★★★☆☆ Average
(Chinese Fable) The no-one girl scratches out a bare living since her grandmother died. Everyone in the village ignores her, but she thinks a beautiful, rare flower she discovered will win her the prize at the annual mid-autumn festival. (2,866 words; Time: 09m)
"The No-One Girl and the Flower of the Farther Shore," by E. Lily Yu [bio] (edited by Neil Clarke), appeared in Clarkesworld issue 138, published on March 1, 2018.
Mini-Review (click to view--possible spoilers)
Pro: It’s rather sad tale of how the butcher’s boy (a person with privilege) envied the poor no-one girl and stole the only thing she had, ruining it in the process. She dies and is reborn as the everything girl, who takes joy in everything. He enjoys a quotidian life, and after he's gone, the festival prize is shown for the worthless thing it really was.
Con: There’s got to be a deeper meaning here, but I’m not really seeing it. Why does her spirit end up rewarding the butcher boy?
Other Reviews: Search Web, Browse Review Sites (Issue 138)
E. Lily Yu Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline
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Con: There’s got to be a deeper meaning here, but I’m not really seeing it. Why does her spirit end up rewarding the butcher boy?
Other Reviews: Search Web, Browse Review Sites (Issue 138)
E. Lily Yu Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline
Follow RSR on Twitter, Facebook, RSS, or E-mail.
I didn't take it as a reward but as a "there's no instant karma" thing and as her just generally transcending it all in an Eastern mystic way ("veil of Maya/vanity of Ecclesiastes" stuff). Like Jim Morrison, I like the veil, myself. "No eternal reward will forgive us now for wasting the dawn."
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