Alternative world history that's as plausible as you can get, Babel delivers on all counts. Wildly imaginative (I'm not a big fan of magical systems but I loved this one) yet grounded in a familiar world, the story transcends its Dickensian opening to give us a taste of world history and clashing cultures.
The story itself is appealing but it's so much more. Babel is a heartfelt cry, a visceral expression of the very human need to be understood, to be accepted, to belong. The author is a translator and has, with this story, made us think deeply about the difficulty (not to say, impossibility) of translating from one language to a very different one, of interpretation that must happen as people of different cultures communicate.
The author seems to be asking: Those caught between cultures, proficient in very different languages, of mixed heritage or uprooted from their origins and ancestry, where do they truly belong?
Understated yet utterly devastating, Do Not Say We Have Nothing sings like a finely-tuned instrument, but the song itself is heartrending. The author employs a dual timeline, grounding us in the present even as she weaves a manifold story of the past.
Sparrow grows up listening to his mother and aunt sing. He and his niece eventually attend the Shanghai conservatory where, from one day to the next, western classical music is labelled counter-revolutionary. Sparrow gives up on his music as the political climate becomes more and more oppressive, until the events of Tiananmen Square decades later when, finally, he is moved to compose again.
The theme of freedom vs oppression is underscored by Sparrow's quiet despair, the dissonance of who we are vs who we appear to be in order to survive. Layered and nuanced, the writing is as restrained as Sparrow himself, and as quietly devastating.
"In a single year, my father left us twice. The first time, to end his marriage, and the second, when he took his own life. I was ten years old."
Master storyteller Madeleine Thien takes us inside an extended family in China, showing us the lives of two successive generations-those who lived through Mao's Cultural Revolution and their children, who became the students protesting in Tiananmen Square. At the center of this epic story are two young women, Marie and Ai-Ming. Through their relationship Marie strives to piece together the tale of her fractured family in present-day Vancouver, seeking answers…
Excellent characterization makes The Fox Wife a highly engaging read. Even though it took a while for the two main characters' paths to cross, I was invested in both early on. Snow might be consumed with rage and grief, and intent on revenge, but she has a moral code (and a very distinctive voice; her asides on humans are terse and insightful, her backstory tantalizingly incomplete).
Bao is an older investigator hired to find Snow, and everything that she isn't, but just as compelling. Secondary characters, especially Shiro and Kuro are also well-drawn. A most satisfying ending make The Fox Wife a worthy addition to the Asian folklore/fantasy canon. Highly recommended for readers who enjoy well-written, slower-paced fantasy.
'Vivid, enigmatic, enchanting' M. L. Rio 'Irresistible' Sunday Times
Some people think foxes go around collecting qi, or life force, but nothing could be further than the truth. We are living creatures, just like you, only usually better looking . . .
Manchuria, 1908: A young woman is found frozen in the snow.
Her death is clouded by rumours of foxes, believed to lure people into peril by transforming into beautiful women and men. Bao, a detective with a reputation for sniffing out the truth, is hired to uncover the dead woman's identity. Since childhood, Bao has been intrigued by…
The Noble House of Silveria sits isolated from the rest of Rogrovia on top of Mount Saddle. Presided over by a dowager duchess, the House celebrates the changing seasons with festivals and rituals deeply-imbued with meaning and tradition. Visitors are rare, so everyone is excited to meet them when they do arrive, .
In a world teeming with myth and magic, where a mermaid is rumoured to reside in the lake, where people come together not by chance but because it's meant to be, can true love find its way through the murkiness of man-made conventions?
