Sour Heart: Stories

A series of stories about the Chinese American experience, and at the same time a tapestry of thoughts, inquiries, and poetry inspired by life's conundrums, presented without comment, with no answers, just artfully examined and presented for the reader to grapple with and experience through the eyes of the various story tellers. Jenny Zhang's writing style is unique to say the least, reading her stories feels like traveling unknown waters--still and tranquil at some points, violent and turbulent at others, hard to predict but somehow beautifully coherent in its overall scheme. I have also never seen "run-on" sentences work so well. They don't feel quite like "run-on" sentences, they feel more like meandering streams of consciousness. The writing is approachable but elusive and it will move you in many different ways... and it's just detailed enough to arouse your imagination without getting lost in the weeds. Amazing read.

While the stories are challenging to read, they are compelling with strong characterization. An insightful window into the experience of Chinese immigrants.

Mixed emotions about this uneven bit interesting memoir - sometimes the prose glows. Other times it feels stiff and pretentious.

So wonderful. I couldn’t put these delicious stories down. I look forward to reading more of Jenny Zhang’s brilliant concoctions.

All good but samey. Every narrator speaks in exactly the same voice.

I bought the audio version as well. To be honest, those who read Jenny's stories and love them should try the audio. It will give you a totally different experience. To put this way, listening to her stories is just so different than reading her stories holding a book in hand. If you happened to listen to a piece of Walt Whitman's poem preserved by Walt Whitman's Birthplace in Huntington Long Island, New York, you would hold a totally new look on his works. Jenny's Sour Heart in its audio form will provide you with exactly the same experience. Try it and you'll be thrilled.

I bought a new book, but the back cover was ripped halfway through when I received it. It's not too bad, but I'd rather have an intact book.

Several books are capable of stirring various emotions in you. But only a few can make you look back on your life, and identify experiences in which you felt the same as the characters did, and let you see those experiences in ways you never thought of before. #SourHeart is one of those rare books that can read you.

Still reading this... stories of Chinese immigrants in 1990’s New York. beautiful and perfectly written.

Intéressée par une écriture différente sur l'immigration asiatique, j'ai décidé de m'offrir ce livre. J'aurais personnellement été gênée de l'offrir à quelqu'un.

Original and surprising short stories. Zhang is like no one else.

SO GOOD

bought from World of Books Ltd, when I finally pick it up to read, sure the spin looks great and not cracked, but lower third of a page has been ripped out the book, not just a tear in the page, but literally gone. Shockingly poor quality.