cestelaine's review against another edition
3.0
I wanted so much to be thrilled by this collection and there were a couple of standouts ~ the titular story being a particular favourite.
I hate myself for not loving this but it just was not for me.
I hate myself for not loving this but it just was not for me.
roster's review against another edition
I'd've finished it but at the time, I could only afford the sample e-book at the google play store, so that's as far as I'd got.
achjlles's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
i read this for my Honours Australian Literature class and i really enjoyed it! reminded me a lot of julie koh’s portable curiosities (which makes sense as tan cites it as an influence) and koh’s book is probably my favourite out of the books i’ve read for uni, so i definitely enjoyed this. the biggest difference between the two collections is that tan’s work has a real feeling of hope permeating throughout (it’s also significantly less violent, which helps).
this is a wonderful collection of short stories and as a Perth girl, the Perth locations and references added a whole extra layer of humour — the karaoke bar in ‘eighteen bells karaoke’ on the “former site of the ritz carlton” was so funny to me having watched the slow construction of elizabeth quay and then the even slower construction of the hotels in what is now a kind of an accidental dead spot 💀
my favourites from this collection are, in no particular order:
this is a wonderful collection of short stories and as a Perth girl, the Perth locations and references added a whole extra layer of humour — the karaoke bar in ‘eighteen bells karaoke’ on the “former site of the ritz carlton” was so funny to me having watched the slow construction of elizabeth quay and then the even slower construction of the hotels in what is now a kind of an accidental dead spot 💀
my favourites from this collection are, in no particular order:
- our sleeping lungs opened to the cold
- eighteen bells karaoke castle (sing your heart out)
- smart ovens for lonely people
- would you rather
- shirt dresses that look a little too much like shirts so that it looks like you forgot to put on pants (love will save the day)
- you put the u in utopia (or, the last neko atsume player in the world)
karabeavis's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Congratulations Elizabeth Tan. Contemporary, kooky, incredibly well written, fun, unique.
archytas's review
challenging
funny
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
"Degenerate utopias, however, are not critical; they’re just empty reproductions of what is already familiar to you. They might look different from the real world, superficially, but they ultimately protect the cosy lie that worlds can only be one way—which means, most of the time, predicated on capitalism."
Smart ovens for lonely people is anything but a degenerate utopia. These stories are weird and funny and relatable and infused with a kind of desperately sad undertone, which is much more fun than it sounds. In the opener, half a page long, a piece of playground equipment is blown down a street, appearing to take on fish form in the writers, or ours, imaginations or reality, setting the stage for a collection that uses imagination to cope with a kind of existential terror.
Tan's characters live in worlds with cat-shaped counselling ovens, companies which fall in love, sentient fungal networks, restaurants catering to those so dependent on feeding tubes they have forgotten how to eat with ease. Some stories just capture the sense of being thrown off-kilter we have all got used to: On a single day, washing machines mysteriously empty midwash throwing social compacts off-kilter. Others evoke the sense of powerlessness, especially a couple set around spies held together by love, or a father who can't protect his children from a threat they pose. In this version of our future/present, people date and are annoyed by coworkers, sit on a hillside and watch how pretty the end of the world is. Tan's characters feel like us, bewildered by a world which is changing, beset by petty details, sometimes consumed by grief. The ideas here amuse, entertain and provoke, but Tan never shakes, or I think wants to, the ultimate feeling that we are watching our world dissolve underneath us, while we distract ourselves from our helplessness by looking for moments of joy. There are hints of more here to, that in choosing to reflect our world differently, we can both confront it and imagine something fundamentally better to create.
Smart ovens for lonely people is anything but a degenerate utopia. These stories are weird and funny and relatable and infused with a kind of desperately sad undertone, which is much more fun than it sounds. In the opener, half a page long, a piece of playground equipment is blown down a street, appearing to take on fish form in the writers, or ours, imaginations or reality, setting the stage for a collection that uses imagination to cope with a kind of existential terror.
Tan's characters live in worlds with cat-shaped counselling ovens, companies which fall in love, sentient fungal networks, restaurants catering to those so dependent on feeding tubes they have forgotten how to eat with ease. Some stories just capture the sense of being thrown off-kilter we have all got used to: On a single day, washing machines mysteriously empty midwash throwing social compacts off-kilter. Others evoke the sense of powerlessness, especially a couple set around spies held together by love, or a father who can't protect his children from a threat they pose. In this version of our future/present, people date and are annoyed by coworkers, sit on a hillside and watch how pretty the end of the world is. Tan's characters feel like us, bewildered by a world which is changing, beset by petty details, sometimes consumed by grief. The ideas here amuse, entertain and provoke, but Tan never shakes, or I think wants to, the ultimate feeling that we are watching our world dissolve underneath us, while we distract ourselves from our helplessness by looking for moments of joy. There are hints of more here to, that in choosing to reflect our world differently, we can both confront it and imagine something fundamentally better to create.