Monstress: Stories | 
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?‘
pick#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.
"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"
My cat insisted on making an appearance in the photo of my library book haul 😸📚
pickIncredibly 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.
panThis 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 ⭐️
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. ☹️
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
pickThis 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.
pick4.5🌟 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!
Seven books I've read and one book I'm reading by #poc
#pocauthors #somethingforsept #septemberphotochallenge #weneeddiversebooks
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?
