Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang

★★★★

I generally do not read much sci-fi, so I'm not exactly the target audience for this collection of short stories. I picked up this book because my husband, who is a big fan of sci-fi, enjoyed it, and I liked the idea of supporting an Asian American author by reading his work. (It may or may not be worth noting that none of these stories explicitly include any Asian characters, but I'm still putting it on my figurative "Asian" shelf for author representation.)

I very much appreciated the "Story Notes" included at the end of the book, in which the author describes a bit of the motivation behind each story. Reading this section felt like getting bonus "behind the scenes" material.       

Pretty much all of the stories have a thought-provoking premise, so much so that it felt like many of them were written with the express purpose of exploring a particular, profound idea. In "Division of Zero", Chiang asks what would happen if a person's foundation for truth is shattered. In "Seventy-Two Letters", he examines philosophical and moral questions of humanity, as well as the power of language. "Hell is the Absence of God" addresses the common questions of "What happens when bad things happen to good people?" and "Why do good things happen to some people and not others?", but Chiang takes it a step further by bravely writing a story that has "the courage of its convictions", as he explains in the "Story Notes". (p. 280) "Liking What You See: A Documentary" feels like it was an exercise in exploring all sides of an issue, including possible behaviors of involved individuals and organizations, and ending up in a reasonable compromise position.

In many of the stories, I felt a kind of heaviness while reading, maybe even some anxiety, like there was a sense of impending doom. In "Tower of Babylon", it just felt like no good could come from breaching the vault of heaven. In "Understand", the main character's pursuit of superintelligence led him to a dark, isolated existence. "Division of Zero" could very well have used a content warning for suicide. "Story of Your Life" had a grey, depressing aura throughout. (I'm eager to watch Arrival, the film adaptation, to compare with the book.) And while "Hell is the Absence of God" had elements of faith, it was ultimately dispiriting. I was actually quite relieved that the book ended with "Liking What You See: A Documentary", a relatively fun and light-hearted read delivered in a clever, original format. 

As a final note, I will mention that this book sure broadened my vocabulary! It was kind of fun looking up new words practically every few pages, words like "onagers" and "antimacassar".