A review by miak2
Strange Beasts of China by Yan Ge

dark mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

 
This vast city, the beasts that come and go, all of this, is a secret. No one knows why they come or why they go, why they meet or why they leave. These are all enormous, distant mysteries. p. 231


I...don't know how to feel about this book? Similar to Kafka on the Shore, parts of it felt really profound and others were just...there. At the end, it made for a somewhat dissatisfying reading experience, solely because I wanted a lot more than what it gave me.

The good: I really enjoyed the parts that focused on the beasts, which is good since that's the whole point of the book. Each chapter focused on a single type of beast. They started with a description of the beast, moved to the narrator's current story, then showed how her tale was interwoven with the titular beast. I really liked this narrative format, especially with how the end of each chapter began by recounting the same factoids about the beast as in the beginning of the chapter, but moved on to provide some deeper insight on their experiences or role in society. Super neat.

The 'meh': Everything else? I didn't get very engrossed with the main character's story, in part due to Ge's choppy writing style which I personally didn't love. The dialogue felt incredibly unnatural at times, and the characters were confusing. The underlying plot, too, was also really confusing. I'm still not 100% sure what role all these characters played, and as a result don't think many of them added all that much to the overall plot.

I also just wished that the author had narrowed her scope just a bit. It tried to take on a LOT within 230 pages, to varying degrees of success. As a result, I'm not quite sure what moral I'm meant to be walking away with - although this is due in part to all the aspects named above. At the end of the day, I just wanted more from this book, which had such a neat premise but only scratched the surface. It'd make for a killer TV miniseries, though, if the character stuff could be sorted out.

Also, as warning, the book is rather callous with its mention of suicide and, to a lesser extent, rape. They are meant to be presented similar to how a textbook would, so I don't think the author was negligently tactless, but it could definitely be triggering. 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings