Spirits Abroad
Ratings13
Average rating4.4
I'm usually not a fan of short stories, but this collection was a delight.
The only thing I wish it had is more background information, maybe in form of footnotes or introductions to stories. They are heavy on local lore and mythology which were totally alien for me going into the book. Even after having read the book and googled a lot of stuff along the way, I still feel that I missed a lot of nuances and it's sad.
4.5 stars
a nice collection of short stories from zen cho. i really enjoy her prose, it's very... practical.
my favourites:
- The House of Aunts ♥
- Odette
- One Day Travelcard for Fairyland
- Prudence and the Dragon ♥
- The Earth Spirit's Favorite Anecdote ♥
- Monkey King, Faerie Queen ♥
- The Terra-cotta Bride ♥
Zen Cho is my new favourite short story writer. Generally I find magic realism exhausting and irrelevant (García Márquez). Spirits Abroad is the first work I've read whose magical elements complement the stories—which pulse with inventiveness and humour.
I'll admit that I only picked this up because it was on a list of books by authors from Southeast Asia (which I needed for the Read Harder challenge), was fantasy related, and was cheap as an ebook, but it was really good! I really want to read her other stuff now. All of the stories touched on something Malay, even if it was just in the way people spoke, and she wrote little commentaries for each story. I liked that she also put in possible trigger warnings and a link to skip to the next story if wanted. It was a nice touch for people who might be sensitive to certain things.
a bookstore owner and i discussed how this was a truly niche collection: too local to be completely understood by westerners, written in a way that's too flowery to appeal to most malaysians.
exactly the kind of stories i crave to write. ‘house of the aunts', which i stumbled upon before the book's release, was what made me realise how much appeal there is in writing and reading about things closer to home.