Today I read the first four stories in Jewel Box, a short story collection by E. Lily Yu. I bought the book on a whim at the Planned Parenthood book sale last year, and I was probably influenced by the lovely and unusual cover.
Although I have only read four of the stories, the ones that I read have an unreal, fairy tale quality.
The first story is "The Pilgrim and the Angel," which tells the story Mr. Fareed Halawani, the operator of a coffee shop in Cairo, who misses his son, who is living in Miami, and worries that he does not call home and talk to him and his mother. He is visited by an angel who plans to take him on hajj, but he persuades the angel to take him to Miami to see his son instead. It has a lovely ending, but also a sad one.
The second story, "The Lamp at the Turning," is my favorite so far. A simple story of a street lamp who turns on only when a certain young man walks by twice a day (on the way to work?). The street lamp loves the young man and is resentful of the young woman who begins to accompany him on his walks.
"The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees" is the most well-known of Yu's stories; in 2012 it was nominated for the Hugo, Nebula, Locus, and World Fantasy Awards. I read that story in an anthology a few years ago, and I read it again twice in this collection. It is a wonderfully inventive story, but I confess to having problems understanding the story during all three reads. The ideas and symbolism were too much for me.
“The Lion God and the Two Gates,” is an interesting story of a judge who prides himself on his neutrality and fairness; the Lion God of the title presents him with a decision to make about his fate after his death.
My highest praise is for Yu's wonderful writing style. I enjoyed reading the stories even when I was a bit confused. The collection has 22 stories and I will eventually read them all.
26 comments:
First time hearing of E Lily Yu. The plots are unusual and inventive. The story about the street lamp for example shows real imagination.
I'm enjoying stories during the #RIP XX Readers Imbibing in Terror (Sept-Oct). One that is especially good is Yoko Ogawa's 11 story collection "Revenge". It is superb...short stories and you could finish in a day or less! Literature from China, Korea, Japan ...I never read much of it and I can say that as well for short story collections. I should do better in 2026! I'll have a look at whichh collections you've visited in the past in your blog archive.
What an unusual cover! If I were assessing it professionally, I would say there is too much blank space but there is something intriguing about it. This sounds like a good impulse purchase!
Sounds worth trying although it is upsetting not to get it, which often happens with stories like these.
These sound like really interesting stories, Tracy, and it sounds as though there are several layers to them. Stories like that always have me thinking about them for a while after I've read them.
You really do find books with some of the most intriguing covers! I'm not sure I'm up for short stories that I have to think about to understand. I tend to be such a "face value" type of reader.
I cleverly closed the window halfway through commenting...Yu being another example, after Kelly Link the other week, of someone who first achieved an audience for her work among fantasy and sf readers, without finding herself restricted to fantastica readers...it's not as if, say, Kit Reed or Carol Emshwiller didn't cultivate variegated audiences in past decades, but it often took longer and more overcoming some resistance. https://elilyyu.com/ Now I must attend to upstairs cat's need for some attack time on her favorite toy, a rat-tail comb, which I must animate.
I don't know E. Lily Yu's work but I will check it out. Thanks for the heads-up!
Kathy, I was surprised at the variety in just the first 4 stories.
Nancy, thanks for reminding me of Yoko Ogawa. There are several of her books I plan to read, and that short story collection sounds good too.
Constance, it is a strange cover, but I found it beautiful. I was lucky when I bought this book.
Patti, I often have problems with fantasy or science fiction short stories. Especially fantasy.
Margot, the stories I have read in this book about interesting and challenging for me.
This sounds wonderful! Thanks for posting.
That's a very strange cover.
Kelly, I think when short stories have to be analyzed or have ambiguous endings, it leads to lots of different interpretations. Which can be good, but often I would prefer a more straightforward approach. One of the reasons I get so many (inexpensive) short story books on the Kindle is because I can just give up on them more easily.
Todd, I checked out Lily Yu's site that you included in the comment. I especially liked the page of short stories she has written, and where published, and links to stories that are online.
I have just recently found some cat toys that interest London. At first he turned his nose up at everything. I bought a bigger bed for him and at first he ignored it. I guess that is normal but it has been a long time since we had a new cat.
George, I would love to hear what you think of her stories. I will read more of them myself.
Frank, I have enjoyed the first few stories and I hope the remaining ones continue to be entertaining.
It is strange, Lark. I haven't yet read a story that seems related to the cover.
That cover is absolutely gorgeous. I would so pick that book up only because of that cover.
Ryan, I am a sucker for beautiful covers. I have to watch myself or I will buy books I will end up never reading.
22 stories is a lot. Must be a bit short ones? I like the sound of the Lamp story. Bittersweet perhaps. This is my first hearing of E.Lily Yu, thanks.
Susan, The stories are all shorter in this collection. I go back and forth about whether I prefer longer short stories or the short ones. The longer ones are easier to review because you can tell more about the story without spoiling it. The street lamp story is bittersweet.
The cover would have drawn me in as well - I want to frame it lol. Im not a fan of short stories because I always want more :)
Sheila, Thanks for commenting. I read short stories when I was younger, then for decades I avoided them. I did not even like novellas because the story was not long enough. Sometime around 2015 and 2016, I made an effort to read more short stories, and I began to appreciate them more. But I still prefer novels. Some authors are better with the short format than the long, and vice versa. If I could read faster I would read more short stories (and more novels).
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