Ms. Hen reviews Exhalation

 

Exhalation

Ted Chiang

Vintage Books

2019

Ms. Hen bought this book at a new independent bookstore in her neighborhood called Molly's Books. She went to there to check the place out, and it's a cute bookstore. There was a table that was dedicated to AAPI Heritage month, and she picked up this book because she had never heard of this author, but she loves sci-fi short stories, so she took it home.

This is a collection of nine stories, some are longer than others, but all of them dwell in other realms. Ms. Hen became charmed by each of these worlds, and she was swept away in each story.

The opening story, "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate," is an Arabian Nights type of story, that includes time travel through a portal. "The Lifecycle of Software Objects," tells the story of digients, which are digital pets, and their owners have to fight for their survival. "Dacey's Patent Automatic Nanny," is a type of steampunk story about a robotic nanny that takes care of infants, or at least attempt to do so.

Ms. Hen thought it was interesting and different that there is an explanation for the inspiration for each story by the author at the end of the collection. She thinks that knowing a story's origin is cool, but not always necessary. She learned that the story, "The Great Silence," originated as an art exhibit about parrots that can talk that was a collaboration with some artists.

This collection reminded her of, "The Paper Menagerie," by Ken Liu, that she read a couple of years ago. That book contained short stories that possessed an entire world in each one, similar to this book.

Ms. Hen is glad she read this book. She loves to read books that are strange and unusual, because she herself is strange and unusual. These are stories that make a reader think about the world, and why it is the way it is, and how bizarre things can be if a person looks in the right direction.