Tse’s prose curls around Q like a vine, dropping him in landscapes that are equal parts Bosch and Freud, lush and deranged. Imagine an after-hours cut of Disney’s ‘Fantasia’; Alexander Portnoy on acid; a Losing Your Virginity theme park brought to you by Mephistopheles. . . . His vision of freedom remains private and acquisitive, whereas Tse suggests that real freedom—political, imaginative, and erotic—does not subjugate others; real freedom is democratic, a public and collective project.”—Katy Waldman, The New Yorker
“[Owlish] is the literary equivalent of a house of mirrors, refracting and distorting shards of Hong Kong’s recent past. . . . A wildly inventive read.”—Louisa Lim, The New York Times Book Review
“Though Ms. Tse alludes to a number of artistic influences . . . her writing most resembles that of Kazuo Ishiguro in its ability to render a strange allegorical fantasia in precise, formal prose. (The excellent translation from the Chinese is by Natascha Bruce.) But Owlish is sexier than Mr. Ishiguro’s books, in rich and discomfiting ways—a ‘folk tale,’ as Q imagines his reckless romance, ‘full of lust and passion.’”—Sam Sacks, The Wall Street Journal
“There are books you read for knowledge, those you read for escape, those you read for enlightenment, those you read to be lost, those you read to be found, and then those you read again, and again. Owlish succeeds on all of these levels, with a reminder that perhaps the most powerful way to reject oppression is through imagination, and creation.”—Mandana Chaffa, Chicago Review of Books
“Entrancing and otherworldly. . . . A protest fable that reveals many human truths, Tse's Owlish poses questions of desire and freedom under a punishing regime. The story lingers like a vivid dream bleeding into conscious life.”—Kathleen Rooney, Star Tribune (Minneapolis)
“A wonderfully imaginative fable that resonates with political critique and protest.”—Kirkus Reviews
“Tse’s vision is entirely original and wonderfully bizarre. The language of Natascha Bruce’s elegant translation surprises and delights at every turn.”—Andrew Ervin, The Brooklyn Rail
“Late capitalist malaise and political turmoil populate Nevers, the glittering, neoliberal city at the heart of Dorothy Tse’s debut novel, Owlish. . . . Natascha Bruce was awarded a PEN/HEIM grant for her sparkling translation of this richly imagined, modern-day fairy tale.”—Center for the Art of Translation
“[Owlish] feels alive, like it is still being written—which seems less strange when you consider that Hong Kong, in its own way, is too an unfinished manuscript, a fury of voices.”—Xiao Yue Shan, Asymptote Journal
“A magical and potent tale for these tyrannical times.”—NoViolet Bulawayo, author of Glory
“Dorothy Tse is a magnificent historian of unreal places. . . . Her parallel worlds and paradoxes brilliantly illuminate our own reality, with all its fictions masquerading as facts (and vice versa). Boundlessly creative, richly philosophical—I loved this book.”—Joanna Kavenna, author of Zed
“Owlish is so delightfully creepy, wonderful and strange—I loved it.”—Camilla Grudova, author of Children of Paradise
“A bold, brilliantly absorbing read. This clever, mercurial portrait of an alternate Hong Kong lingers long after the last page.” —Irenosen Okojie, author of Nudibranch
“Beguilingly eerie, richly textured, the pages of Owlish are drenched in strange beauty and menace. Like all the best fairy tales, it reveals the dark truths that we would rather not look at directly, and does so with a surreal and singular clarity.”—Sophie Mackintosh, author of Cursed Bread
“Tse’s style in Owlish, with its magical elements, suggests a more overtly political Italo Calvino or Salman Rushdie with a lighter touch. . . . The story is engrossing and the prose, translated by the always satisfying Natascha Bruce, a delight.”—Jessa Crispin, The Telegraph (UK)
“A fantastic if discomforting work of art. . . . This is no ordinary tale of male angst and frustrated desire. . . . Tse crafts a wondrous hinterland in her writing, imagining the waiting worlds we might dream ourselves into—if we try.”—Annie Hayter, Big Issue (UK)
“Extraordinarily impressive. The word that comes to mind for both Dorothy Tse and Natascha Bruce is ‘virtuosity.’ . . . With its sureness of touch, its steely wit and its humor, Owlish is a most welcome addition to the bookshelves of translated novels. I hope it gets the recognition it certainly deserves.”—Nicky Harman, Asian Books Blog
2023-03-28
Professor Q’s “bland, uneventful life” gets shaken up as he’s consumed by his love affair with a doll.
Nevers, a coastal city on Valeria Island, is constantly changing to suit the wants and needs of its colonizers, but underneath the city is a “shadow zone” where the college students are organizing a revolution. Professor Q, a 50-year-old instructor at Lone Boat University, receives a package in the mail with a doll inside. He becomes enamored with the doll, Aliss, in a way he hasn’t felt before. At the encouragement of his mysterious friend Owlish, who tells him, “This could be your last chance for adventure,” he begins an extramarital affair with Aliss. He creates a “love nest” in a church on a nearby abandoned island so his wife, Maria, won’t find out. At first, Aliss is a normal doll, but one day Professor Q leaves a window open and a strange wind blows in, transforming her into an animate being. Professor Q, who was obsessed with her even when she was simply a doll, is delighted by her development of sentience. His relationship with Aliss remains a consistent distraction from the social unrest brewing in Nevers. He barely realizes that his students have gone on strike even though his classes are practically empty. As the book progresses, it becomes unclear how much of what Professor Q experiences is real and how much is imagined. The line between dream and reality becomes increasingly blurred as Professor Q’s sanity comes into question, making things difficult to follow. Chapters 29 and 31 change from a third-person perspective to a second-person narrative addressed to “you” and attempt to unveil some of the obscurities in the story. In the book’s best moments, it’s a wonderfully imaginative fable that resonates with political critique and protest. However, in some areas the book’s vision gets murky, like a dream, which is interesting conceptually but doesn’t quite work here.
A fabulist fever dream that is perhaps a bit too opaque.
