Spirits Abroad by Zen Cho
Nothing is perfect, and as such, the reviews in this blog are chaotic. My main aim is to share my thoughts, joy and opinions on a book, not make a publication perfect review. This blog endorses authenticity, showing up and joy over perfection.
Disclaimer: Receiving a review copy from the publisher does not affect my opinion of the book. If you think I review it highly it is due to me knowing my taste well and therefore not requesting books I won’t enjoy. And I am not obligated to review the book if I do not like it, so you may not see bad reviews due to me preferring not to hype down a particular book. I only do reviews of books I disagreed with if I think it is worth bringing a topic or warning to light.
Disclaimer: Receiving a review copy from the publisher does not affect my opinion of the book. If you think I review it highly it is due to me knowing my taste well and therefore not requesting books I won’t enjoy. And I am not obligated to review the book if I do not like it, so you may not see bad reviews due to me preferring not to hype down a particular book. I only do reviews of books I disagreed with if I think it is worth bringing a topic or warning to light.
For some reason unknown to me, I haven’t reviewed any of Zen’s books, however I have read a few and really enjoyed them, so when Spirits Abroad came out it was a good idea. And sometimes you just are in the mood for some short stories rather than a more epic one, right?
And this book is full of them.
The one first thing I will say, if you come to it expecting perfectly manicured short stories with a happy enidng or a perfect end to them, this is not it. This is more like grabbing a book of lore, of stories told around a camp fire, or around the kitchen during a gathering/party. It is a book of voices and ideas and therefore, of stories. And to me that is what absolutely shines here.
The stories are short, some way more than others, and they have a variety of flavours with all of them having some kind fo spirit or interesting otherness to it, a glint of magic in the ordinary or a ghost of weirdness and spookiness. But they are all ndeed captivating and honestly for most fo them, particularly some of the shorter ones, I wanted to know more of the story.
My personal favourite one is probably one of the longer ones where we have our main character of the story living with a bunch of aunties and some paranormal going on, while trying to live a very normal life thank you very much! I liked the mix of the normality, of the mundane with the not so common and the interesting “ending” we had for it.
I did read through this book slowly, as I had set myself to read a story or two (and sometimes, when I got hooked on the vibe of them, a few more) before bed, trying to stick to only reading a little bit because they were meant to help me relax, and they did in their own way.
Now, they are very much not Western short stories, and if you haven’t read a book from Zen Cho, I do want to let new readers know that there is a lot of words you may have to infer, to learn and cultural expressions too. I had to check up a few of the more interesting ones, and dig and dust some up I ahdn’t really heard or read in a while, but it still had a lot of value, and honestly, it made it quite itneresting to go learn new things and deep dive and accidentally end up looking recipes for whatever was mentioned in teh story at the time.
I think everyone would enjoy this book and the many stories in it, there’s a bit for everyone and lots of flavours that make it a rich and wonderful read.
Don’t miss out on the rest of the tour!
