The Passing of the Dragon

This short story about mushrooms (and absolutely nothing else) was excellent, however the author should really learn the proper dimensions of mushrooms before writing about them. - for legal reasons, this is a joke

This story was extremely thought provoking and emotional, and I feel like the layers of it and the consumerism and commodification of art could be discussed and reassessed many times over. Or we could all go and look for our own dragons.

Wow this was just so beautiful. It's been a while since I've read Ken Liu's short stories but I've loved everything I've read of his before and this one is no different. The writing is lyrical and beautiful and every line is brimming with meaning, I almost wanted to have it in physical form so I could highlight the many inspiring sentences here. The theme of this story is about the subjectivity of art, the relationship between an artist and their audience, and the importance of realizing that every single person who views an art piece will bring their own biases with them while appreciating or not liking it, and no opinion is really wrong. It's a very thoughtfully written story which is highly relevant to our current social media culture of pile-ons, with many insisting that their opinions are objective and right and everyone else is wrong.

Truly, I think most of us who review books or consume art in any form should give this story a try and realize that art can have myriad of interpretations based on the eye of the beholder, and we shouldn't be spending our time arguing about the validity of a single pov. It's time we accept and appreciate diversity of thoughts and opinions, not only about art, but everything else in life.