An uneven short story collection, mixing very modern stories with classic historical fiction ones. There were quite a few I found terribly boring.

But the final story about the Confucian monk Zixia (100 pages long and making up a third of the book) was unexpectedly gripping. It is set in the 5th century BCE and describes the power struggle for the succession of Confucius. Very interesting!

Overall though, too much of this book couldn't hold my interest.

This collection of stories were short but incredibly powerful. Both real and surreal each story drew me in and I was thinking about them long after I finished. Often strange but incredibly captivating this may be the first I have read from Yan Ge but it won't be the last.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of the novel in exchange for an honest review.

I really tried to get into this book but it just didn't vibe with me as I had a hard time getting into the writing style and the different stories in the collection. That might however be more of a me person than a problem with the book itself.

Thank you to Netgalley and Faber & Faber for sending me an advanced copy

Yan Ge's English-language debut is a collection of thematically interlinked short stories. Ranging from tales of centuries ago in ancient China, to modern day Ireland and America, each story deals in some way with isolation, dispossession and individuals trying to find their way in a complex world.

It is remarkable, given English is not Yan Ge's native tongue, how wonderfully written this is. The perfect sentences pack such an emotional punch, and there are enough twists and surprises to keep any reader interested in these characters. As ever, with collections I find that some stories are more involving than others, but this is a terrific collection that I unreservedly recommend. This is a writer to watch, for sure.

(With thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this title.)

I recieved this arc in exchange for an honest review.
I had to dnf this book. I liked the first short story and maybe the second. But by the time I got to the 4th I couldn't bring myself to keep picking it up. I just wasn't enjoying it enough to keep going.

Confession - I’m not a short story reader. But this collection has opened my eyes to a new magical, surreal and enthralling world, and now I’m wondering what I’ve been missing. It’s impossible to put my finger on what it is about these tales that drew me in: they’re ethereal yet grounded, fleeting, surreal, fascinating and just unlike anything I’ve read before and captivated me.

I missed grabbing an ARC at the time of offering, but as I have now brought a copy and read it thought I would give some feedback.

I actually enjoyed the format of this book - a collection of short stories which are perfect for on-the-go reading (perfect for the commute!) as I could dip in and out as I wished. The connecting thread running throughout the short stories seemed to be a sense of loneliness, but particularly the dejection of not fitting in (not having anywhere to call home), which was quite an interesting theme, I felt some of the stories felt a bit too open ended...but maybe that is just me. A solid 4*.

Normally, I am not a fan of short stories. I often feel that they are part of a bigger story left untold, which is rather frustrating because I want the full story and not just one slice of it.

This collection written by Yan Ge do not fall into that category. They are truly well written with great depth, and complexity. In fact, I am tempted to say, that I would recommend its reading in university’s writing courses.

These are stories that need to be reread because they have a lot to offer. I plan on doing just that in a little while. I want to metabolize them first.

The stories are very different both in in regards to time and places. Some are set in the past, others are contemporary. We follow characters in places like Dublin, Stockholm, China etc..

There is tragedy (SPOILERS: an earthquake in the first story, the death of a Master in the last one, etc…) but there is also wit. Some of the stories are surreal and at times shocking.

My favorite story is an Shooting the Elephant, and one that I found most interesting is the last one Hai.

I truly enjoyed this eclectic collection and I intend on reading more works by Yan Ge.

3.5 stars

Yan Ge’s English language debut is a wonderful collection of short stories that I would recommend to anyone looking for a holiday read or in a reading slump.

The stories are comprised of third and first person narratives, ranging in centuries and locations - the only common thread is that the protagonist is of Chinese descent and/or it is set in China.

I was impressed by the differences in each story but overall the great prose in each. While I didn’t connect to all of the stories, the writing kept me flipping each page.

My favourite short stories were When Travelling In the Summertime, How I Feel in Love with the Well Documented Life of Alex Wheelen and Mother Tongue.

Thank you to Faber & Faber and Net Galley for this ARC, in exchange for an honest review.

A really brilliant collection of short stories from Yan Ge, for the first time in the English language. There was something so beautifully subtle about all of these stories, yet weaving in a very subtle element of darkness and intrigue nearing the end of each story. I enjoyed some more than others, but definitely found a few new favourites!

My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an early copy of this book in return for an honest review.

The book is a collection of stories, covering various topics and eras. The connecting thread can perhaps be summarised as loneliness and dejection, especially that experienced by people crossing between cultures (as, presumably, the author herself had).

The first story, "A Little House", is about a group of Chinese 20 somethings (probably?), who interact and live in the aftermath of the 2008 earthquake in China. Not super clear what happened, or what the point of the story is. A heady mix of despondence (from the narrator) and blasé attitude (from many of her friends). A story, perhaps, of what modern 20-somethings in China think and feel, and how absolutely the same it is as anywhere else in the world.

The second story, "Shooting an Elephant", is about a Chinese-born young woman's life as a newly wed in Ireland, dealing with the consequences of a recent miscarriage and trying to find herself in the predominantly white environment. An interesting glimpse into the emotional struggles she is subject to, and a revealing study of modern dejection, with the main character not dissimilar to those found in Sally Rooney or Naoise Dolan's works.

The third story, "When Travelling in the Summer", is set in Imperial China and tells the story of a retired mandarin and his family, as the Emperor decrees his death. Rather nice and subtle narrative, with a very simple and straightforward premise at its core. The interesting thing is the setting, and the relationship between the characters. The story itself is as old as time.

The fourth story, "Stockholm", is about a China-born young author residing in England, who travels to Stockholm to a work trip. As she meets people she explores her post natal depression, her frustrations with herself and her professional achievements. There is a lot to unpack in the story - it is a revealing and intimate tale of womanhood and motherhood in contemporary times. The ending is lovely!

The fifth, "Free Wandering", is about a young Chinese man arriving at what appears to be New York to meet his cousin. The man is overwhelmed by the enormity of the city, the chaos of its inhabitants, and the attitude of people towards him. As the story progresses, the man gets increasingly flustered, culminating in a surprising ending. A rather good description of what it means to be lost in a completely new setting, and what impact it might have on one's psyche.

The sixth, "No Time To Write", is a story of an Irish woman who grew up, among other places, in Shanghai, and has had a complicated relationship with her parents and herself. Lots of self pity and victimhood here. The whole story feels like a rant by an infantile young adult.

The seventh, "How I Fell In Love With...", is a story of a 27yo Chinese-born woman living in Ireland, struggling to reconcile her life with herself, and starting to obsess with a young man she met briefly, just before he passes away. The story could he interesting, as far as it touches upon the issues of what is a person and how much of it can one learn from social media. However, the overlay of self wallowing victimhood expressed by the protagonist just leaves a bad aftertaste, making the story difficult to like.

The eighth, "Mother Tongue", goes back to the characters of "A Little House", and the protagonist's journey from China to London. The story continues to exist in the same atmosphere of despondence as the previous one. The sense of senselessness continues to prevail, and nihilism is incredibly prominent.

The ninth story, "Hai", is also set in Imperial China, and is perhaps the main event in this collection (for me at least). It tells the story of a Confucian scholar (in the times of Confucius, and just after), who, coming from a very poor background, struggles to adapt to the vagaries of high politics and power struggles. It's well paced, with well articulated characters, and great setting. The story crescendoes very nicely, and the twist, while rather visible from afar, is still riveting. This story alone is what makes the whole book worth reading.

Overall, I found the book to be an easy and enjoyable read. The best stories were perhaps the third and the ninth. The rest were somewhat tedious, mostly due to the nihilistic and dejected nature of the characters and the plot. They feel more like rants than stories, and are too self involved. The quality of storytelling is also bumpy, with some stories executed ok-ishly, while other suffering from a barebones approach that leaves too much out. I struggle to recommend this book other to diehard fans of the author, or of Sally Rooney and Naoise Dolan.

Elsewhere is a collection of short stories that hang loosely together. They range from the almost surreal Hai, a story about scholars of Confucius and the arguments, jealousies and rivalries that occur under any great leader to the oddly modern How I Fell in Love with the Well Documented Life of Alex Whelan, which explores the digital age through social media and how friendships are formed and broken these days.

My favourite story was When Travelling in Summer which is only one of the clever stories that seem to be about one thing then turn out to be about something else.

This is my first time reading Yan Ge but it won't be my last. I found the writing so delicate and beautiful. Even when she is describing such a heinous punishment as hai there is a gentility about her words. Definitely big fan of this book now and I'd highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys short stories or exquisite writing.

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC.

unfortunately this was not my cup of tea. i felt rather bored with most stories. i think "How I Fell in Love with the Well-Documented Life of Alex Whelan" is the only one that genuinely caught my attention because of the interesting concept

frankly, maybe i’m just too dumb to understand this book and all its nuances 🧍🏻‍♀️

thank you to Faber and Faber for the e-arc!

Thank you Netgalley and Faber for the ARC.

There are 9 strange stories in this book. Unfortunately I found the first two hard to follow so did not continue after these. The stories I read have a sense of loss and trying to find somewhere to belong. As I found them quite hard to follow unfortunately this book wasn’t for me. However I can definitely see how others have rated it so highly. So you should definitely still give it a read.

There are quite a few potential triggers such as death, eating disorders and grief. So please do look them up.

Elsewhere is Yan Ge's debut collection of beguiling, evocative and perceptive English-language short stories written using incisive and exacting prose, each with a thread leading back to China and its people. While these stories have the propensity to probe the quotidian and the banality of modern life, they still often feel, in direct contrast to this, ethereal; there's almost a transcendent feel to them, and the juxtaposition between these two aspects is what makes this anthology shine. The extraordinary versus the couldn't-be-more-ordinary. Not only do the chosen topics of the stories gleam with originality, but they also have candour; dark humour; and intelligence emanating from each page.

The Little House tells the story of a diverse group of inhabitants of a Chinese provincial town who come together to form an encampment in Ping'an Square after an earthquake leaves their former homes uninhabitable. During Shooting An Elephant, married couple Shanshan and Declan move into a new terraced cottage in Dublin. But after a traumatic incident occurred while on honeymoon in Burma/Myanmar, Shanshan wishes to return there to hopefully bring some closure to the issue; closure that seems to have been unattainable back at home. Another vignette, entitled Stockholm, unwinds the yarn of a novelist and new mother who is encouraged by friends to travel to Sodermalm, Sweden, to attend a literary retreat after recently giving birth to her newborn.

Made up of wild, exciting, disturbing stories about dispossession and ideas of home and identity, and set between contemporary Ireland and ancient China, Yan effortlessly takes you as the reader wherever she goes, between cultures and genres. I fell under Ge's spell pretty swiftly and didn't want the book to conclude, so I definitely see more of her writings in my reading future. The tales include a polyphony of voices, anti-dualistic propositions and characters whose identities are constantly in flux — this sense of perpetual displacement is what Ge explores and celebrates in her fiction. These are her people, wherever they now may be situated, and these are their stories.

Many thanks to Faber and NetGalley for a digital ARC of this book in exchange for a review

Elsewhere is a collection of nine short stories, shifting backwards and forwards in time. The stories vary in scope and length, with the final story, Hai, making up the final third of the book. This last story was the most ambitious; while I found it somewhat difficult to follow at times, due to my lack of knowledge of Chinese philosophy and history, I can appreciate the skill that went into writing it.

Other stories take place in more modern-day settings in different countries. Many deal with language and communication issues in different forms, which is interesting when considering that this is the author's first English-language publication. In 'Shooting an Elephant', a Chinese woman new to Ireland forms a connection with the cashier at a local shop; in 'When Travelling in the Summer', an 11th century writer teaches his concubine to read and write; in 'Free Wandering', a man visiting his cousin in New York causes a security issue at an apartment building after mixing up the words 'live' and 'stay'.

My favourite story was 'How I Fell in Love with the Well-Documented Life of Alex Whelan', which revolves around social media and how it is used to curate one's personal image, as well as the parasocial relationships that can arise because of this. I can see this story being expanded to a novel on its own. However, I liked the way it cycled back around to the beginning; it gave it a feeling of completion that wasn't present in some of the other stories, which felt more like vignettes.

3.5 stars, rounded up to 4.

My feelings on this book are as complex as narrative threads Ge has weaved throughout with such delicate care they feel almost fragile.

Stories of belonging, loss, home and life feel like cold realities but they oftentimes come muddled with the warmth of fantasy and this is where Elsewhere shines brightest.