A review by samdalefox
Hold Up the Sky by Cixin Liu
informative
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
My first time reading Cinxin Liu! As always, a short story collection is likely to have some stories that are better than others, and there will be an element of difference depending on the translator. Lui says in the foreward that "In my sci-fi, I challenge myself to imagine the relationship between Small people and the Great universe... to imagine the direct, tangible relationship between people and the universe. In this relationship, the evolution of metamorphoses of the universe are inseparable from human life and human fate." Lui certainly achieves that.
Lui's approach and style is the complete opposite of my favourite sci-fi short story writer, James Tiptree Jr. Tiptree's work immerses you in the story immediately, she is able to get you to understand the universe and the science at play without directly explaining it, you figure it out from context or slow reveal. She also focuses on biological determinism and on the 'small' in relation to the 'great'. Lui is the opposite. He takes a direct approach, usually having a paragraph or two directly summarising the relevant physics laws for this story, and his focus is on cosmology, specific laws of physics, and engineering. He focuses on the 'great' in relation to the 'small'. These explanations perhaps sometimes necessary, but they're not as fun to read. It is clear that Lui has deep understanding, respect, and awe for these sciences.
Overall, I became a bit bored with the overly technical ones. I also found it hard to feel anything other than despair a lot of the time. Many themes pointed to a large, calculated, determined, cold, universe, where humans are incidental tiny stupid creatures impacted by forces way beyond their imagination and control. The best stories were 'Contraction' and 'Mirror'. I've seen many other reviewers rate these highly too. I think this is because in these stories Lui uses the science ('greatness') to impact the 'smallness' (people) and really follows through and how it impacts them. They felt more real than a lot of the other stories. I will go on to read his full novel 'The Three Body Problem."
Other topics explored: the limtiations and shortsightedness of humanity and the futility of violence, emphasis of the importance of the natural (biological, chemical) world for carbon life forms, the nature of the individual (here Liu takes almost the exact same storyline as Ken Lui's short story 'The Waves' 2012 but with variations in commentary, fate and free will, the pitfalls of dependence upon technology, potentially anti-war sentiments, the philosophy of art and its importance/place in civilisation (I don't think he nailed this one, but he tried).
List of short stories included and individual ratings:
The village teacher - 3.5
The time migration - 3.75
2018-04-01 - 3.75
Fire in the earth - 3.0
Contraction - 4.0
Mirror - 4.5
Ode to joy - 3.5
Full spectrum barrage jumping - 2.5
Sea of dreams - 3.75
Cloud of poems - 2.75
The thinker - 2.75
Total = 37.75/11 = 3.43
3.5 ⭐ average
Quotes
Lui's approach and style is the complete opposite of my favourite sci-fi short story writer, James Tiptree Jr. Tiptree's work immerses you in the story immediately, she is able to get you to understand the universe and the science at play without directly explaining it, you figure it out from context or slow reveal. She also focuses on biological determinism and on the 'small' in relation to the 'great'. Lui is the opposite. He takes a direct approach, usually having a paragraph or two directly summarising the relevant physics laws for this story, and his focus is on cosmology, specific laws of physics, and engineering. He focuses on the 'great' in relation to the 'small'. These explanations perhaps sometimes necessary, but they're not as fun to read. It is clear that Lui has deep understanding, respect, and awe for these sciences.
Overall, I became a bit bored with the overly technical ones. I also found it hard to feel anything other than despair a lot of the time. Many themes pointed to a large, calculated, determined, cold, universe, where humans are incidental tiny stupid creatures impacted by forces way beyond their imagination and control. The best stories were 'Contraction' and 'Mirror'. I've seen many other reviewers rate these highly too. I think this is because in these stories Lui uses the science ('greatness') to impact the 'smallness' (people) and really follows through and how it impacts them. They felt more real than a lot of the other stories. I will go on to read his full novel 'The Three Body Problem."
Other topics explored: the limtiations and shortsightedness of humanity and the futility of violence, emphasis of the importance of the natural (biological, chemical) world for carbon life forms, the nature of the individual (here Liu takes almost the exact same storyline as Ken Lui's short story 'The Waves' 2012 but with variations in commentary, fate and free will, the pitfalls of dependence upon technology, potentially anti-war sentiments, the philosophy of art and its importance/place in civilisation (I don't think he nailed this one, but he tried).
List of short stories included and individual ratings:
The village teacher - 3.5
The time migration - 3.75
2018-04-01 - 3.75
Fire in the earth - 3.0
Contraction - 4.0
Mirror - 4.5
Ode to joy - 3.5
Full spectrum barrage jumping - 2.5
Sea of dreams - 3.75
Cloud of poems - 2.75
The thinker - 2.75
Total = 37.75/11 = 3.43
3.5 ⭐ average
Quotes
"The mountains were one of the most impoverished areas in the country. But worse than the poverty was the apathy of the people toward their own condition."
"The most incomprehensible thing about the universe is that it is comprehensible... The most comprehensible thing about the universe is that it is incomprehensible"
"War is economics"
"We're beyond the time that knowledge can explain everything"
"The truth of the situation had still not been disclosed, leading to this kind of coordination issue"
"Once the secrets are out, the province's entire economy and political structure will be dead in the water! And we don't know, and have no way of predicting, what even worse consequ might arise from so large scale and severe a disturbance...we progressed along the road if history to today because of balance, arising from the happy medium between various elements. To abandon balance and seek an extreme is a sign of immaturity in politics".
"Imagine if DNA never made mistakes, always replicating and inherting with perfect fidelity. What would life on Earth become?... life would no longger exist on Earth. The basis for the evolution of life is mutation, caused by mistakes in DNA...Society is the same way. It's evolution and vitality is rooted in the myriad urges and desires departing from the morality laid out by the majority. A fish can't live in perfectly clear water. A society where no one ever makes mistakes in ethics is, in reality, dead."
"We both take advantage of ordinary objects in our world to enlarge and extend our abilities."
"You've got it backward, Papa. If everyone were like us and spent all their life on exploring the universe, they'd understand its beauty, the beauty that lies behind its vastness and depth. And someone who truly understood that beauty of space and nature would never go to war."
"Art is the only reason for a civilisation to exist...fuck that I have plenty of reasons to go on".
"For the forseeable future, humanity's existence would be extremely difficult. Nevertheless, at least existence was possible. Most people felt content with that. Indeed, the Ring of Ice Era made humanity learn contentment."
"Li Bai saw nature like you see the girls down by the riverside. But in technolgoy's eyes, nature is its components, perfectly arrayed and dripping blood on a white cloth. Therefore technology is antithetical to poetry."
"That Li Bai's race had preserved their individual existences also somewhat explained their extraordinary ability to grasp art."