Reading about an ant painstakingly tracing each character on a gravestone signals the early slog. The flatness of the first two parts cannot be pinned entirely on the alternate translator either. The details are dull and offensive. Women squeal and fuss, and when … Read more
While I didn’t connect with the Christian elements, Austin Channing Brown’s essays are concise and stunningly reaffirming in naming and cutting to the core of white supremacy and the structures of racism.
The first third was easily engrossing. It was refreshing to learn about the history of Ikuno and about the Korean diaspora in Japan. The formula of family sagas is difficult to escape though. The older generations stoically live through readable hardship, while the younger generation is spoiled … Read more
★★★★½
Zen Cho is my new favourite short story writer. Generally I find magical realism exhausting and irrelevant (García Márquez). Spirits Abroad is the first work I’ve read whose magical elements complement the stories—which pulse with inventiveness and humour.
★★★
