I read the last story in SHENZHENERS over breakfast, and I‘ll miss this excellent collection. Xue Yiwei‘s work is well observed and immersive. Somehow, his decision to identify each character by their profession or social role, not their name, gives each piece some extra oomph. I‘ll definitely look for more of his work. He‘s got at least one novel translated into English.
I tried to get an early start on #24in48, but it‘s a pain day and I was so tired I tapped out five minutes into today‘s short story. I slept a while longer, then went back in and finished it with 23 minutes on the clock.
Today‘s story was my fourth from this collection, and it was another good ‘un. I‘m so glad I stumbled across Xue Yiwei while I combed through the library catalogue in search of a replacement for THE OLD CAPITAL.
pickI flew through these 9 short stories. The first one is still my favourite, but several of the others were also excellent. As with most collections of short stories, a couple didn't work as well for me, but overall it's a Pick and I would read more of the author's work if/when it is translated. In a few places there was some annoying male gaze/patriarchy sh*t but in at least one of the stories it was directly called out by the narrative.
Okay I've only read the first short story of this collection so far but geeking out hard on issues of transmission of language/story, both within the text and as a reader. I mean, even aside from the author living in Canada, writing in Chinese, and being translated into English, how often do you read a story set partly near Trois-Rivières that's been translated from Chinese? And when the story is also about translation itself? I love this stuff 🤓
Shenzheners | 
