1
9. The Regular, Part 2
10. The Paper Menagerie
11. An Advanced Reader’s Picture Book of Comparative Cognition
12. The Waves
13. Mono no aware
14. All The Flavors, Part 1
15. All The Flavors, Part 2
16. A Brief History of the Trans-Pacific Tunnel
17. The Litigation Master and the Monkey King
18. The Man Who Ended History: A Documentary, Part 1
19. The Man Who Ended History: A Documentary, Part 2
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49 people found this helpful
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
- Ella
- 04-27-17
Wonderful at times; not all stories are winners
What did you love best about The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories?
I really and truly loved the first third of this book. I recommended it to about 5 people by the time I was reading "The Regular." That said, I did not feel the collection was consistent in quality. This was a true hit-or-miss for me, with the hits knocking it out of the park - State Change, The Perfect Match, The Regular, and The Literomancer absolutely took my breath away - the kind of stories that stick with you long after the initial read, that you go back to in your mind for reference later on. I started reading this book about a month ago as I write this, and I have thought about the concepts in those stories almost every day since I read them. Liu has an amazing ability to plant the seed of moral questions and step back to let the reader consider the implications of those questions. While he does offer his own insights on certain issues, there is no shortage of material to contemplate in this collection and I never felt like I was being force-fed his opinions. Liu's work demands credit for its ability to delve into moral dilemma and evoke thoughts and questions without doing the thinking for the reader or speaking in absolutes.
Liu's incorporation of Chinese culture and history into the stories was very unique, thoughtful, and informative. In some pieces it worked wonderfully to create a rich and compelling story, such as in The Literomancer and All the Flavors - these were mostly what I expected going into the collection - fiction. A more accurate representation of some of the pieces would be to say that they /have/ bits of fiction, combined with lots of historical detail and philosophical/political opinion. There is much to learn and even more to ponder from Liu's works, but not all of the pieces in this collection are the "escape from reality" that was my initial expectation. Some of the subject matter is very heavy and to really say that, for example, The Man Who Ended History: A Documentary was a "story" would, to me, be missing the point of the work. Liu is skilled at posing complicated philosophical questions and playing devil's advocate. He writes in the way I would imagine a lawyer would write if a lawyer began writing fiction. Liu is able to create a fictional scenario, create fictional controversy, and represent two opposing viewpoints with such credibility that, as you read, you think to yourself, "Yes, this is exactly how this would happen." It is very thought-provoking, but readers should be prepared for some very dark subject matter.
A major weak point of this collection for me was Liu's sense of balance between science and science fiction. I felt the scientific aspect overpowered the storytelling in far too many of the pieces. The Waves was the worst case of this; I made it about 15 minutes in before I asked myself why I was still listening when I had zoned out ten minutes ago. I also felt this in Mono No Aware; An Advanced Reader's Picture Book of Comparative Cognition came in just slightly above the former two. I enjoyed Liu's incorporation of science fiction in many of the other works, but the common thread between these three was that they were almost all science and very little fiction, and as such failed to garner any level of emotional investment in the stories, or my interest, for that matter.
Because I felt this collection began on such a strong note, I am somewhat disappointed by how many of the stories ended up leaving me cold. However, the vast majority of these pieces, even the ones that I did not enjoy as much as others, did offer very thought-provoking content and I am certain that many of the themes and questions raised by these stories will stick with me. I would definitely consider it worth the read overall, but wouldn't judge anybody who skips a chapter or two.
What about Corey Brill and Joy Osmanski ’s performance did you like?
I really loved the narration for this book; Corey Brill and Joy Osmanski did a wonderful job.
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13 people found this helpful
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- Lisa
- 05-22-16
Everything I read science fiction for!
While I like a good space battle as well as the next person, I ultimately read science fiction for the ideas. This book is filled with wonderfully crafted stories which examine fascinating questions. What does it do to the human heart when it is possible to suppress emotions? If it is possible to go back in time and witness history, should we do it? What is our real connection to the past?
Be patient and savor these gems. Great stories. Great characters. Loving performances.
Brilliant.
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10 people found this helpful
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- Sam Schaperow
- 10-04-16
If you like short stories, get it. Otherwise, see:
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
Yes, due to the writing quality and innovation.
What was one of the most memorable moments of The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories?
Tilly and ShareAll in The Perfect Match.
Which scene was your favorite?
Probably the overall story of The Perfect Match.
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
Not to tears, but yes in The Perfect Match.
Any additional comments?
I've read short stories from time to time, but have rarely been really into them. This book contains quite a variety of stories, from hardly any fantasy to a lot of it. My favorite story was The Perfect Match, as it explores possibilities of social media with rather unchecked elements. It was clever, interesting, and enjoyable. I also like that the author doesn't go with a single truth, often, but explores multiple sides of things. As to the many awards, I don't come away from this book in awe, but I do see how the awards were won. The writing quality is truly top-notch, and it presents innovation at the same time. That's quite the combination. Overall, on a pure enjoyment level, I think I prefer the author's book, The Grace of Kings, but more because its a novel and not because The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories is any less in quality. If you're not convinced to buy this, I suggest seeing about reading some stories by the author and if you like them, then get this one.
Note: I went to high school w/the author, and have seen him on occasion in recent years (about 30 minutes twice in the last 4 or 5 years, perhaps), so I'm including this note since I've reviewed this book in comparison to other short stories instead of on a pure enjoyment level.
Note 2: I experienced this book as an audio book. It was narrated by two different people, depending on the story, and well done by them.
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- Victoria Liou
- 01-12-19
I'm not a science fiction fan...
I bought this book after a co-worker recommended I listen to the Lavar Burton Reads narration of the titular short story. I listened to The Paper Menagerie soon after my father had passed away and it killed me... in that beautiful way that good writing can. I immediately went to look for more writing by Ken Liu (which was also my and my father's last name, btw) and found this collection, so I bought it. As my headline says, I am not a science fiction fan... so some of the stories lost me, while others were more compelling. Although it's not my genre of choice, I recognize good writing when I read/hear it - so if you're into really well written characters and deep/rich technical, science fiction-y writing, I would highly recommend this book!
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5 people found this helpful
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- Kukhri
- 06-06-19
Spectacular
This collection was widely varied and every written. What an outstanding series of stories this was, from historical pieces to forward looking tech oriented deliberations. And all of it was well read. Highly recommended.
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- Hugo
- 02-27-17
variable quality of stories
very good definitely recommends if only for the title story which is truly unique and touching and superb. there are other stories which are less engaging and perhaps a bit hard to follow. I'd like to think that perhaps I was distracted, but maybe it was the story itself that played a part in my mental wandering during this collection.
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- mtracy
- 08-19-16
Phenomenal
Incredible depth in such short stories. Excellent power over English from the author conveys stories that in most cases provide intrigue due plausible and well researched science fiction as well as a thoughtful reflection over the much deeper moral contained.
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- Marcel S.
- 11-21-20
Terrible narration
Robotic narration... Couldn't really listen and had to stop at three stories. Too bad. The stories are decent
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- Greg Inozemtsev
- 11-18-20
Imaginative, thought provoking, cheesy
I'm impressed. Fifteen stories, each set in its own richly developed world, unique and yet just like ours in the most important ways. Thought-provoking questions.
And yet many stories suffer from the same flaw: just when the world is developed, the story seems to be told, and things are winding down a new details pops in, unbelievable and disjointed. This "there's one more thing" is always too unexpected and just a little too cheesy to fit with the rest of the story. The grandfather reveal in The Man Who Ended History is one example, but several stories contain this. I feel like this devalues the otherwise very well written stories and wish the author spent a bit more time integrating these plot points into the stories.
Still, the stories made me think and it was interesting to explore each new world. I am still recommending this book to friends.
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