Stories of Your Life & Others: Whole Book Discussion/Spoilers

[Sam]

Welcome to the discussion for Stories of Your Life and Others. Feel free to post any comments here on any of the stories you choose. Since the book was scheduled during the holidays, I am not sure how much participation there might be, but if anyone wants to join in that has not read the text, I suggest the title story, "Story of your Life," or "Hell is the Absence of God."

[Ang]

Thanks, Sam. I will definitely read at least one of those.

[Ang]

I read "Story of your Life" this morning. Chiang certainly writes well. I enjoyed the sections where the narrator addresses her daughter the most. I was not too keen on all the linguistical explanations - I thought there was perhaps too much of that.

[Bretnie]

Ang wrote: "I read "Story of your Life" this morning. Chiang certainly writes well. I enjoyed the sections where the narrator addresses her daughter the most. I was not too keen on all the linguistical explana..."

Those were my favorite sections too, Ang. I liked the attempts at communication with the aliens, but the interactions with the daughter were powerful. I loved the parallel story telling - difficult to do well in a short story.

[Ang]

Yes, it was parallel but also intertwined. I might have this wrong but I think the implication was that Louise could see the entirety of her life because of how she had trained herself to think like the heptapods. I think it's narrated before everything else happens, i.e before she agrees to make a baby, or maybe even before she meets her husband. At first I didn't understand why it was written in the future tense but that became clear in the end.

[LindaJ^]

I think you are right Ang.

[Bretnie]

I think so too Ang!

[Sam]

This is not the only story of Chiang's where there appears to be an excess of technical information, in this case, linguistics. Partially it is there because of the genre and his stories were written as "hard" science fiction where accuracy in technical presentation is as important as the story. I think Chiang also may be offering us "raw data," from which we can reason out the story we feel that data supports. For example, Story of Your Life is primarily a story that Ang describes. But it also is an investigation into the potential techniques and anticipated difficulties of communication with another species that has a whole different form of communication. In the story it is generic aliens but in real life it could be applicable to a dog, or a whale or a tree. The story derived from the data could also be perceived as a metaphor illustrating the difference between sequential and synchronous perspective, related to time. I think the abundance of data allows the reader more freedom of interpretation.

I hope some of you read and comment on "Hell is the Absence of God." The story is fantastical but is a marvelous investigation into religous philosophy.

[Ang]

Okay, sounds good, I will read "Hell is the Absence of God".

[Mark]

I saw the movie first, so my imagination was permanently warped by Amy Adams (Not that I mind that at all). I then read Chiang's story, and only then realized that, through the change in her thinking created by adapting to the heptapod's language, Amy (sorry, Louise) came to know everything that was going to happen before she ever went out with her husband.

Chiang is playing with the Sapir–Whorf hypothesis, that language itself regulates cognition. While it's generally discredited, he uses it to paint an intensely vivid story of Louie's love, both for her daughter and her husband.

When I read this story a second time last year, I was in tears. Really, Sapir–Whorf to the contrary, her ability is something we all have later in life. We know what we've done, and we know how it turned out. When it's a love, no matter what developed from it, the love we lived cannot be changed, or lost.

A quicker way to see the heptapod's thought process in action is to read the story a second time, knowing how it ends, and see how the events build and grow. (Hmmm, this is something Chiang must have done dozens of times while honing the writing...)

[Mark]

"Babel" plays with making a hazy theological myth into a vivid reality. A similar thought, though far more terrifying, lies behind "Hell is the Absence of God." I'm charmed by the detailed world-building in both stories. It echoes Muriel Spark's first story, “The Seraph and the Zambezi," where a REAL Seraph intrudes on an African Nativity play.

[Bretnie]

Mark wrote: ""Babel" plays with making a hazy theological myth into a vivid reality. A similar thought, though far more terrifying, lies behind "Hell is the Absence of God." I'm charmed by the detailed world-bu..."

I really enjoyed Babel. The story was so visual and established a strong connection with the main character, which I think can be hard to do with short stories. I could really feel the madness of that tower.

[Lyn]

I read several of these, but then my digital loan from Library2Go ended before I finished. I iked the hard science aspect of his stories, but also felt he was too wordy at times.

What sticks in my head was the story about beauty and how people could choose to have a filter that equalized their attractiveness to each other, thus undermining the hotness advantage in society that attractive people have. Great concept to explore!

[Sue]

I listened to the audio for this book. I think it made the "hard" science part much easier to deal with.

I enjoyed Babel. It was a great visualization of a tower so large it would take a year to get to the top. I loved the depiction of towns built along the way.

And for The Story of Your Life, I enjoyed both the personal and the linguistic story lines. I especially like the idea that - contrary to popular science fiction TV/Movies - alien life would be unlikely to mirror human life in any way. I really liked the concepts that their physiology impacted not only their speech, but also their entire outlook on life. And I saw parallels to Mieville's Embassytown, where the "aliens" were utterly different and how it impacted not just their physical speech, but their entire thought process.

[Jenny]

I had been meaning to read this one ever since Arrival came out. Arrival is one of my favorite films of the last decade. Having now read Story of Your Life, I appreciate it even more. Although different from the short story, I think both “versions” are gorgeous meditations. I appreciate the way Chiang doesn’t fall into the usual trap of turning his aliens into human simulacrums. So many authors present them as having the same thoughts and understandings that we do. Here, the heptapods are clearly other. (Note, if you want another excellent example of creating an entirely new thought process, different understandings, Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Children of Time is amazing). I loved the way the story of the first contact was layered with Louise’s memories. I actually think this was more successful in the story than in the film, although both are just wonderful.
The other major standout to me was Hell is the Absence of God. This story had teeth. I would love to see a roomful of theologians take this one on.

[Sam]

There are so many good comments, I don't know where to begin in response. I hope everyone is enjoying the comments.

Mark, thanks for pointing out a problem that exists in some science fiction. Science fiction authors are often imagining fiction based on fairly new theories, discoveries, and technologies and upon reading their work years later, we find as Mark noted, the sources have been discredited, evolved, proven false, or are dated. Dated informational tech interfered with my enjoyment of "Understand." When I run into this I like to try and imagine reading the story from when it was written, which sometimes helps, but sometimes the problem material must be accepted or ignored. I was enjoying stories about the canals of Mars long after it was known there were no canals.

I also liked "Babel." I think that story most shows the influence of Asimov and I like the "pulp magazine" feel to it.

I have not yet seen the film except for excerpts. Had they not made a film, I'd have argued that "Story of Your Life," was unfilmable.

Anyone here see a similarity between these stories and the episodes on the Black Mirror TV show?

I agree with Lori that "Hell is the Absence of God," is a marvelous investigation of belief. I find the story fascinating.

Thanks for recommending Children of Time. Moving it up on the TBR.

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

My favorite story was "Understand" in which a man's brain is chemically altered by an experimental drug and as a result his intelligence grows rapidly. I first read it in the anthology The Hard SF Renaissance. It reminds me of the under-appreciated film "Limitless." For me, it was the most exciting story in the collection, and I found myself laughing out loud a few times.

One thing I really enjoyed about this story collection overall is the incredible diversity of ideas and themes that Chiang explores. Each story is so rich in ideas it is almost like reading an entire novel. Chiang is such a patient writer, allowing his ideas to slowly develop over the length of the story, and exploring potential outcomes that are often unexpected by the reader. I'm looking forward to someday reading his second collection Exhalation: Stories.

[Ang]

Sam wrote: "I agree with Lori that "Hell is the Absence of God," is a marvelous investigation of belief. I find the story fascinating."

I've now read Hell is the Absence of God. It's a world where no one disbelieves or even doubts God exists - the premise is that God does definitely exist, so everyone is a believer. It does show how difficult it must be for a believer to reconcile God's omnipotence with the happenings of real life, though those I know personally would take it badly if I tried to discuss this. I wonder whether the author is a believer or a non-believer.

[Sam]

I wish to thank everyone for their participation. As RJ mentioned for fans there is Chiang's more recent collection, Exhalation. The topic remains open for further comments.

[Mark]

I'm afraid that Exhalation isn't as consistently surprising as Stories of Your Life. I've now read Stories three times, and each time has been rewarding.

[Ang]

Stories of Your Life and Others is 99p on UK Kindle - I think it is in a monthly deal.