Customer Reviews

Returning My Sister's Face: And Other Far Eastern Tales of Whimsy and Malice

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The book contains twelve stories, originally published as early as 2004, in venues as various as Cricket, Paradox, Realms of Fantasyand Jim Baen's Universe. They are all drawn on Japanese, Chinese or Korean traditions, and in several cases drawn directly from existing folktales or well-known narratives. Being myself disgracefully ignorant of these literary traditions (I could earn maybe a C+ in an oral exam on Introduction to Eastern Religions, but that's about it) I have no idea how well Eugie is reflecting or representing them, but I don't care. She tells her tales with such energy, grace and heart that one feels instantly transported and moved.

My favorite story in the collection was "A Thread of Silk," based loosely on actual historical events in Japan, and weaving together this Japanese tradition of storytelling, a scifi sensibility and a reflection of western (Greek!) mythological tropes. It is a tour de force. I love it especially for its thematic and complexity, its twist added upon twist, a feature also present in "Daughter of Bótù" and "Honor Is a Game Mortals Play."

I also adored "The Tanuki-Kettle," a fairy tale also drawn on a Japanese tale that is too unutterably cute for, er, utterances. I read it aloud to my ten-year-old while he chortled. The newest story in the collection, "The Tears of My Mother, the Shell of My Father," is a strange mixture of adorable cuteness and philosophic profundity.

Nearly as fun as the stories themselves are Eugie's one-paragraph commentaries at the end of each tale, reflecting such things as the family expectations at her own birth, the prevalence of unfair "foxist rhetoric" in Chinese and Japanese folktales, and the habits of her pet skunk.

I recommend this collection highly.

What a joy, a delight, and an experience that makes a fellow writer breathless for having gone through it. Ms. Foster's collection of stories is mind-boggling in its juxtaposition of both complexity and simplicity. Simple, in that almost all of these stories I could read to my young girls at bed time; complex, in that I would be hard-pressed to emulate the storytelling style of Ms. Foster who has obviously mastered the skill. I've given the book to my 10-year-old daughter who is enchanted by it almost as much as I was. No amount of embarassingly rich praise is too much for this collection. "The Tiger Fortune Princess," "The Tanuki-Kettle," The Archer of the Sun and the Lady of the Moon," along with the story from which the book takes its name...classic storytelling flow and structure, set in mostly ancient Asia. So lovely, words fail me, so I shall stop trying to think of them.

Eugie Foster's writing style contains a near-poetic flow that'll keep you reading from start to finish. And when it comes to characterization and plot and so forth, her stories never disappoint.

Love this book! I've been hungry for Asian themed fantasy for a long time and was delighted by this product. Beautifully written, stylized, and engaging. It only suffered from being a collection of short stories and leaving me wanting a longer tale. I hope the author someday publishes a full length fantasy book under the same theme.

I love this collection. Each story has it's own unique flavor, and they are all a joy to read. Some of them are pretty creepy, others are very sweet. A great choice for anyone who is looking for some unconventional short stories and/or has an interest in East Asian culture and folklore.