Title: Stories of Your Life and Others
Publication Year: 2002
Plot: What if men built a tower from Earth to Heaven-and broke through to Heaven’s other side? What if we discovered that the fundamentals of mathematics were arbitrary and inconsistent? What if there were a science of naming things that calls life into being from inanimate matter? What if exposure to an alien language forever changed our perception of time? What if all the beliefs of fundamentalist Christianity were literally true, and the sight of sinners being swallowed into fiery pits were a routine event on city streets? These are the kinds of outrageous questions posed by the stories of Ted Chiang. Stories of your life . . . and others.
Miscellaneous: His short story “Story of Your Life” was adapted into the 2016 film Arrival, which was nominated for 8 Academy Awards, including best picture, director, and adapted screenplay.
The first story out of this thoughtful and smart collection that we discussed is the one titled “Understand.” It features a vitamin of sorts that enhances one’s intellectual capacity (but only if your brain is already damaged). There’s a scene on page 59 that describes what is happening mentally to a character going through this process, and one of the readers mentioned that he had been through a similar experience…when he was on crystal meth. He went into detail about the vivid experience and how he thought everything was making sense but in reality, it was psychosis. We then talked about what we would do if we had the opportunity to take a similarly experimental drug. Most of us said no, that it would be isolating to be the only one operating on this level. And we don’t know what it’s like to have our capacity stretched that far. Would it be too stimulating? Would everyone and everything become more boring to us? Would it take the place of traditional learning? What would we lose in the process?
The next story we talked about was “Hell is the Absence of God”, which everyone really liked. They liked how it normalizes angelic visitations. It reminded them of stormchasers. One of the readers read a lengthy passage where Neil, the main character, is experiencing some form of being saved or communion with God. It’s beautiful writing and we were all caught up in the moment…and then Neil gets sent to Hell. And one reader could not stop laughing! And when he originally read it, other people noticed him laughing and were dying to know why. He told them to read the story, so when they read that part, they went and found him and had a good laugh. They really liked the defamiliarization of the story. One reader really thought deeply about this story. He said it’s not so much about angels and God, but about good things happening to bad people and bad things happening to good people just…because. People ascribe it to external forces. But sometimes, shit just happens.
We all equally loved “Story of Your Life.” The subtle moves Chiang makes in this novel are powerful. We all experienced a similar reading of it, where we slowly realize what’s going on with the flashbacks. Again, this story wasn’t about aliens necessarily–it was about the mother and daughter relationship. Looking at things not in a straight line or linear, but in an eternal circle (as hard as that is to grasp) opens up to a different mode of story telling. One reader is writing a book for his children, and he said this one really resonated with him because he is working on finding a way to communicate things to his children effectively.
Lastly, we talked about “Liking What You See: A Documentary.” What would the world be like if we didn’t see beauty and ugliness around us? Would that create a utopia or dystopia? What would it be like if there weren’t that discrimination. We didn’t have a lot of time left to talk about this one, but we wondered if this notion is already achievable? Can we see past the surface and judge not by their exterior but interior? How much is guarded by doing one or the other? If you can’t tell, we pretty much just asked a lot of questions. Didn’t get too deep into the answers.
This was a great discussion. Many of the readers kept a copy of the book, which is always a good sign. One reader described Chiang’s writing perfectly: “He paints a picture so get to see the detail and appreciate it…and then he keeps painting!” Couldn’t have said it better myself.
Please feel free to leave your thoughts or comments on Chiang, Stories of Your Life, or anything else below.
Next week, we read The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.
If you’d like to purchase Stories of Your Life and Others, you can do so here: