This story has been widely lauded and won the Nebula for best short story. It's probably a lock to win the Hugo as well, making it one of those rare double winners
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The origami animals may be nice, but they have nothing at all to do with the rest of the story. That element seemed to have been tacked on just to make it s.f.; you could excise it without changing the rest of the story one bit. That alone is enough for me to rank it below "No Award": it doesn't seem too much to ask, that a story up for an s.f. award contain a nontrivial s.f. element.
Yes, the origami animals are pointless in the context of the story.
That alone is enough for me to rank it below "No Award": it doesn't seem too much to ask, that a story up for an s.f. award contain a nontrivial s.f. element.
I'm more annoyed with Scalzi's unfunny April Fool's joke being on the ballot. (Not that I'll be placing No Award below this one either.)
As a reader, but I thought it *nailed* the experience of growing up as a mixed-race kid in an inequal marriage (ie one where one culture--generally the father's--gets precedence over the other), and did so through the use of many little details that most authors generally completely fail to think of including. It spoke to me in a way that very very few stories have; and I did cry at the end.
I shall have to read it again.
(and, to be honest, I've seen people suddenly start to act like total jerks because they were ashamed of their parents, so this didn't strike me as particularly unrealistic)
Hmm. It's not that I didn't believe he'd act like a jerk because he was embarrassed, but that he seems to act so consistently so over a long period of time. (In general I felt like we were only seeing one aspect of the characters.)
I thought this was a function of the length and POV?>
Sure, but my argument would be that the story is the wrong length and/or POV to work for me.
And I didn't get the feeling that they were talking about his Mom being from a catalogue, but simply about his Dad marrying a Chinese woman who couldn't speak a word of English?
No, I didn't think they were either, but Mark knew about that the mom was a mail-order bride so there had to be talk about it, and this seems an unlikely convenient plot point to spark Jack's eventual estrangement - the dad wanted Jack to fit in, so why do people know this? (I am assuming it's not a random insult since it is true.)
I think basically I filled in the holes left by the narration (which, like the main character, is very self-centred, though I don't view it as an irredeemable flaw) with more charitable interpretation than yours?
My two cents. I'm well aware I'm very biased on this one... I do this all the time with stories I like
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That alone is enough for me to rank it below "No Award": it doesn't seem too much to ask, that a story up for an s.f. award contain a nontrivial s.f. element.
I'm more annoyed with Scalzi's unfunny April Fool's joke being on the ballot. (Not that I'll be placing No Award below this one either.)
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I shall have to read it again.
(and, to be honest, I've seen people suddenly start to act like total jerks because they were ashamed of their parents, so this didn't strike me as particularly unrealistic)
Hmm. It's not that I didn't believe he'd act like a jerk because he was embarrassed, but that he seems to act so consistently so over a long period of time. (In general I felt like we were only seeing one aspect of the characters.)
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(The comment has been removed)
Sure, but my argument would be that the story is the wrong length and/or POV to work for me.
And I didn't get the feeling that they were talking about his Mom being from a catalogue, but simply about his Dad marrying a Chinese woman who couldn't speak a word of English?
No, I didn't think they were either, but Mark knew about that the mom was a mail-order bride so there had to be talk about it, and this seems an unlikely convenient plot point to spark Jack's eventual estrangement - the dad wanted Jack to fit in, so why do people know this? (I am assuming it's not a random insult since it is true.)
I think basically I filled in the holes left by the narration (which, like the main character, is very self-centred, though I don't view it as an irredeemable flaw) with more charitable interpretation than yours?
My two cents. I'm well aware I'm very biased on this one... I do this all the time with stories I like ( ... )
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I'm saving that one to read to my kids when they're old enough to listen without pictures. If I can do it without choking up.
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