smalltimereads

On Fragile Waves by E. Lily Yu was published by Erewhon Books.

On Fragile Waves is a beautifully written book dealing with a very difficult subject. I think it succeeds, for the most part, at conveying the difficulties and complexities of people seeking asylum from a warzone, in spirit if not actuality (possibly in actuality too! I just can't assess that). Firuzeh and her family go through a lot in pursuit of hope, a dream, safety, and the reality of that dream isn't all they thought it would be. There are cultural differences and racists and the threat of deportation. They've all been scarred by their experiences, and have to deal with that.

I liked a lot of the storytelling element, and Nasirah's appearances, and the few chapters from other characters' perspectives (I didn't like Quentin's chapter but I appreciated it). I thought it worked well, in a book dealing with stories and the refugee experience, to have other characters' stories, especially those who were part of their own diaspora.

For all the lovely writing and the good job it does with the subject matter, it fell a little flat for me. I thought the storytelling-as-coping element would be a larger part of the book, and I would have appreciated more Nasirah. I was also surprised to see that it was categorized as an adult novel- not because the main character is a child; I've read adult novels with child protagonists just fine- but because it seemed juvenile in parts. "Juvenile" sounds derogatory, and I don't mean that, just that it seems like it was written for younger people. I'd guessed that it was a young adult book before I looked it up. Again, not a bad thing, that was just what I thought the intended audience was.

It looks like this is E. Lily Yu's debut novel, so maybe it's just growing pains. I do want to check out her short stories after this.

Who are they?
In their own words: "EREWHON BOOKS is a new independent publisher focusing on novel-length works of speculative fiction: science fiction, fantasy, and related genres.

At Erewhon, our mission is to publish thoughtful, groundbreaking, and unforgettable books that go straight to the reader’s heart, effortlessly strange stories that take readers on powerful emotional journeys. We embrace the liminal and unclassifiable and champion the unusual, the uncanny, and the hard-to-define."

Erewhon Books started publishing in 2020, and thus has a fairly small catalogue and not a lot of information about them compared to some of the other independent publishers I've looked at. Their submissions page occasionally opens to unsolicited submissions, and although they focus on adult SFF novels, they are apparently also open to graphic novels, nonfiction, and anthologies. They have a pretty experienced team. I haven't seen anything on authors' experience with Erewhon, but the staff did an AMA on Reddit about getting started during the pandemic.


Website and Store
The website is clean and mostly well designed, although they recently shifted from having all their books listed together to dividing them up by publishing year, which I'm personally not a fan of. Erewhon doesn't have its own store, so links to other sellers are listed with each book. It's a little unwieldy, but it is very easy to navigate. They do have a lovely logo, too.

Have I heard of/read any of their books?
The Scapegracers was on my list of anticipated reads for last year, even though I didn't get around to reading it until this year. And, of course, Erewhon published one of my favorite books of the year, Folklorn. I've also heard good things about The Midnight Bargain by CL Polk. They seem to have a pretty good catalogue!

Anything else?
I have one more ARC I requested through NetGalley to read, and it's for an Erewhon book. I'm really looking forward to the Scapegracers sequel. I hope the company continues to do well.

Please read Folklorn

(I received an advanced reader's copy of Folklorn through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.)

Folklorn by Angela Mi Young Hur is published by Erewhon Books and will be available 27 April 2021.

I finished Folklorn this morning and gave myself all day to think about it, to better write this review. Having had all day, I still don't think I can do this book justice, but I'm going to try my best.

First: the cover is beautiful. Second: I love the title.

Most importantly: Folklorn is beautiful, messy, and complicated. It's about stories- their iterations and variations; the stories we tell ourselves and the stories we tell other people; stories we tell at one point in our life versus another; folktales and history; translations and into what language and by who and why. It's about family. It's about finding a place in the world. Narrowing the scope a bit, Folklorn is about being a Korean-American child of immigrants, and it's about messy relationships with family, and it's about transracial adoption, and it's about being Korean in Sweden.

Most specifically, Folklorn is about Elsa Park, who is just as messy and complicated and wonderful as the book. I'm sure there's a cool physics concept for a smaller piece reflecting a larger concept and the two mirroring each other. Folklorn does that, as well. There were so many times I winced reading Elsa's reaction to certain statements and certain events- it hurt, it was messy, how was she going to come back from this? The other characters all had a weight about them that was wonderful to read, even if (especially because?) the characters were not wonderful themselves. Their experiences shaped them, and life did not leave anyone unscathed.

I cannot speak to the "authenticness" of the book, and I'm not sure I'd want to anyway, the concept of authenticity often being a double-edged sword. What I can say is that the book felt authentic to itself, which is vital.

Folklorn is beautiful, and I can't wait to read it again when it comes out.