Exhalation - Ted Chang
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Sci-Fi - Short Stories
Rating: 6/10
One of the things I am most grateful for after launching this website is my breakthrough into the world of books on audio. I have embraced memoirs, essay collections and short stories; rather belatedly, but better late than never!
This particular pick of short stories was a result of its position on a multitude of best of the year lists which left me intrigued.
These are complex stories with a density and impenetrability that was less than satisfying for me. The brilliant and exquisite writing ensured I wasn’t going to give up, and maybe the point was these concepts where not meant to be understood, but merely considered.
Considerations For The Reader:
Nothing erases past deeds. Your only choices are repentance, atonement and forgiveness…
We consume order and radiate disorder; how will this impact the future of the planet…
Artificial intelligence juxtaposed with the fact it takes at least twenty years to make a useful human being…
If everything we did or said was recorded how would we manage without the fallibility of memory…
If there were multiple versions of yourself would that allow for a nullification of responsibility…
Deep right?
In the end this book might have been a bit to “thinky” for me. There, I said it…
Footnote: I may not “get” this book, but I did take this away. Each story is a message to those reading it. A tale of wonder and warning. Make of that what you will.
