A review by starryeved
A Thousand Beginnings and Endings by Elsie Chapman, Ellen Oh
2.0
"'True love is in the eyes, in the reuniting of two souls.'"
Short stories are tricky things. They require a mastery of language in order to fully detail a story arc and its respective plot, character development, and overall atmosphere. Hence, the reason why this is a tricky book to rate. The title and summary promise magical tales that transport you into the cultures of different Asian heritages ― but the actual execution, mostly, fell short of that. A number of the tales were weakly written and did not truly illuminate the richness and vividness dwelling within each different culture, and ultimately many of them felt phony, like they were trying too hard to connect with readers, which ultimately lent them a sense of nothingness.
You can rewrite a tale, change its fates, but that tale ceases to be when you change its most fundamental aspects. You can write about a myth from the viewpoint of a side character, or set it in a different universe, but only when it retains aspects of its original state is it truly effective (hence the reason why Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is a more faithful retelling of the Austen classic than is the 2005 movie adaptation feat. Keira Knightley). Unfortunately for many of the authors, in A Thousand Beginnings and Endings, much of that falls flat on its face.
(Kudos to the premise, though. That is a great idea. Execution? Not so much.Maybe just stick with novels, next time.)
Short stories are tricky things. They require a mastery of language in order to fully detail a story arc and its respective plot, character development, and overall atmosphere. Hence, the reason why this is a tricky book to rate. The title and summary promise magical tales that transport you into the cultures of different Asian heritages ― but the actual execution, mostly, fell short of that. A number of the tales were weakly written and did not truly illuminate the richness and vividness dwelling within each different culture, and ultimately many of them felt phony, like they were trying too hard to connect with readers, which ultimately lent them a sense of nothingness.
You can rewrite a tale, change its fates, but that tale ceases to be when you change its most fundamental aspects. You can write about a myth from the viewpoint of a side character, or set it in a different universe, but only when it retains aspects of its original state is it truly effective (hence the reason why Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is a more faithful retelling of the Austen classic than is the 2005 movie adaptation feat. Keira Knightley). Unfortunately for many of the authors, in A Thousand Beginnings and Endings, much of that falls flat on its face.
(Kudos to the premise, though. That is a great idea. Execution? Not so much.Maybe just stick with novels, next time.)