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I Live in the Slums
I Live in the Slums | Can Xue
4 posts | 2 read | 4 to read
Combining elements of both Chinese materiality--the love of physical things--and Western abstract thinking, Can Xue's stories invite her readers into an immersive landscape that blends reality and illusion, mixes the physical and spiritual, and probes the space between consciousness and unconsciousness.
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rockpools
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Pickpick

Let‘s catch up with a couple of reviews- the first is for the #InternationalBookerPrize2021 . It didn‘t make the shortlist, but I found this collection of short stories oddly compelling. Emphasis on odd.

Can Xue‘s stories are dream-like and nightmarish – nothing ever quite makes sense, the point is always just out-of-reach - best avoided if you need a plot. But I kept trying to figure them out. I felt like I‘d lived

rockpools these people/creatures, exploring their homes (and lack of homes) and their quirks, and I ended up with a mixture of disgust and affection for them. And every story, left me with questions, like ‘Why do you stay?‘

By no means an easy read, a seriously strange reading experience, but one I‘d like to read this again.

Using this for #china #readingasia2021 @BarbaraBB @Librarybelle
4y
TrishB Lovely review ♥️ 4y
Librarybelle Great review! 4y
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Come-read-with-me Love your review! 4y
batsy Excellent review... I've long meant to give her a try. I have this one on my shelf 4y
rockpools @batsy Let me know how you get on. I was hooked - @Simona, not so much!! 4y
47 likes1 stack add6 comments
review
Simona
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Panpan

Collection of short stories, and almost all of them are dealing with some bizarre content. The thread between them could be the ugliness and cruelty around, and in us ... From sixteen stories I liked only two, and both of them are relatively conventional. I didn‘t like her previous novel, and I don‘t like her short stories. Can Xue isn‘t author for me, so take this ‘review‘ with the grain of salt. #InternationalBookerPrize2021

rockpools 😂😂 I think my reviews are going to be totally upside down to yours. At the moment this is close to my favourite, even though I have NO idea what‘s going on! 🙃 4y
Simona I‘m always interested in what other readers likes in books that I don‘t like. I have ‘problems‘ with her prose, which I find aggressive and repetitive 🤷‍♀️ and with all ‘I went ... I saw ... I‘m withering ... I feel ...‘ at the beginning of almost every sentence it‘s a very off-putting for me. 4y
38 likes2 comments
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Simona
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As previous week, the next reading week will be also dedicated to International Booker Prize. Tagged book is in progress, Sanatorium (mystery book set in Swiss Alps) is my reward for when I will be done with the IBP longlist, and How a Poem Moves is my audiobook pick for walks. I‘m always afraid of reading poems, and I hope that this book will help me to understand/appreciate them more. #weeklyforecast

Cinfhen I‘m curious as always to hear your thoughts! 4y
Simona @Cinfhen You will, trough the next week 😘 4y
Cinfhen Looking forward 🥰💕🙌🏻I already saw one review that didn‘t look to promising for me 4y
47 likes3 comments
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rockpools
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TrishB I didn‘t even understand the blurb! 4y
Simona That's the author I'm afraid of 😅😰 4y
rockpools @TrishB The blurb-writer didn‘t understand the book, so tried to make it sound clever, and no-one‘s going to argue. Because WHAT?. How the heck I‘m going to review this... 4y
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rockpools @Simona I‘m bizarrely enjoying it. But I have NO IDEA what‘s happening. Or what it all means. If anything. 😁 4y
rockpools @Simona Ah. You‘ve read her before. She has a spectacular number of 0% ratings on Litsy! 4y
Simona I understand you ... I just finished When We Cease to Understand the World, and I don‘t understand anything about quantum physics, but I did enjoyed reading about it 🤷‍♀️ 4y
Simona Yes, and her stories are too much for me ... she was Booker nominee in 2019. 4y
Simona ... and she is one of those authors who attacks reviewers 😁 4y
rockpools @Simona Oh no! That‘s not cool ☹️ 4y
Reggie Lololol you‘ve intrigued me. Stacked! 4y
rockpools @Reggie It may well be a more-Reggie-than-rockpools book. Or it might just be straight-up WTF?! Enjoy! 😄 4y
52 likes1 stack add11 comments