Synopses & Reviews
In the twelve unforgettable tales of Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century, the strange is made familiar and the familiar strange, such that a girl growing wings on her legs feels like an ordinary rite of passage, while a bug-infested house becomes an impossible, Kafkaesque nightmare. Each story builds a new world all its own: a group of children steal a haunted doll; a runaway bride encounters a sea monster; a vendor sells toy boxes that seemingly control the passage of time; an insomniac is seduced by the Sandman. These visions of modern life wrestle with themes of death and technological consequence, guilt and sexuality, and unmask the contradictions that exist within all of us.
Mesmerizing, electric, and wholly original, Kim Fu's Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century blurs the boundaries of the real and fantastic, offering intricate and surprising insights into human nature.
Review
“Powerful…Fu addresses questions of technology and community with grace and subtlety.” Kirkus (Starred Review)
Review
“A dozen sly, provocative, fabulous short stories sure to delight and shock. From doll parts to winged ankles to stockpiled gold bars, Fu flaunts an inimitable imagination…Irrefutably fantastic fiction." Booklist (Starred Review)
Review
“Stellar…Fu's stories crackle with quirky plots, and her characters' problems and hunger for new possibilities are palpable. This is a winner.” Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)
Review
“Inventive and mesmerizing…Vivid and surreal, readers of Carmen Maria Machado will enjoy this collection.” BuzzFeed
Review
“The strange and wonderful define Kim Fu's story collection, where the line between fantasy and reality fades in and out, elusive and beckoning.” The New York Times Book Review
Synopsis
The strange and wonderful define Kim Fu's story collection, where the line between fantasy and reality fades in and out, elusive and beckoning. --The New York Times Book Review
A LitHub, ALTA, and PureWow Best Book of the Month
A BuzzFeed and WIRED Pick for a Book You Need to Read This Winter
About the Author
Kim Fu is the author of For Today I Am a Boy which won the Edmund White Award for Debut Fiction and was a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award, as well as a New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice. Her second novel, The Lost Girls of Camp Forevermore, was a finalist for the Washington State Book Award and the OLA Evergreen Award. Fu's writing has appeared in Granta, the Atlantic, the New York Times, Hazlitt, and the TLS. She lives in Seattle.
Keith Mosman on PowellsBooks.Blog
May is Short Story Month, so I’ll keep this brief: here is a list of the some of the collections that I’ve read in recent months (even though most of them weren’t officially dedicated to the form). Between these books, there are scores of different plots, themes, and voices. Some collections are laser-focused on a few characters or locations, others are grand cacophonies...
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