Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

Strange Beasts of China by Yan Ge

13 reviews

kylewithann's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Strange Beasts of China seems like it sets up a format right away: each chapter and insular story about one of the species of beasts. Just as soon as you think you understand the formula, it immediately shifts it on its head. The intricate weaving of stories and world-building happening between the lines makes this a much more complicated novel than it originally seems. 

The narrative does not hold your hand. Sometimes I felt like I needed SparkNotes to understand what was happening the writing was so opaque. 

Mind the content warnings. I would put down the book between some chapters feeling emotionally and mentally wrecked. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Genocide, Gore, Self harm, Suicide, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

horizonous's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This is definitely a strange book and I feel like I missed a lot of social commentary. What I enjoyed the most is this hazy, almost dreamlike atmosphere and the beasts. There are some parts that left me a bit confused, but overall a fascinating book.

I think this type of short story collections, where the stories all follow a connected thread work a lot better for me than a book filled with separate stories.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Self harm, Suicide, Xenophobia, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Alcoholism, Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, and Death of parent

Minor: Injury/Injury detail

ozzy_999's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

why do i know i will be thinking abt this book for years? peculiar piece of text i will reread at some point

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm

lucky_stars's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

 I want to get my hands on the original Chinese since I definitely feel like some things had to be lost in translation. (Even if my Chinese isn’t the best, I’d be willing to struggle for this if I get the extra money to purchase a copy of 异兽志). 

 

Although I might also be saying that because I spent a good portion of the book feeling like I was missing something.  Sometimes things connected in ways that seemed impossible since the supposed conclusion reached in one story was contradicted in another.  

 

The narrator’s relationship with the professor was one that endlessly confused me, even as it intrigued me.  At times I thought they were lovers, other times just more disappointed mentor and student,

and with the Heartsick Beasts story maybe literal creator and invention

.  The only consistency was the very unhealthy relationship, a common thread in a book that blurs the line between what it means to be beastly.  (Lucia is perfect though and I won’t hear a word against her.) 

 

The beasts are brilliantly constructed, although repetitive at times since there is so much death and melancholy. My favorite stories were the Impasse Beasts, the Heartsick Beasts, and the Flourishing Beasts.  

 

The setting of Yong’an is hard to pin down.  Most of the time is spent in either the Dolphin Bar or the narrator’s apartment, with a whole lot of un-described mostly unremarkable restaurants that Zhong Liang drags her to.  However, despite this, I couldn’t offer a description of any of these locations.  There are references to more concrete areas when talking about where the beasts live that are more conversational.  These places feel real and made me feel like the narrator was letting me in on some deep secret. The timeline is similarly opaque. You’re left in this timeless place where the only way you can track things is based on subtle hits from secondary characters (their deaths, their institutionalization, their references to the narrator’s books/newspaper column being published).  It’s very hypnotic and surreal.  It’s strange yes (made even stranger by the epilogue), but there’s whimsy in it even as the beasts brutally commit suicide or otherwise die. 

 

Common thematic ideas: Beasts are whoever the government decides to disenfranchise; Living must include pain to be worthwhile and Death is inevitable (and even an escape from living); People are beasts; Identity is a narrative, not a static idea.    

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Genocide, Toxic relationship, and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Vomit and Dementia

charlie_cheese's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

the grief of figuring out everything too late and the humanity of the other........ great themes in this guy

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Grief, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Moderate: Gore, Self harm, Police brutality, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, and Classism

Minor: Body horror, Forced institutionalization, and War

dragongirl271's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm and Suicide

Moderate: Child death, Mental illness, and Grief

lanid's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, and Alcohol

Minor: Gore, Self harm, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Vomit, and Grief

jayisreading's review against another edition

mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

3.5

I feel like I was stuck in a haze as I read this book, not entirely sure what was happening for a lot of it. I don’t know if this was a translation issue or what, but it made it hard to stay totally engaged. It could very well be that Yan Ge’s writing style just isn’t for me, since I really didn’t enjoy The Chilli Bean Paste Clan. That being said, I did find Strange Beasts of China far more intriguing and better written/translated, even if the book was a bit repetitive in the end. I can’t help but wonder if I would have enjoyed this book more if a different author had written it, admittedly.

I’d be curious to know about the social commentary that’s being made in this book and its connections to Chinese society, specifically (or maybe just generally). There’s an interesting thread throughout these stories that focuses on how beasts are taken advantage of and mistreated, as well as an exploration of tradition versus modernity.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Self harm, and Suicide

theatrix's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

This was a quick and engrossing and thought-provoking read, but also challenging, both due to the wide range of disturbing themes (there are many, but most are touched on pretty briefly), and due to the style, which doesn't baby you with explanations and trusts you to put pieces together yourself.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol

Moderate: Child death

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Self harm, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Trafficking, Grief, Cannibalism, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Abandonment

clarabooksit's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Trafficking, Grief, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Colonisation

Moderate: Animal death, Genocide, Gore, Blood, Cannibalism, Stalking, and Injury/Injury detail