Book Review: Exhalation

 

Image: The cover of the book is a black background with scattered white specks that are or resemble stars in the night sky. All of the letters on the cover are disintegrating at parts into said stars. Across the top is the title in large capital very light blue letters. There is small text across the top too blurry to read. In the center of the cover is the word "stories" in smaller letters. Across the bottom is Ted Chiang's name in larger capital letters followed by another string of small text too blurry to read.

Exhalation: Stories, by Ted Chaing, sets itself apart from many other short story collections. Usually, collections like this have one or a few bad or boring stories in them. This is not the case here. It is clear that Chiang's usual method of sticking to short fiction has made him a master of it. Even the stories that bent in a way that is usually not my taste were so well written and engaging that I remained immersed. The book also has something I don't see a lot of- the inclusion of author's notes at the end of each story. These little anecdotes were very interesting. Learning Chiang's inspiration and thought processes in writing were a welcome transition between stories.

My favorite story in the book was also the longest. The Lifecycle of Software Objects is one of the best AI stories I have ever read. What makes many of Chiang's stories interesting is the very human (or sentient) elements he adds to it. He captures everyday life and long term results of big decisions we make throughout our existence. This particular story takes a look at evolution of AI life forms over time within the realm of human interactions with AI and with each other in the time of late stage capitalism, increasing automation, rapid obsolescence of technologies, social and sexual consent, and many others.

Other themes include time travel, the unreliability of memory, the gray areas of technologies that can both help and harm us, alternate histories, determinism, materialism (the philosophy/physics version) vs creationism, and others. In every one of these themes, no matter how common in science fiction, Chiang managed to explore them in original and interesting ways. I am glad this collection exists as it was a great introduction to Chiang's work for me.

This was also posted to my goodreads.