Elsewhere: 'Wonderful writing' Sarah Hall

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In these 9 stories, there's a definite blurring between reality and fantasy, being awake vs being lost in reverie, different time periods, and complicated mixed emotions.

Yan Ge explores human connections and disruptions in this ethereal collection… Here and elsewhere, Yan combines dry and subtle humor with her evocative lyrical style. These stories brim with intelligence.” — Publisher's Weekly It’s quite hard for me to like a story as I am myself baffled with the direction of the stories and I think I know why. It was because I read these short stories on my own- alone. I think it would be better for me if I would to buddy-read and indulge myself in discussions regarding the stories. That night, nobody could sleep. We went into Young Li’s tent and sat down in the living room. It was surreally spacious, furnished with a pair of ivory four-seater leather sofas, one white armchair, and a cream chaise longue. There was even a bookshelf.

The linked entries in Yan Ge’s deft English-language debut, Elsewhere, explore the power of language across the Chinese diaspora to either bring people together or push them apart.” — The New York Times In Shooting an Elephant and even the last story, Hai, even though the time periods could not be more different - modern day Ireland and thousands of years ago, there's a hidden mystery that we're unwinding with the MC. In Shooting an Elephant, we see our MC's blending of associative memories, thinking of this harkens that pain and the grief is all new again. Slowly the MC lets us in. With Hai, we're following along with a Confucian disciple to find out who murdered his mentor.

A short story collection can be a great vehicle for showcasing different styles and forms, and so it is with Yan Ge’s Elsewhere, the English-language debut from an award-winning Chinese writer whose work has been published in a number of Irish literary journals and anthologies. Born in Sichuan, Ge lived in Ireland for a number of years but is currently based in Norwich, where she completed an MFA at the University of East Anglia and was the recipient of the UEA International Award 2018/2019. Other accolades to date include the Mao Dun Literature Prize and being named by People’s Literature magazine as one of 20 future literature masters in China. I rarely read short stories and was so thrilled for this book. Elsewhere is a collection of short stories covering various topics and eras. There are nine stories in this book, and the stories have in common that the protagonist is of Chinese origin. Most of her characters are always observing, passively soaking in people’s carelessness around them like a sponge. An outsider in the elsewhere, speaking a language that inevitably flattens them, always an object of desire, spectacle, or otherness.One of the standout themes in “Elsewhere” is the exploration of language and its ability to transcend understanding. In the first story, Pigeon, a young fiction writer, learns from a group of drunken poets that the essence of poetry lies in the emotions and experiences it evokes rather than in its literal meaning. This theme recurs throughout the book, highlighting the transformative power of language and its ability to connect people on a deeper level. The second story, "Shooting an Elephant", is about a Chinese-born young woman's life as a newly wed in Ireland, dealing with the consequences of a recent miscarriage and trying to find herself in the predominantly white environment. An interesting glimpse into the emotional struggles she is subject to, and a revealing study of modern dejection, with the main character not dissimilar to those found in Sally Rooney or Naoise Dolan's works. As always, I appreciate the opportunity afforded me to have an early read by netgalley.com and Scribner Books. The opinions in this review are expressly those of ButIDigressBookClub and are intended for use by my followers and friends when choosing their next book. #butidigress #butidigressbookclub #elsewhere #netgalley #scribnerbooks @scribnerbooks I set out trying to write a story collection that was connected or has a strong theme – and I just gave up!” Her agent suggested she follow her own path instead. “I really allowed myself to try out different voices. But I feel the reason I was trying them out was that these voices were in me already. I see this collection, from a personal point of view, like a journey of me finding out what kind of writer I want to be in English.” Deft... Elsewhere [explores] the power of language across the Chinese diaspora to either bring people together or push them apart.”— The New York Times

Six Times downed his beer. “Think about it this way,” he said, “when you write a story, you’re essentially creating a dish. You want people to see the meat and the veg and even to smell the fragrances. But they can’t actually eat it. They can only imagine the taste of the food by interpreting the image of it.” But Elsewhere distinguishes itself not just by being in the author’s second language: it is an exceptionally varied collection. Settings for the stories range from contemporary Dublin to historic China, with one story (Travelling in the Summertime) set in the 11th century and another – the novella Hai that ends the book – featuring the politics around the succession of the fifth-century BC philosopher Confucius. The book is experimental too, with playful narratives nestling next to formal prose and autobiographical fiction. As a result of this cosmopolitanism, the stories in Elsewhere are jangly and eclectic, set in wildly different time periods and filled with dissonances. That shit-and-literature theme recurs, in various incarnations, throughout. Elsewhere’s characters seem constantly in abdominal discomfort; someone vomits in five of the nine stories. The act of eating meat takes on a horrifying resonance, in part because characters in two separate stories are presented with dishes made from human flesh. I wanted to like this book, but it didn't work for me. I don't know whom to recommend this book, but if it is on your list, please read it. It might be a gem for you. The stories in “Elsewhere” also have a visceral quality. Characters often find themselves in states of discomfort, with instances of vomiting and references to eating meat taking on a horrifying resonance. This adds intensity to the stories, immersing readers in the physical and emotional experiences of the characters.Yeah, definitely. I suppose we have a word for it now: micro-aggression. When people are shouting ‘ni hao’ to me, it’s a way of flagging you out as an alien,” Ge says.