Elsewhere: 'Wonderful writing' Sarah Hall

Product Information

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

We sat outside the Little House, facing the square. Nearly one third of the tents had disappeared, leaving discolored spots on the ground, like the surface of the moon. Young Li’s red tent remained standing. Having already made a name for herself in Chinese, the prodigiously talented Yan Ge now reveals an equally compelling voice in English. The denizens of Elsewhere are misfits and dropouts, perpetually at odds with their surroundings in a world that refuses to accommodate them. A highly accomplished collection that is equal parts shimmering wit and startling emotional depth." —Jeremy Tiang, author of State of Emergency Small Bamboo sat down in the armchair. “Bloody hell,” he said, slapping his thigh. “This is a palace.” Young Li and Six Times walked in, carrying a square table. They put it down and flipped up four curved extensions. An enormous round table emerged. Relax, cousin,” Small Bamboo said, half-turning from the mahjong table. “We are already in a shelter.” Yan’s literary journey took a significant turn when she moved to Ireland for her postgraduate studies. It was during this period that she started writing in English, a challenging yet rewarding endeavor that expanded her literary horizons and introduced her to a global audience. This transition marked a new chapter in Yan’s career, culminating in the publication of “Elsewhere,” her first novel written in English.But none of these matter to us,” Six Times continued. “When poets come into the room we simply chomp on the fictional dish you’ve created. We eat up the food and shit it out later. And the shit is poetry.” Through the eyes of protagonist Li Jiaqi, readers are transported to the fictional town of Shuanglang, where they witness the impact of social and economic transformations on ordinary lives. Ge’s vivid descriptions of the picturesque landscapes of Yunnan Province bring the setting to life, immersing readers in a world that straddles the boundaries of time and place. In fact comedy goes deeper than that for Ge. “I really aspired to be a stand-up [comedian]! I did an event with [the comedian] Maeve Higgins in Cork last year and I said I really want to be a stand-up, and she was like, ‘Why?’

That’s Young Li’s,” Small Bamboo said. “One big living room and three bedrooms for him, his wife, and two kids. There’s even a kitchen inside. God knows where that prawn got it from!” Elsewhere” by Yan Ge is a collection of stories that captivates readers with its jangly and eclectic narratives. The book explores the relationship between language and understanding, showcasing the power of words to evoke emotions and experiences beyond comprehension. With its cosmopolitan settings and visceral quality, “Elsewhere” pushes the boundaries of storytelling and establishes Yan Ge as a talented and versatile writer.Most of her characters are always observing, passively soaking in people’s carelessness around them like a sponge. An outsider in the elsewhere, speaking a language that inevitably flattens them, always an object of desire, spectacle, or otherness. A thought-provoking read on its own merit, the book takes on added significance given that it is an early work by Yan, whose talent is clear, raw and electrifying." While Old Stone was busy cooking in the kitchen with Calm—Young Li’s wife—and Sister Du helping out, we talked about him. Apparently, after his girlfriend died, Old Stone immersed himself in the study of how to make the perfect twice-cooked pork. From there, taking it dish by dish, he had become a chef and a reputable food critic. He’d published three books: Love and Lust in Sichuan Cuisine, The Pepper Corn Empire, and The Night We Ate Armadillos. The last one was a collection of poems. The women there have strong and slender fingers. The perfect kind of fingers for plunging into the goose’s asshole and yanking out the entrails while it’s still alive. They do it with precision and determination. They do this in a flash to preserve its tenderness.” When Travelling in the Summer’ was the first of the stories I really liked. It had a good premise and an interesting cast of characters that all related to each other in interesting ways. Not only this, but it came to a satisfying but not overwrought conclusion. It was definitely more of a traditional story structurally than the others, and I think this is also why it stood out to me. It knew what it wanted to do, then executed it well. My favourite of the collection was definitely the final story, ‘Hai’. Really, for the same reasons as for above, but doubly so. Everything ‘When Travelling in the Summer’ did well, ‘Hai’ did even better, and spent more time doing it. The writing here was also the best of among all the stories (and it had been very good throughout), with some fantastic dialogue especially. I’ll be honest, if Yan Ge hadn’t put out this as a collection of short stories, but had instead put this out as a novella alone, I would have been just as happy.

Elsewhere” is not simply a novel about a specific time and place; it transcends these boundaries to explore universal themes of family, love, and the search for meaning. Ge’s prose is both lyrical and raw, evoking a wide range of emotions as readers journey alongside her characters. The narrative structure, presented through interconnected vignettes, allows for a deeper introspection into the complexities of human existence. I set out trying to write a story collection that was connected or has a strong theme – and I just gave up!” Her agent suggested she follow her own path instead. “I really allowed myself to try out different voices. But I feel the reason I was trying them out was that these voices were in me already. I see this collection, from a personal point of view, like a journey of me finding out what kind of writer I want to be in English.” The more marginalised we are from the centre the less we are allowed to talk, write and think as ourselves… You're always seen, by others and by yourself, as a woman, a foreigner, an outsider, therefore the subordinate, the inferior and the inauthentic.We walked into Vertical’s tent and removed our clothes. He touched me for a short while before entering. We hugged and moved towards and away from each other repeatedly. I felt cold the whole time because I was lying on the ground. He cried when he came. The cosmopolitan nature of “Elsewhere” adds richness and depth to the narratives. The stories take place in various time periods and locations, such as New York City and Chiang Mai, showcasing Yan Ge’s ability to navigate different cultural contexts. This diversity allows readers to explore a range of perspectives and experiences, immersing themselves in the intricacies of different cultures.

How do you know this is all real and happening? How can you be sure you haven't already died in the earthquake and are just living in the afterlife?' One of the standout themes in “Elsewhere” is the exploration of language and its ability to transcend understanding. In the first story, Pigeon, a young fiction writer, learns from a group of drunken poets that the essence of poetry lies in the emotions and experiences it evokes rather than in its literal meaning. This theme recurs throughout the book, highlighting the transformative power of language and its ability to connect people on a deeper level.But there’s also a defiance in Yan Ge’s unapologetic usage of Chinese characters, historic events, and phrases in Mandarin. As if to say: as a storyteller I have no responsibility to give you the footnotes; you do the homework yourself. Just like how English writers would not care to elaborate when they quote liberally from their canons. As a result of this cosmopolitanism, the stories in Elsewhere are jangly and eclectic, set in wildly different time periods and filled with dissonances. That shit-and-literature theme recurs, in various incarnations, throughout. Elsewhere’s characters seem constantly in abdominal discomfort; someone vomits in five of the nine stories. The act of eating meat takes on a horrifying resonance, in part because characters in two separate stories are presented with dishes made from human flesh. Let me, first and foremost, gather my thoughts because it has been so long since I read an eclectic and multifaceted pieces of writing. But the idea of blended identities runs through Ge’s book that we’re meeting to discuss. Elsewhere is the best sort of debut – one that isn’t the author’s first book. Ge has been a successful author of literary fiction in Chinese since her first book was published in 2003 when she was still a teenager. She makes a living from it. “It’s kind of like a miracle,” she says. Elsewhere, a deeply eclectic collection of stories, is the first book she has written in English.