TURN AND FACE THE STRANGE
Is Charles Yu’s Sorry Please Thank You ‘slipstream’? Maybe. But when it’s this engaging, labels don’t really matter.originally published by Fully Booked Zine, April 2013
One might argue that Charles Yu writes ‘slipstream’ fiction. That’s English major code for “stuff that’s too weird or non-realistic to be mainstream literary fare, but doesn’t quite follow the genre conventions of sci-fi, fantasy, or other more well-defined branches of speculative fiction”.
In this collection of short stories, Yu’s modus operandi seems to be exploring broader human themes – self-identity, loss, alienation – by applying outlandish scenarios to everyday settings. “First Person Shooter” deals with a plucky wage slave in a multi-purpose retail superstore, consumed by his inability to ask out a co-worker, even amidst the start of a possible zombie apocalypse. “Open” depicts the breakdown of a young couple’s marriage, set against the intrusion of a seemingly multiversal portal in their apartment, beyond which lies an idealized version of their wedded life together.
Most stories are US-centric, as one might expect from a (Chinese-)American writer, so it’s laudable that Yu breaks the mold with “Standard Loneliness Package”. He adopts the perspective of a dutiful Bangalore employee, whose job is to literally undergo painful experiences outsourced by American consumers, from grieving relatives to unfaithful spouses.
Yu does not shy away from genre tropes completely. “Yeoman” depicts the misadventures of a seemingly disposable low-ranking ‘redshirt’ aboard a Star Trek-esque exploration vessel. He deftly turns a peripheral stock character into a fully-realized protagonist, with playfully unexpected results, while poking fun at well-established space-faring clichés. Likewise, “Hero Absorbs Massive Damage” takes apart the elements of the archetypal hero’s journey – think Joseph Campbell – amidst the structured chaos of a World of Warcraft-style MMORPG and standardized fantasy gaming mechanics.
Yu’s writing is ideal for broadening one’s scope. For more conventional literary enthusiasts, it’s a gateway to nerdier genre fare. Likewise, it’s a worthy first step for readers looking to venture beyond familiar speculative fiction works.