Home Feed
Home
Search
Search
Add Review, Blurb, Quote
Add
Activity
Activity
Profile
Profile
Monstress
Monstress: Stories | Lysley Tenorio
16 posts | 10 read | 24 to read
The debut of an electric literary talent. Brilliantly quirky, often moving, always gorgeously told.Bravo for this fabulous American fiction! Chang-Rae Lee, New York Times bestselling author of Native Speaker A wonderful story collection thats as wide and rich and complex as the geography it spans. Ben Fountain, PEN/Hemingway award-winning author of Brief Encounters with Che Guevera Tenorio is a deep and original writer, and Monstress is simply a beautiful book. Jessica Hagedorn, author of Dogeaters A luminous collection of heartbreaking, vivid, startling, and gloriously unique stories set amongst the Filipino-American communities of California and the Philippines, Monstress heralds the arrival of a breathtaking new talent on the literary scene: Lysley Tenorio. Already the worthy recipient of a Pushcart Prize, a Whiting Writers Award, and a Stegner Fellowship, Tenorio brilliantly explores the need to find connections, the melancholy of isolation, and the sometimes suffocating ties of family in tales that range from a California army base to a steamy moviehouse in Manilla, to the dangerous false glitter of Hollywood.
Amazon Indiebound Barnes and Noble WorldCat Goodreads LibraryThing
Pick icon
100%
blurb
dianagram
Monstress: Stories | Lysley Tenorio
post image

blurb
AnneCecilie
Monstress: Stories | Lysley Tenorio
post image

December 2: Aviary by Lysley Tenerio. Published in the Manila Noir Anthology so not in the tagged short story collection

A mall has put up a sign that says poor people are not allowed to enter. Some kids see this and decide to take revenge on the mall

‘But their window displays perturb us [...] they‘re all headless, and we don‘t understand this. So we step inside [...]. “Can I help you?” she asks [...] and we ask: where are the heads?‘

AnneCecilie Such a good question. The story took some turns that I didn‘t see coming. 3y
38 likes1 comment
review
NeedsMoreBooks
Monstress: Stories | Lysley Tenorio
post image
Pickpick

#Netgalley #ARC #debut #monstress
This collection is short stories has been re-released with a new introduction. The stories feature Filipino Americans living mainly in California. Some were great and some were ok. I enjoyed the title story that features pulpy horror films, one with two old lonely men who are being evicted, and the last one featuring an immigrant family. The stores are real and emotional.

MrBook Oooh, great review! 😁👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 4y
51 likes2 stack adds1 comment
quote
Bertha_Mason
Monstress: Stories | Lysley Tenorio
post image

-"Save the I-Hotel"

quote
Bertha_Mason
Monstress: Stories | Lysley Tenorio

"Fortunado had never struck a person before, but there were times in his life he wondered what it might be like, and now he knew: the force of everything you are in a single gesture at a single moment; the hope that it will be enough and the fear that it won't. No different than a kiss."
-"Save the I-Hotel"

blurb
Zoe_reads_books
Monstress: Stories | Lysley Tenorio
post image

My cat insisted on making an appearance in the photo of my library book haul 😸📚

review
Tonton
Monstress: Stories | Lysley Tenorio
post image
Pickpick

Incredibly good and thought provoking; stories about Filipino-American lives but actually about identity and change. To leave someone you love, to leave your family, your country, is perhaps to find it or at least what feels like it. All of the stories are brilliant, and the one about a biracial kid‘s superpowers was a punch in the heart as I am, too. Brilliant and easy to read, with so much depth, all heart wrenching. Tenorio just pulls you in.

35 likes1 stack add
review
alisonrose
Monstress: Stories | Lysley Tenorio
Panpan

This mostly didn‘t really work for me. I liked a couple of the stories but others were just too weird or gross for my taste. And the whole mess with the story about the trans woman really put me off. I can see the author has a unique mind and interesting ideas, and the writing was clever at times, but overall this collection wasn‘t my cup of tea. 2/5 ⭐️

alisonrose I debated about giving this a so-so or a pan, but even though I liked a couple stories, I know I would not recommend this to anyone and will probably never think about it again, so............... 👎🏻 6y
26 likes1 comment
blurb
alisonrose
Monstress: Stories | Lysley Tenorio

Hmmm ... the second story is about a trans woman who has died, and her brother (the narrator) and mother deadname and misgender her through the entire story? And apparently (according to reviews) desperately try to keep her identity secret even at her funeral. I‘m ... not sure what the author was trying to say but I‘m skipping this story. Makes me quite uncomfortable. I worry about trans/NB readers being caught off guard and upset by it. ☹️

Trashcanman Thank you. 🙂 6y
22 likes1 comment
blurb
alisonrose
Monstress: Stories | Lysley Tenorio
post image

I don‘t read a lot of short story collections, because 1) I get annoyed when the stories are of wildly varying lengths, and 2) I end up feeling conflicted about rating the book if I loved some stories, liked others, and disliked others. But this one appears to avoid the first issue, and I‘ve seen a lot of glowing reviews so I am hopeful it will also avoid the second 🤞🏻 #nowreading

Lindy Well, I liked some of these more than others but my overall rating is that it‘s an excellent collection. I hope you like it too. 6y
35 likes3 stack adds1 comment
review
whimsy
Monstress: Stories | Lysley Tenorio
post image
Pickpick

This is a book that deserves to be discussed more.

Short story collections bog me, because they're not all good and you always have to build up that investment in every story. But this book is the exception. I've never read a collection where I want ALL stories to be novels. The Filipino immigrant experience is a uniting theme, because there's a story to be mined in displacement and dreams. Wonderfully complex and (hate this word) unputdownable.

whimsy Best read of 2018 so far and for those doing #ReadAroundtheWorld, I can't recommend this enough for July. 6y
whimsy "a has-been director & his reluctant leading lady travel from Manila to Hollywood for one last chance at stardom, unaware of what they truly stand to lose, a famous Filipino faith healer & his grandson conduct an illicit business in San Francisco, though each has his own plans. And after the Beatles reject an invitation by Imelda Marcos, an aging bachelor attempts to defend her honor by recruiting his nephews to attack the group at the airport" 6y
Megabooks Try this for another excellent Filipino one 6y
See All 6 Comments
rockpools This sounds great! Can I just add a #Philippines tag, as I probably won't get to it before July, and I know I'll be hunting for your post! 6y
whimsy @RachelO yes, of course! 😃 6y
13 likes3 stack adds6 comments
blurb
whimsy
Monstress: Stories | Lysley Tenorio
post image

2018 haul so far...

May drastically change by February.

batsy Tagged book sounds amazing! Will wait for your review 🙂 6y
whimsy @batsy I will for sure! ❤️Now if I could just toss this up on my TBR... 6y
6 likes2 comments
review
Megabooks
Monstress: Stories | Lysley Tenorio
post image
Pickpick

4.5🌟 What an amazing collection! Thank you to the person who recommended it months ago. Save the I-Hotel, View from Culion, and Help are each worth the price of admission. I feel so much more informed about the Filipino diaspora. I had read In the Country, but this is completely different. These stories take place mainly in the 1960s and 70s. Highly recommend!

BookishFeminist You're welcome. 😊 if you're interested in more stories revolving around the Filipino experience I recommend 8y
BookishFeminist ☝🏼️☝🏼 Ignore me I'm tired and realized you just said you've read this already 😂 8y
Megabooks @BookishFeminist That's ok! I'm tired too. 😴💤 8y
61 likes4 stack adds3 comments
blurb
Megabooks
Monstress: Stories | Lysley Tenorio
post image

Seven books I've read and one book I'm reading by #poc

#pocauthors #somethingforsept #septemberphotochallenge #weneeddiversebooks

Dragon Great selections 8y
Megabooks Thank you @dragon ! 8y
83 likes2 comments
blurb
Megabooks
Monstress: Stories | Lysley Tenorio
post image

Trying to get through these three if I can have a #biblioweekend. I don't know if I have enough free time though. Monday at the airport and on the plane?

ApoptyGina69 This may be one of those times I think it's justified to say, "BREATHE". ?? Also, I feel you-I'm on a plane Wednesday, but for less of a life-altering end game. 8y
Hazel0303 Can't wait to see what you think about all the missing girls! 8y
Megabooks @ApoptyGina69 Definitely! I need a break. Cramming for the interview a bit but trying not to stress. 8y
Megabooks @Hazel0303 I'm 10% in! 8y
67 likes1 stack add4 comments