Sorry Please Thank You: Stories

A mixed collection of short stories.

Some are extremely forgettable. I have already forgotten what they were, or what they were about, or even their titles. Zombies in a super-sized mall, a pithy reference to Star Trek redshirts dying. Ho hum.

A few stood out very well - they reminded me of Philip K. Dick, and the use of science-fiction concepts to investigate human problems in an original or alternative way. The first story of 'outsourcing emotions' is painful and sensitive.

The book seems half-done, but there is some real potential here. ( )

Only liked one story, two thumbs down. ( )

I'm a little torn about this series because I found the stories very uneven. The first one, in particular, is brilliant: the idea that one can rent another body to transfer pain takes the whole outsourcing concept to another inconceivable level, yet somehow seems within reach. Yu explores the implications very deftly. A couple of other stories in the same vein are equally compelling even if they aren't quite as shocking as this first one.
Other stories, which are personal musings rather than actual stories, I found less interesting, some downright boring, which I ended up skimming rather than reading.
Definitely a new voice with unique insights and an inquisitive imagination. It will be interesting to see if Yu manages to keep it fresh. ( )

It's rare these days for me to really find a new author pretty much on my own; much of my reading is from recommendations at this point. But I did find Charles Yu's first novel, How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe, and read it last year. It fell in a gap in reviews, but I felt that it was a very solid book. I mean, it was a well considered plot about time travel that seemed like it was done via linguistics, just about. So I picked up his newest short story collection with some anticipation, and I wasn't at all disappointed.

Yu writes science fiction stories both that are straight-up tales, and ones that take on tropes and notions from more well-known sci-fi areas, playing around with them to fairly good effect. For example, probably my favorite tales from the collection are Yeoman, which is narrated by one of those red-shirts that's always going about dying on missions on Star Trek, and looking at how this could happen or be put up with, and Hero Absorbs Major Damage, a story about an RPG setting where the lead isn't sure he's fit to carry out the destiny that they've signed on for. They're both rather gently humorous setups, with some holding up of conventions for amused examinations. It's pretty fun.

The ones that are more his own, though, are just as insightful little tales. From these, I most enjoyed Standard Loneliness Package, about emotional transference technology, where people outsource their bad days and hard times to India; and Note to Self, which is a nice play with the multiple universe concept. There were more stories that are original takes than take-offs, and they did tend to have these nice perspectives. I never thought about zombies shopping for makeup before, for example.

Yu's writing is usually fairly concise, and the book on the whole is a fairly slim volume, although there are enough stories to make it feel worth it. He does feel quite at home with the short story format; the tales have that crafted care you see in shorter fiction. And his writing tends to be on the sparse side, cool, but you still get a good sense of the scene and the story, the emotions behind it. It's a nifty trick.

On the whole... I mean, I don't know if I'd start with this one, but if you want a feel for what Yu is trying to do as a writer, read the first four stories in this collection, and you'll get a sense. I'm definitely enjoying it, and I'm curious to see where he goes onto from here. Without apologies, I'd like more stories, please. ( )