[Aptorian]

BOOK CLUB: STRANGE BEASTS OF CHINA by Jeremy Tiang and Yan Ge

February 17th - May 1st 2023.

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Quote

From one of the most exciting voices in contemporary Chinese literature, an uncanny and playful novel that blurs the line between human and beast…

In the fictional Chinese city of Yong’an, an amateur cryptozoologist is commissioned to uncover the stories of its fabled beasts. These creatures live alongside humans in near-inconspicuousness—save their greenish skin, serrated earlobes, and strange birthmarks.
Aided by her elusive former professor and his enigmatic assistant, our narrator sets off to document each beast, and is slowly drawn deeper into a mystery that threatens her very sense of self.

Part detective story, part metaphysical enquiry, Strange Beasts of China engages existential questions of identity, humanity, love and morality with whimsy and stylistic verve.

RISE! RISE DEAD BOOK CLUB!

From the ashes of another terrible year for people stuck in the meat space we call reality, 2023 arrives with a new book club. The cycle is unbroken.

As the last time we're reading something new and something older. Start of 2023 we're reading Strange Beasts of China by Jeremy Tiang and Yan Ge and The Fellowship of the Ring by an up and coming indie author called John Ronald Reuel T.

To make participation more inclusive and easier to follow along, we're doing quarterly reads and picking two distinctly different books. Meaning for the members with busy lives and slow reading progress, it'll be easier to finish and you can chose whether you want to read both books or stick to one - or quit while you can.

1st rule of Book Club: You are allowed to talk about Book Club.

2nd rule of Book Club: You are allowed to talk about Book Club even if you're not participating in Book Club.

3rd rule of Book Club: Spoilers are to be put in a black box and labelled properly with a chapter number and if you like to be precise, a page number. Overall thoughts and feelings are fine and don't need to be spoilered, use discretion.

4th rule of Book Club: We'll make it up as we go along

-------------------------------------------------

Reading prompts:

What do you think of the authors writing?

What do you think of the books story and plot?

What are the characters like? Who's your favorite? Who's your least favorite?

Are there any books you would compare this book to? Any you would recommend?

Did the book surprise you or disappoint you? Give us examples.

Is there any memorable quotes?

Would you recommend this book to others?

Did you like the book overall?

Where do you find the Strange Beasts?

[worry]

Thanks Apt!

First two chapters done. Impressions so far (I'm not tackling the prompts yet though):

Spoiler

This is completely different than what I was expecting, which I suppose was something of a menagerie of fantasy creatures and tales of derring do.

Instead it's a wryly narrated but ultimately melancholy study of 'beasts' who are -- for all appearances -- just slightly different from everyday humans. They are named for, and in appearance resemble, very distinct 'human condition' type things. But they're very obviously still 'othered' and all categorized as beasts consistently, no matter how human their lives. So there's gotta be something there, though I don't know what it is yet.
And then of course, at least so far, each chapter ends with a kind of punchline underlining their beastly nature in a very fantastic / non-human way. I'm liking this structure of Opening Description of Beast -- Personal Narrative by Protagonist -- Ending Revision.

I probably don't know enough to even make this comparison, but from what little I do, it's striking me in the vein of Italo Calvino. At least there's this clash (?) of fables and modernity going on. I'm enjoying it so far.

[Abyss]

Four chapters in...

Spoiler

Sorrowful Beasts - i was just kind of engaged w this one, the format and the almost lyrical narration weren't quite capturing me... there was a kind of blunt statement on women's rights and maybe assimilation and cultural genocide HOLY BODYHORRORFUCKWTFISTHAT????? ....the revelation about the sorrowful beasts hit and WHOA. I liked the finale reveal.

Joyous Beasts - That's just pretty fucked up right there. The underlying love story was a bit tedious but the joyous beasts themselves were original and sick.

Sacrifical Beasts - I enjoyed this one... it was at once absurd and infuriating and the reveal that ultimately the females had started sacrificing the males instead of themselves on behalf of humans was a nice twist. The way the beasts were kept in a 'zoo' and kids would visit until they offed themselves... daaaaaark.

Impasse Beasts - maybe because the narrator was at the center of this rather than an observer, i found it less interesting. The reveal of the beasts as parasites was less surprising and the bit about them exploding w despair felt a bit tacked on. I like the narrator as failed scientist/mediocre cryptozoologist novelist w a beast obsession. I didn't need to know more about her.

Am enjoying this, highs and lows. It is VERY different from anything i have read before.

[JPK]

Abyss, on 17 February 2023 - 08:25 PM, said:

Four chapters in...

Spoiler

Sorrowful Beasts - i was just kind of engaged w this one, the format and the almost lyrical narration weren't quite capturing me... there was a kind of blunt statement on women's rights and maybe assimilation and cultural genocide HOLY BODYHORRORFUCKWTFISTHAT????? ....the revelation about the sorrowful beasts hit and WHOA. I liked the finale reveal.

Joyous Beasts - That's just pretty fucked up right there. The underlying love story was a bit tedious but the joyous beasts themselves were original and sick.

Sacrifical Beasts - I enjoyed this one... it was at once absurd and infuriating and the reveal that ultimately the females had started sacrificing the males instead of themselves on behalf of humans was a nice twist. The way the beasts were kept in a 'zoo' and kids would visit until they offed themselves... daaaaaark.

Impasse Beasts - maybe because the narrator was at the center of this rather than an observer, i found it less interesting. The reveal of the beasts as parasites was less surprising and the bit about them exploding w despair felt a bit tacked on. I like the narrator as failed scientist/mediocre cryptozoologist novelist w a beast obsession. I didn't need to know more about her.

Am enjoying this, highs and lows. It is VERY different from anything i have read before.

I had a long drive for work on Thursday and binged the book. Are you doing it in audio as well? I'll say that your thoughts on each chapter line up really well to where I was as I was going through it as well.

[Abyss]

JPK, on 18 February 2023 - 08:41 PM, said:

Abyss, on 17 February 2023 - 08:25 PM, said:

Four chapters in...

Spoiler

Sorrowful Beasts - i was just kind of engaged w this one, the format and the almost lyrical narration weren't quite capturing me... there was a kind of blunt statement on women's rights and maybe assimilation and cultural genocide HOLY BODYHORRORFUCKWTFISTHAT????? ....the revelation about the sorrowful beasts hit and WHOA. I liked the finale reveal.

Joyous Beasts - That's just pretty fucked up right there. The underlying love story was a bit tedious but the joyous beasts themselves were original and sick.

Sacrifical Beasts - I enjoyed this one... it was at once absurd and infuriating and the reveal that ultimately the females had started sacrificing the males instead of themselves on behalf of humans was a nice twist. The way the beasts were kept in a 'zoo' and kids would visit until they offed themselves... daaaaaark.

Impasse Beasts - maybe because the narrator was at the center of this rather than an observer, i found it less interesting. The reveal of the beasts as parasites was less surprising and the bit about them exploding w despair felt a bit tacked on. I like the narrator as failed scientist/mediocre cryptozoologist novelist w a beast obsession. I didn't need to know more about her.

Am enjoying this, highs and lows. It is VERY different from anything i have read before.

I had a long drive for work on Thursday and binged the book. Are you doing it in audio as well? I'll say that your thoughts on each chapter line up really well to where I was as I was going through it as well.

Yes to earbook. The format works really well for this, tho one recent slower chapter kept losing me.

[JPK]

Abyss, on 19 February 2023 - 02:24 AM, said:

JPK, on 18 February 2023 - 08:41 PM, said:

Abyss, on 17 February 2023 - 08:25 PM, said:

Four chapters in...

Spoiler

Sorrowful Beasts - i was just kind of engaged w this one, the format and the almost lyrical narration weren't quite capturing me... there was a kind of blunt statement on women's rights and maybe assimilation and cultural genocide HOLY BODYHORRORFUCKWTFISTHAT????? ....the revelation about the sorrowful beasts hit and WHOA. I liked the finale reveal.

Joyous Beasts - That's just pretty fucked up right there. The underlying love story was a bit tedious but the joyous beasts themselves were original and sick.

Sacrifical Beasts - I enjoyed this one... it was at once absurd and infuriating and the reveal that ultimately the females had started sacrificing the males instead of themselves on behalf of humans was a nice twist. The way the beasts were kept in a 'zoo' and kids would visit until they offed themselves... daaaaaark.

Impasse Beasts - maybe because the narrator was at the center of this rather than an observer, i found it less interesting. The reveal of the beasts as parasites was less surprising and the bit about them exploding w despair felt a bit tacked on. I like the narrator as failed scientist/mediocre cryptozoologist novelist w a beast obsession. I didn't need to know more about her.

Am enjoying this, highs and lows. It is VERY different from anything i have read before.

I had a long drive for work on Thursday and binged the book. Are you doing it in audio as well? I'll say that your thoughts on each chapter line up really well to where I was as I was going through it as well.

Yes to earbook. The format works really well for this, tho one recent slower chapter kept losing me.

Spoiler

Flourishing or Thousand-League?

[Tiste Simeon]

Abyss, on 19 February 2023 - 02:24 AM, said:

JPK, on 18 February 2023 - 08:41 PM, said:

Abyss, on 17 February 2023 - 08:25 PM, said:

Four chapters in...

Spoiler

Sorrowful Beasts - i was just kind of engaged w this one, the format and the almost lyrical narration weren't quite capturing me... there was a kind of blunt statement on women's rights and maybe assimilation and cultural genocide HOLY BODYHORRORFUCKWTFISTHAT????? ....the revelation about the sorrowful beasts hit and WHOA. I liked the finale reveal.

Joyous Beasts - That's just pretty fucked up right there. The underlying love story was a bit tedious but the joyous beasts themselves were original and sick.

Sacrifical Beasts - I enjoyed this one... it was at once absurd and infuriating and the reveal that ultimately the females had started sacrificing the males instead of themselves on behalf of humans was a nice twist. The way the beasts were kept in a 'zoo' and kids would visit until they offed themselves... daaaaaark.

Impasse Beasts - maybe because the narrator was at the center of this rather than an observer, i found it less interesting. The reveal of the beasts as parasites was less surprising and the bit about them exploding w despair felt a bit tacked on. I like the narrator as failed scientist/mediocre cryptozoologist novelist w a beast obsession. I didn't need to know more about her.

Am enjoying this, highs and lows. It is VERY different from anything i have read before.

I had a long drive for work on Thursday and binged the book. Are you doing it in audio as well? I'll say that your thoughts on each chapter line up really well to where I was as I was going through it as well.

Yes to earbook. The format works really well for this, tho one recent slower chapter kept losing me.

Huh it's not on Audible here in the UK.

[Abyss]

JPK, on 19 February 2023 - 07:46 AM, said:

Abyss, on 19 February 2023 - 02:24 AM, said:

JPK, on 18 February 2023 - 08:41 PM, said:

Abyss, on 17 February 2023 - 08:25 PM, said:

Four chapters in...

Spoiler

Sorrowful Beasts - i was just kind of engaged w this one, the format and the almost lyrical narration weren't quite capturing me... there was a kind of blunt statement on women's rights and maybe assimilation and cultural genocide HOLY BODYHORRORFUCKWTFISTHAT????? ....the revelation about the sorrowful beasts hit and WHOA. I liked the finale reveal.

Joyous Beasts - That's just pretty fucked up right there. The underlying love story was a bit tedious but the joyous beasts themselves were original and sick.

Sacrifical Beasts - I enjoyed this one... it was at once absurd and infuriating and the reveal that ultimately the females had started sacrificing the males instead of themselves on behalf of humans was a nice twist. The way the beasts were kept in a 'zoo' and kids would visit until they offed themselves... daaaaaark.

Impasse Beasts - maybe because the narrator was at the center of this rather than an observer, i found it less interesting. The reveal of the beasts as parasites was less surprising and the bit about them exploding w despair felt a bit tacked on. I like the narrator as failed scientist/mediocre cryptozoologist novelist w a beast obsession. I didn't need to know more about her.

Am enjoying this, highs and lows. It is VERY different from anything i have read before.

I had a long drive for work on Thursday and binged the book. Are you doing it in audio as well? I'll say that your thoughts on each chapter line up really well to where I was as I was going through it as well.

Yes to earbook. The format works really well for this, tho one recent slower chapter kept losing me.

Spoiler

Flourishing or Thousand-League?

Yes.

Spoiler

I enjoyed Flourishing almost despite its focus on the narrator. The Flourishing beasts were interesting, the entire concept of them being hacked apart and grown into new trees or rotting in a near human form... it's wild and wildly different from the previous beasts who were so closely linked to humans. The human link we did get, the historical connection to the narrator's mother and the way it propelled the story was clever, and the payoff with the chair and the rich uncle was a great great twist.


Thousand-league... i kept waiting for this story to draw me in and instead we got the narrator's existential angst and a very very unclear explanation of the beasts. Maybe i was in the wrong brainzspace, but each time the narrator dwelled on her past or whined about her professor or her writing career i checked out.

[Abyss]

Tiste Simeon, on 19 February 2023 - 08:06 AM, said:

...
Huh it's not on Audible here in the UK.

Try a library?

[Tiste Simeon]

Abyss, on 20 February 2023 - 04:53 AM, said:

Tiste Simeon, on 19 February 2023 - 08:06 AM, said:

...
Huh it's not on Audible here in the UK.

Try a library?

First place I went!

[Aptorian]

Read about 15 pages last night. This is a weird book in a way I can appreciate. It's fun to read something that doesn't neatly fall into the typical fantasy/sci-fi mold.

Edit: finished Chapter 1. How strange a tale. Worry used the description melancholy above and that's definitely the feeling I got from the sorrowful beats chapter. If not a certain unease bordering on the eldritch.

This post has been edited by Aptorian: 20 February 2023 - 03:44 PM

[Aptorian]

I'm apparently a Joyous Beast:

Quote

Joyous beasts love breakfast cereal and plain water, and dislike greasy, strong-tasting foods. They enjoy fantasy novels, and hate maths. Joyous beasts are auspicious creatures. They live alone , and their movements are mysterious.

[worry]

I finished this last night.

Spoiler

Have to say I enjoyed it quite a bit, including the narrator's personal stuff. She's a mess, but pretty sharp and funny -- sometimes intentionally, sometimes not, so it was funny when others got the best of her too. It wasn't perfect though -- tbh there were times I didn't know who or what she was talking about in certain passages, and I still don't fully understand much about her mom. I don't use these terms dismissively, but her 'mommy' and 'daddy' issues could be pretty opaque, but I suppose that's intentional to some degree. And at least the 'daddy' half became more or less understandable.

I think maybe there's some thematic connective tissue between her personal issues and her academic interest in the Beasts, which can ostensibly be described, categorized, organized, etc. rather neatly -- yet there's that refrain in every intro (not so subtle) that Otherwise, they are just like human beings. And the outros all being like, you didn't know as much as you thought. Then the final twist just kinda underlines what a facade it all is? They're (we're) all beasts, categorized or not, othered or not. Not in a kumbaya sorta way, but in a 'ain't this constant cataloging of each other's traits pretty ridiculous' way. On another level, there's also just the actual dichotomy between 'man' and 'beast' in the real world, like what we consider outside/above nature vs. everything else, that is nature. Maybe our most enduring delusion.

I want to hear other thoughts though before I go on too long. I haven't read outside reviews/analysis yet either except for one thing, because I knew this was a translation and wanted to see what might have been lost, so I'll quote from an article:

Quote

Unfortunately, English-speaking readers’ appreciation of Yan’s beasts is undercut by decisions made by the publisher and translator. No footnotes are provided to explain crucial Chinese cultural references. For example, there is a character named Zhong Liang, whose father’s name is Zhong Kui. Outside of a passing comment in the text that this name is “lofty,” there is no indication that the moniker is revelatory. Zhong Kui is a figure in Chinese religion; he is a renowned demon killer. In a book about mythic creatures, readers should be informed that a character is named after a beast-slayer. Other allusions are passed over in silence: in the first story, “Sorrowful Beasts,” two beasts are named Cloud and Rain. It would be useful for English speakers to know that “clouds and rain” (云雨) is a classical euphemism for sexual intercourse. A proper understanding of the story calls for understanding that sensual connection. An English-speaker with no background in Chinese literary culture would completely miss this resonance.

[Abyss]

Tiste Simeon, on 20 February 2023 - 09:46 AM, said:

Abyss, on 20 February 2023 - 04:53 AM, said:

Tiste Simeon, on 19 February 2023 - 08:06 AM, said:

...
Huh it's not on Audible here in the UK.

Try a library?

First place I went!

Try a better library?

[Abyss]

Aptorian, on 20 February 2023 - 03:30 PM, said:

Read about 15 pages last night. This is a weird book in a way I can appreciate. It's fun to read something that doesn't neatly fall into the typical fantasy/sci-fi mold.

Edit: finished Chapter 1. How strange a tale. Worry used the description melancholy above and that's definitely the feeling I got from the sorrowful beats chapter. If not a certain unease bordering on the eldritch.

There is an interesting eldritch, borderline Lovecraft, vibe woven through some of the stories and it jumps out now and then to great effect.

SPOILERS FIRST SIX CHAPTERS

Spoiler

W the Sorrowful Beasts the end reveal of the hidden teeth. Joyous Beasts it was the moment when the beast emerges from the victim and flies over the city. Sacrifical, not so much Lovecraft as Lovecraft influenced authors - Ruthanna Emrys comes to mind - who have written about how half-blood Deep Ones and such might be treated. Thousand-League Beasts i thought might be going in that direction but it stayed more grounded where i kind of wish it had gone more weird.

[Abyss]

Ch 7.... Heartsick Beasts

Spoiler

Heartsick Beasts...
wow this one was all over the place and i'm left feeling uncertain i understood it. The connections between the narrator, her niece, her niece's beast, the riots, the professor... did the beast die because the niece was at risk? is the narrator a heartsick beast who wasn't programmed for recycling? are the heartsick beasts just a massive social control experiment? was the professor an evil genius the entire time????? and most importantly is Joon just completely in denial that he's madly in love w the narrator???????

I enjoyed the story, i liked the heartsick beasts as a concept, elements of it were very clever, but the conclusion implied way more than it revealed to the point of semi-annoying me.

[JPK]

Abyss, on 22 February 2023 - 02:42 PM, said:

Ch 7.... Heartsick Beasts

Spoiler

Heartsick Beasts...
wow this one was all over the place and i'm left feeling uncertain i understood it. The connections between the narrator, her niece, her niece's beast, the riots, the professor... did the beast die because the niece was at risk? is the narrator a heartsick beast who wasn't programmed for recycling? are the heartsick beasts just a massive social control experiment? was the professor an evil genius the entire time????? and most importantly is Joon just completely in denial that he's madly in love w the narrator???????

I enjoyed the story, i liked the heartsick beasts as a concept, elements of it were very clever, but the conclusion implied way more than it revealed to the point of semi-annoying me.

Spoiler

My read on why it died was because it copied the narrator. If the death trigger was because it's owner was at risk, these things dying would be much less of a rare occurrence (even with the "low" crime rate).

[Gwynn ap Nudd]

This finally came back to the library yesterday. Two chapters in and that will be the all I get through.

The narrative style and quasi-episodic nature don't appeal to me.

[Abyss]

JPK, on 22 February 2023 - 04:28 PM, said:

Abyss, on 22 February 2023 - 02:42 PM, said:

Ch 7.... Heartsick Beasts

Spoiler

Heartsick Beasts...
wow this one was all over the place and i'm left feeling uncertain i understood it. The connections between the narrator, her niece, her niece's beast, the riots, the professor... did the beast die because the niece was at risk? is the narrator a heartsick beast who wasn't programmed for recycling? are the heartsick beasts just a massive social control experiment? was the professor an evil genius the entire time????? and most importantly is Joon just completely in denial that he's madly in love w the narrator???????

I enjoyed the story, i liked the heartsick beasts as a concept, elements of it were very clever, but the conclusion implied way more than it revealed to the point of semi-annoying me.

Spoiler

My read on why it died was because it copied the narrator. If the death trigger was because it's owner was at risk, these things dying would be much less of a rare occurrence (even with the "low" crime rate).

so you're saying....

Spoiler

the beast imprinted on the narrator while she was away from the niece and the narrator's despair killed it?

[Abyss]

Gwynn ap Nudd, on 27 February 2023 - 05:43 AM, said:

This finally came back to the library yesterday. Two chapters in and that will be the all I get through.

The narrative style and quasi-episodic nature don't appeal to me.

I totally get this. Usually this style of book throws me right out unless - as here - some level of novelty keeps me engaged (see also the very first WITCHER book).