January Short Story Read-along: “The Paper Menagerie” by Ken Liu

Jan 07

January Short Story Read-along: “The Paper Menagerie” by Ken Liu

By Ann Kingman Project Short Story Add comments

Introducing the first of our montly short story read-alongs. I hope that many of you will read the story and discuss it in the comments. I want to not only explore the individual monthly stories, but I want to experience what it’s like to discuss a single story. I’ve been in book groups where we’ve talked about a story collection, but I don’t think I’ve discussed a single story since my high school English classes.

I learned about “The Paper Menagerie” from a tweet. I have no idea who the tweet came from, but it said that “The Paper Menagerie” was the first story to win all three major science fiction/fantasy awards: the Hugo, the Nebula, and the World Fantasy Award.

I don’t read much science fiction and fantasy but I do make an effort to read some, so the awards signified, to me, that this would be worth my time. I had never heard of Ken Liu or of the story, but I decided to track it down. And fortunately, the fine folks at Suvudu made the story available to read online, for free. So I brewed a cup of coffee and sat down with my iPad to read.

Fifteen minutes later, as I wiped a tear from my eye, the idea of Project Short Story was born. I needed to share this story, but I didn’t want to just retweet a link. There is a power in this story that transcends the genre and transcends the form. In other words, if you think you don’t like science fiction and fantasy, you may still like this story. If you think that you don’t like short fiction, you may still love this story.

I don’t want to give you any more than that. Read it. Let’s discuss. Leave your thoughts in the comments. I’ll join in with mine there, too.

I can’t wait to hear what you think.

Read it here: “The Paper Menagerie” by Ken Liu

You can also listen to it at PodCastle: “The Paper Menagerie” by Ken Liu, read by Rajan Khanna

http://www.facebook.com/mrsoppenheimer Amanda Caldwell

Thanks for sharing, I’ll definitely read it! I just read the first few lines and I’m all ready intrigued
Susany

I’m in Ann. Last year I also returned to the Short Story, reading them again all over the place. Thanks for sharing the links today too, as you always do. I remember loving ‘Paper Menagerie’ when I was young, this time, we shall see…
- http://www.booksonthenightstand.com AnnKingman
  
  Susany, I think you might be thinking of a different story — perhaps the play The Glass Menagerie? This story is relatively recent (2011, I think). Hope you enjoy it!
http://www.facebook.com/karen.horvath1 Karen Horvath

That was a beautiful story! I think it would be a great tool for high school teachers.
- http://www.booksonthenightstand.com AnnKingman
  
  I think you’re right! My 8th grader is still reading the same short stories in English class that I read a million years ago. They are great stories, but they were old when I read them. I think a contemporary story like this might turn some kids into readers, or writers.
Lisa

I read the story and was blown away. How often do we judge people and things that we truly don’t understand? I am going to share this with my high school aged son. We often talk about the relationships between parents and children and how they change while the child is growing up. This relationship has so many more layers than most.
- http://www.booksonthenightstand.com AnnKingman
  
  Thanks, Lisa. Let us know how your son likes the story.
http://www.booksonthenightstand.com AnnKingman

This story showed me just how much I love twists in my short fiction, and how well those twists work in the form. A twist in the novel is usually long in the making, and there are hints along the way — if it’s too sudden, it often feels contrived, or the reader feels tricked. When this shifted from a fantasy story to a relationship story, I felt an almost physical shift in my gut.
Carmen

This reminded me of a lot of Latin American Magical Realism I read in college. I particularly liked the pacing–the changes in time were sometimes big but the author presented them very subtly to maintain the flow of the narrative. I agree that this would be a great story for high school students and that newer material is needed in curricula. I’m hooked to the short story project! Thank you so much for sharing.
- http://www.booksonthenightstand.com AnnKingman
  
  Yes, I think magical realism is closer to how I view this story.
Bridgette

I don’t know very much about the fantasy/sci-fi genre, but this story feels more like literary fiction along the lines of Aimee Bender or Kevin Brockheimer. Combining the epistolary form with the surreal is so effective is this piece. The language is straight forward and unpretentious. The mother’s letter guts me, and I think that ability to affect a reader’s emotion such that it creates a physical reaction is, in the subjective world of contemporary short fiction, the universal parameter for what consitiutes a ‘good’ story. What a memorable read.
- http://www.booksonthenightstand.com AnnKingman
  
  My first comment on the story was eaten by the blog, but it very much mirrored your comparison to the stories of Aimee Bender and Kevin Brockmeier. If this story weren’t published in SF&F Magazine, I don’t think I’d call it “fantasy” at all. As Carmen said in the comment above yours, it’s more like magical realism, I think.
http://twitter.com/heylucyloo heylucy

That was so bittersweet, and not what I would typically think of when I think of SF/Fantasy. I think one of the reasons I don’t seek out much short fiction is that I am greedy and want more! On the one hand, I would love to know more of the mother’s story, it would make an epic novel (it makes me think of Wild Swans). Yet on the other hand, it was still satisfying in it’s succinctness. It’s like chocolate, a small, exquisite truffle is often much better than a giant Hershey bar.

I really love that you came up with this project, Ann! I’ve already shopped my bookshelves and realized that I have a few volumes of short stories to chose from. One is a first edition of Winter’s Tales by Isak Dinesen that I found at a used book store years ago and I don’t think I’ve ever opened it. I’m finding that there is such a feeling of accomplishment as I finish a WHOLE story (I’ve been plodding through a few different books lately), and the reading takes just minutes. Of course the ruminating afterwards can last for hours I’ve set a personal goal to read several stories (3-5) each week this year.
- http://www.booksonthenightstand.com AnnKingman
  
  You wrote: “I think one of the reasons I don’t seek out much short fiction is that I am greedy and want more! On the one hand, I would love to know more of the mother’s story, it would make an epic novel (it makes me think of Wild Swans). Yet on the other hand, it was still satisfying in it’s succinctness. It’s like chocolate, a small, exquisite truffle is often much better than a giant Hershey bar.”
  
  I think that is why I very much enjoy linked short stories, presented as a collection. That’s something that I hope to explore more throughout the year. Thanks! Glad you are joining us in reading more short stories this year.
http://www.facebook.com/sharon.aiken.96 Sharon Aiken

I was not expecting such a wonderful story–thank you so much for sharing and for being the Short Story Project with such an outstanding selection. I agree with all of the preceding comments;each person has been very observant and insightful. As former high school teacher, I agree that it would be fabulous, especially in 9th grade, it seems to me. What impressed me was the universality of the story. Whether one is Chinese or American, who hasn’t been embarrassed by his/her parents at some point in his/her life, only to realize much later how much they’ve often sacrificed for us? That speaks to all of us, just as being a parent and loving our children speaks to us. The symbolism of the tiger was wonderful–the paper tiger was as fiercely protective as Jack’s mother, and of course, Jack was born in the year of the tiger. I felt the magical realism was exceptionally well done and I was perfectly happy to accept this as part of the world created by the author. I was reminded of Life of Pi by Yann Martel, probably because of the magical realism, the tiger, and the mother’s love.

I am eager to read the next story. Thanks so much for this opportunity to read and respond!
- http://www.booksonthenightstand.com AnnKingman
  
  Thanks for reading along! Your comments are why I’m so very tempted to give this story to my teenage daughter, but I feel that would be hitting her over the head with a message with a capital M.
http://twitter.com/rockchalkreader Chelsea

So, I just wrote up a whole big, gushy post about how much I love this project and this story, so I’ll try and skip some of that here just to be brief! But, needless to say, three cheers for a 2013 Year of the Short Story – and what a great story to start it off with! I also felt reminded, at first, of something much more along the lines of magical realism when I read the story. However, call it magical realism or fantasy or whatever you choose, the lifeblood of this story was the very real relationship between Jack and his mother. I love the power of language that this story illustrated – and that sometimes verbal language fails, and it’s the language of our shared pasts and futures that we must rely upon. I loved trying to imagine all these paper animals wandering around this boys room, and couldn’t have been more viscerally hurt than when the American boy call’s Jack’s animals trash. It just goes to show – perspective makes the man.

Can’t wait for the next story!
- http://www.booksonthenightstand.com AnnKingman
  
  I loved the post on your blog. Thank you!
http://www.facebook.com/juliewitt53 Julie Witt

This is a lovely story to start. Thank you. I look forward to the next one!
- http://www.booksonthenightstand.com AnnKingman
  
  Thanks for joining in!
Judii

Heartwarming? I liked it. Hit home a bit.
http://www.facebook.com/deborah.l.cantrell Deborah Lunsford Cantrell

I haven’t really read a short story since college so I was eager to participate in this project. I really enjoyed the story, and like other participants think it would be a great topic for discussion for middle or high school students. I felt pain and grief for this family who could not come to terms with their uniqueness. I felt some anger toward the community who seemed to make no attempt to embrace them. But I felt heartened by the power of this mother’s love. Often it has seemed to me that some “short stories” are too long to be considered “short”, yet definitely not a novel. This was a peaceful and elegant read, but packed quite an emotional punch. Thank you for this opportunity!
http://www.facebook.com/roya.kambin Roya Kambin

This was a wonderful and beautiful story about culture, relationships, and loss. The Short Story Challenge is a fantastic idea. Left to my own devices, I would not have gravitated towards a story in the Science Fiction category. Thanks for stretching my boundaries!
Alice

I’m really pleased to find out about this read-along. I enjoyed this first story, particularly the beginning which was so effective in succinctly introducing the reader to the characters and their world and letting us flesh out the picture as the story progresses.
I’m delighted about the year of the short story and my book group has just selected Flannery o’Conor’s Complete Stories as our January read – so I’l be reading a short story a day too for the next few weeks!
- http://www.booksonthenightstand.com AnnKingman
  
  I adore Flannery O’Connor. I will be reading many of her stories this year as well.
Meg

Ann, thanks for a beautiful story! I finished this story thinking that the timing is hitting a little too close to home; I am just starting to embarrass my 12 year old daughter pretty regularly. (Although I would like to think it is only because she is 12 and not because of anything that I am doing!)
Diane Curry

Wonderful story. I read it while my students were taking their assessment exams – thinking it would be a pleasant way to ignore the giant pile of essays I had to grade. Of course, I started crying right there at my desk, disrupting everthing. They were all horrified and fascinated that I would actually cry over a story. I just know it’s going to be one of those stories they tell- remember when Ms. C cried in class. It was such a beautiful story, striking that cord within me that makes me miss my parents.
- http://www.booksonthenightstand.com AnnKingman
  
  That’s a great story. Thank you!
bonny

Thank you so much for sharing the poignancy of The Paper Menagerie. I don’t think I would have found it otherwise, and I can still hardly believe that it’s classified as fantasy/science fiction! As a mother of 19 & 22 year-old sons, this was a very powerful story for me. The origami descriptions were lovely and painted vivid pictures. I felt deeply for Jack and his Mom when she wrote her story. If a sign of a good short story is that you wish there was more but realize it’s perfect just as it is, that certainly describes The Paper Menagerie for me. You’ve started Project Short Story with a terrific one, and I will keep reading along in hopes that they are all this intriguing. I rarely read short stories, but thanks to you and Ken Liu, I’m considering Saunders’ Tenth of December.
- http://www.booksonthenightstand.com AnnKingman
  
  Future stories will hopefully be as intriguing, though I am trying to choose stories across genres and styles, so it won’t likely be as fantastical as this one. If you liked this, I do think you will like George Saunders.
AbuAli

It was a wonderful way to start off this read-along project. Thank you for
providing the link to a good read. I liked the story to a great
extent

The best part for me; when Jack’s mother answers his father: “If I
say ‘love’ I feel here” pointing to her lips and said “If i say ‘ai’ I feel
here” putting her hand over her heart.
ver
Also felt there was still
something missing to portray the intensity of how Jack should have regretted the
way he behaved. In other words, the story was too easy on Jack and maybe his
Dad too and too harsh on the Mother. The writer should have portrayed an equal
reaction on them after disclosure of her difficult history.

Was a nice one over all.
Judy M.

I loved this story and it was not what I expected at all. I have always avoided SF as “not my cup of tea” so I am grateful to you for selecting this as the first short story of the year.
This was such a touching story, simply written but with such emotion layered inside. I could picture each character, including the paper ones who really were true characters in the story and not just props. That was my favourite part
I love reading short stories and have somehow gotten away from them but you have renewed my enthusiasm! And whetted my appetite. I’ll be waiting for the next one eagerly.
Tina H.

The story was moving. I was excited when the short story idea was proposed. This was a great beginning.
http://twitter.com/AnnettePetavy Annette Petavy

Thank you Ann, for linking to this story. When I first read it, there were no comments on the blog yet, and I felt too shy to be the first commenter . However, I’ve carried it around with me for these past couple of days, constantly coming back to it in my mind and thinking about all the different aspects it evoked for me: the need connect with people while they’re still here (since we never know for how long they will be), the difficulty to fit in when you’re just a tad different from the people around you (and how important this is, for some people all their lives and for most people during some time), and the magic of motherhood (that only I can give my children my unique type of “mom magic”, even if I don’t know how to make living origami).
- http://www.booksonthenightstand.com AnnKingman
  
  I love your concept of “mom magic.” Exactly right. Thank you.
scott.kindness

Ann:
Thank you for such a great recommendation. I love to read short stories… it seems that there is SO MUCH packed into such a small package.
This one, in particular, makes one think of Mom with a warm and grateful heart. Most of us have fantastic memories of her, and are lucky enough to still have the opportunity to tell her so. After reading the Paper Menagerie, I made a special side trip to do so…
Tell Michael that Mom said “Hi”.
Scott K
- Anonymous
  
  Scott, I had no idea you liked short stories! I have a few collections I’ll recommend to you. Glad the story inspired you to see Mom. I’ll be out that way on Monday and am going to stop in.
http://www.facebook.com/L.Keenan4 Linda Keenan

I posted this on the Goodreads site and wanted to post it here as well. There was some discussion over there about the one-dimensionality of the mother’s character, and this was my response:

I really enjoyed this story. As I read it, I didn’t think that the characters were necessarily underdeveloped. In the case of Jack’s mother, as I read the story, I accepted the fact that she was so quiet and accepting of her son’s feelings as being more a part of her culture. In fiction, it seems that Asian women of her time are often portrayed as being more apt to allow their male family members to be more superior in their feelings with only gentle reminders when they veer off course. In this story, she leaves a valuable lesson in the letter that she allows Jack to find on his own – her own version of a gentle reminder to respect his culture and his heritage. In that way, the story becomes more poignant, and the lesson all the more powerful.

As far as the SF/F label, I agree with the other comments that it doesn’t seem to apply here. A good story, but a very plausible one, told through the eyes of a child with a very active imagination.

I found this story very thought-provoking, and can’t wait for the next one!
Juliette

Wow. What an absolutely beautiful story. Painful. and beautiful. Thank you for finding it, Ann.
http://www.facebook.com/bonneyd Bonney Dieperink

Ann – great idea about the monthly short story reading and discussion. Count me in. The story definitely deserved all the accolades and awards. What kept on coming back to me was the pain that we inflict on people and most importantly the pain we inflict on those we love the most. This story has made me think a lot!
http://www.facebook.com/pamela.r.lear Pamela Rosen Lear

Heartbreaking, beautifully written story. It affected me very personally as a daughter. I have adult children and we have really good relationships, but my relationship with my mother has always been fraught with difficulty and misunderstanding. My last conversation with my mom was 3 months ago and was an ugly argument; this story reminds me of how important it is that I I call her to make amends. When a story can touch you that personally, it is clearly powerfully written. Kudos on an amazing selection for the first month of the short story!!
gerald miller

I just wanted to point out that another short by Ken Liu “Real Artists” can be read at the escapepod.com website or the Escape Pod podcast. Learn how movies will be made in Hollywood sometimes in the near future or maybe today.
P.A.F.P

Thank you for recommending this lovely story. It was well paced and full of genuine
feeling. I loved the way in which the
paper Laohu became his own real character. The author depicted the casual racism
of the neighbors well. Personally, I thought
that the mother was multidimensional. I
also thought that one of themes of the story was the difficultly of
communication across cultures and generations, so that other facets of the
mother, which the family could not name, would stay hidden.
Melissa

So I saved it until just past the last of January but I absolutely loved The Paper Menagerie. It was a beautiful coming to age story where he came to age just a little too late to save his relationship with his mother but, hopefully, he’ll understand the significance of this and appreciate her in the rest of his life. It is one of my favorite shorts and I fully intend on listening to it on Podcastle now. Thanks for the recommendation.
Pingback: March short story read-along: “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor
Anonymous

I’m finally getting with the program! Here it is March 15th…the Ides of March…and I’m reading my first short story. I’ve never been much of a short story fan…always liked the long immersive reads of novels better…but Ann’s short story venture and her wonderful comments about her own experiences and what she has learned from reading them convinced me to give it a try. So I decided to start with the story that kicked off BOTNS’ The Year of the Short Story. By the end of the story, I too, wanted to touch my heart and say “ai”. Recently, I have been reading some novels about the immigrant experience (Jhumpha Lahiri’s The Namesake & Julie Otsuka’s Buddha in the Attic) and this poignant story resonated with me. I’m surprised that it was in a Science Fiction magazine. I don’t think of it as science fiction or fantasy, but rather as a rather classic story about the push & pull of American born children wanting to fit in, embarrassed by their immigrant parents ways, only to realize when they have grown up how extraordinary their parents and their culture were. In that sense it is also a coming of age story. This is a lovely, touching story that I will remember for quite awhile.