SPRING, SUMMER, ASTEROID, BIRD

West, meet East.

Calls for diversity and a broader range of representation in media have seen as many incremental successes as disappointments. Lien, author of speculative fiction and the Peasprout Chen fantasy series, parses familiar examples of both in this book, asking readers to consider how technical aspects and cultural roots in storytelling itself—traditional formats, narrative progressions, themes—can make or undermine such efforts. We often think of progress in terms of diversity in authorship and performance. Nudging us further, Lien writes that “diversity can and should be about more than just plopping different faces into stories that are 100 percent Western in spirit.” Western storytelling—the three-act story structure; general symmetry in ascent and descent; a focus on conflict, tension, and resolution—is the kind of cultural monolith a passive audience might be too close to for further consideration (think any Marvel movie). Lien hopes to crack through this passive consumption, and his anvil is a counter-perspective in Eastern storytelling. Where Lien breezes through some nuances of novel literary modes and their historical background, he clearly marks where these cultural and literary structures significantly affect the audience’s experience. Each section, rarely more than a handful of pages, makes this venture into literary criticism easily accessible. Lien expects readers to have some familiarity with the works he delves into—Star Wars, Parasite, Haruki Murakami’s Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, the Harry Potter series, Rashomon, Everything Everywhere All at Once—and apologizes for the many spoilers. Bringing readers closer to understanding how a hero’s struggle to triumph over adversity or a villainous force might be imbued with Western-rooted values of individualism and moral progress, Lien points to satisfying alternatives—and broader literary horizons.

A refreshing wake-up call for breadth of perspective.