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When Fox Is a Thousand
When Fox is a Thousand is a lyrical, magical novel, rich with poetry and folklore and elements of the fairytale. Larissa Lai interweaves three narrative voices and their attendant cultures: an elusive fox growing toward wisdom and her 1000 birthday, the ninth-century Taoist poet/nun Yu Hsuan-Chi (a real person executed in China for murder), and the oddly named Artemis, a young Asian-American woman living in contemporary Vancouver.With beautiful and enchanting prose, and a sure narrative hand, Lai combines Chinese mythology, the sexual politics of medieval China, and modern-day Vancouver to masterfully revise the myth of the Fox (a figure who can inhibit women’s bodies in order to cause mischief). Her potent imagination and considerable verbal skill result in a tale that continues to haunt long after the story is told.First published to wide acclaim in 1995 and out of print since 2001, this new edition of When Fox is a Thousand, published by Arsenal Pulp Press for the first time, features a new foreword by the author.Praise for When Fox is a Thousand:“A sure-footed writer and teller of tales, Lai takes the reader on a magnificent journey through layers of time, myth, and imagery.”—Susan Crean“A particularly acute pleasure.”—The AdvocateLarissa Lai was born in La Jolla, California and lives in Calgary where she is completing a Ph.D. in English at the University of Calgary. She was awarded an Astraea Foundation Emerging Writers Award in 1995. She is also the author of the novel Salt Fish Girl (2002).
236 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 1993
36 people are currently reading
2661 people want to read
About the author
Larissa Lai
17 books236 followersLarissa Lai has authored three novels, The Tiger Flu, Salt Fish Girl and When Fox Is a Thousand; two poetry collections, sybil unrest (with Rita Wong) and Automaton Biographies; a chapbook, Eggs in the Basement; and a critical book, Slanting I, Imagining We: Asian Canadian Literary Production in the 1980s and 1990s. A recipient of the Astraea Foundation Emerging Writers' Award, she has been a finalist for the Books in Canada First Novel Award, the Tiptree Award, the Sunburst Award, the City of Calgary W.O. Mitchell Award, the bpNichol Chapbook Award, the Dorothy Livesay Prize and the ACQL Gabrielle Roy Prize for Literary Criticism.
Larissa was born in La Jolla, California and grew up in St. John's, Newfoundland. She spent the 1990s as a freelance writer and cultural organizer. Her first publication was an essay about Asian Canadian contemporary media, published in the catalogue for the 1991 exhibition Yellow Peril: Reconsidered. She has held writer-in-residence positions at the University of Calgary, Simon Fraser University and the University of Guelph. In 2001, she completed an MA in Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia. From 2001-2006, she did a PhD in English at the University of Calgary. She was Assistant Professor in Canadian Literature at UBC from 2007-2014. In 2014, she returned to the University of Calgary to take up a Canada Research Chair in Creative Writing.
She likes dogs, is afraid of cats, and feels at home in both Vancouver and Calgary.
Larissa was born in La Jolla, California and grew up in St. John's, Newfoundland. She spent the 1990s as a freelance writer and cultural organizer. Her first publication was an essay about Asian Canadian contemporary media, published in the catalogue for the 1991 exhibition Yellow Peril: Reconsidered. She has held writer-in-residence positions at the University of Calgary, Simon Fraser University and the University of Guelph. In 2001, she completed an MA in Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia. From 2001-2006, she did a PhD in English at the University of Calgary. She was Assistant Professor in Canadian Literature at UBC from 2007-2014. In 2014, she returned to the University of Calgary to take up a Canada Research Chair in Creative Writing.
She likes dogs, is afraid of cats, and feels at home in both Vancouver and Calgary.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 103 reviews
January 8, 2021
A fascinating, lyrical book that blends a Taoist mystery, 90s PNW, and folklore. Beautiful, sure and complex, it was well worth the read, although I'm afraid I felt a bit left out of some of the story.
CONTENT WARNINGS:
Things to love:
-The prose. There were some absolutely delicious sentences in here.
-The concept. Sapphic historical fiction meets fairytale with a modern twist. Like...come on, you're lying if you're not somewhat intrigued.
-The Fox. I loved her. She was perfect, a trickster following her own nature but not human, and not your average red fox either, given her life.
-The Poetess. I'm not entirely sure I understood, but this was fascinating.
-The rendering of the culture. Growing up in a transracial family, growing up in a traditional Chinese family in a white-space, being obviously not European in a very white area, being queer in the 90s...all of that was I think faithfully and lovingly/heartbreakingly portrayed.
-The last chapter. It all comes together and is really satisfying.
Things that shut me out:
-Jumping around. I think we're jumping heads and time and events and the indicators are hard to parse. There's a lot of the "you know what you did" type comments, and we never know what anyone did.
-Dialogue. Sometimes a bit stilted. I don't think I said "this is the 20th century" in the 90s as these girls do lol. When you know the millennium is right there, it's hard to get excited about it being the 1900s IMO
-Diffuse. Emotions and events were both a bit at a remove. This book is a painting, so some of the elements are hazy and the artist's intent is a bit lost on me.
-Relationships. Well, so, first of all, this is a romance-heavy book and that's just not my taste. Second of all, I didn't understand who was with who doing what and why. Where was the Fox? Why did Ming change? Who was Diane? I am still unsure what some of this adds up to.
3.5 stars rounded up because I already did recommend this book and I would read more by this author.
CONTENT WARNINGS:
Things to love:
-The prose. There were some absolutely delicious sentences in here.
-The concept. Sapphic historical fiction meets fairytale with a modern twist. Like...come on, you're lying if you're not somewhat intrigued.
-The Fox. I loved her. She was perfect, a trickster following her own nature but not human, and not your average red fox either, given her life.
-The Poetess. I'm not entirely sure I understood, but this was fascinating.
-The rendering of the culture. Growing up in a transracial family, growing up in a traditional Chinese family in a white-space, being obviously not European in a very white area, being queer in the 90s...all of that was I think faithfully and lovingly/heartbreakingly portrayed.
-The last chapter. It all comes together and is really satisfying.
Things that shut me out:
-Jumping around. I think we're jumping heads and time and events and the indicators are hard to parse. There's a lot of the "you know what you did" type comments, and we never know what anyone did.
-Dialogue. Sometimes a bit stilted. I don't think I said "this is the 20th century" in the 90s as these girls do lol. When you know the millennium is right there, it's hard to get excited about it being the 1900s IMO
-Diffuse. Emotions and events were both a bit at a remove. This book is a painting, so some of the elements are hazy and the artist's intent is a bit lost on me.
-Relationships. Well, so, first of all, this is a romance-heavy book and that's just not my taste. Second of all, I didn't understand who was with who doing what and why. Where was the Fox? Why did Ming change? Who was Diane? I am still unsure what some of this adds up to.
3.5 stars rounded up because I already did recommend this book and I would read more by this author.
January 11, 2021
A rich, engrossing read. Although I sometimes struggled to follow all of the connections between characters, I loved the storytelling style. I really enjoy stories that tie folklore into the protagonists' lives in this way, and it is fabulous to see a story like this that is so full of queer women.
Second read: Still fabulous and such an important book about queer women. The theme of love and betrayal between women who are struggling in different ways with patriarchy and racism is very powerful.
Second read: Still fabulous and such an important book about queer women. The theme of love and betrayal between women who are struggling in different ways with patriarchy and racism is very powerful.
January 16, 2023
Worth a reread
This is a fascinating book. A culture relatively far removed from my own (only Vancouver in the 90’s was familiar, but not the people who populated this story), culture and mythology that is unfamiliar. Lai writes in beautiful, evocative prose full of startling synesthetics. It is an uncomfortable book, full of people you can’t quite like, but are nevertheless compelled to continue following.
At a certain point I felt the lack of connection between the 3 POVs had gone on too long and I wished for more cohesion. That did come but just barely. And yet I felt keenly for the characters. Their struggles mirrored mine and while there was no solution forthcoming, I felt seen.
Some buddy readers said they don't like it when a writer writes poetically. That it becomes more an exercise in beautiful sentences at the expense of plot or characterization. Personally, I'm not too bothered by a lack of plot or a bit of distance due to poetic prose. In fact, I'd say I even love it and beautiful/poetic prose will help me forgive all sorts of flaws in fiction. Bring it on. I love the fact that Lai is a poet. I have to say that the poetic moments didn't take me farther away from the internal lives of the characters, but closer. The poetry really helps make those moments less fleeting for me.
I really feel like I need to reread this book right away, to understand it better this time. But I know I won't. Too many books, too little time.
This is a fascinating book. A culture relatively far removed from my own (only Vancouver in the 90’s was familiar, but not the people who populated this story), culture and mythology that is unfamiliar. Lai writes in beautiful, evocative prose full of startling synesthetics. It is an uncomfortable book, full of people you can’t quite like, but are nevertheless compelled to continue following.
At a certain point I felt the lack of connection between the 3 POVs had gone on too long and I wished for more cohesion. That did come but just barely. And yet I felt keenly for the characters. Their struggles mirrored mine and while there was no solution forthcoming, I felt seen.
Some buddy readers said they don't like it when a writer writes poetically. That it becomes more an exercise in beautiful sentences at the expense of plot or characterization. Personally, I'm not too bothered by a lack of plot or a bit of distance due to poetic prose. In fact, I'd say I even love it and beautiful/poetic prose will help me forgive all sorts of flaws in fiction. Bring it on. I love the fact that Lai is a poet. I have to say that the poetic moments didn't take me farther away from the internal lives of the characters, but closer. The poetry really helps make those moments less fleeting for me.
I really feel like I need to reread this book right away, to understand it better this time. But I know I won't. Too many books, too little time.
July 2, 2013
The poetry of this novel is superb. I really enjoyed Larissa Lai's unique vocabulary. She uses words or phrases in unexpected combinations and I love that. I sometimes felt I could reach out and touch her descriptions - "the eroded hills have drunk all but the last drops of blue from the sky." I also appreciate her in-your-face presentation of difficult issues such as violence and war, race and discrimination, sexual preferences, feminism, cultural mores and interpersonal relationships. The story is told from the perspective of three characters - a poetess from ancient China, a young college woman from modern Canada and a mythical, mischievous fox that crosses generations. The revolving viewpoint allows the reader to more intimately examine these tough questions so often tied to our personal identity. With that said, Lai does not resolve these issues for you. As a matter of fact, the narrative ends rather abruptly with little resolution. I did find that a little frustrating or uncomfortable, but I do believe this was the intent of the author. Have we resolved these problems in our society, in our personal lives? Do our lives build to an omniscient climax with a neat, warm-fuzzy wrap-up? No? This novel won't either, but it will make you think.
June 4, 2012
I came across this book whilst on a magic realism expedition. I'd never heard of it before, nor of Lai, so you can imagine my sheer surprise when this book ticked so many boxes for me. Mythology, storytelling, shapeshifting through the ages, re-storytelling, women who love women ...
I devoured this book on the first read, and I knew I had rushed through it, not letting the story and characters fully consume me. I read it in a second, more-dedicated reading a couple of months later. The book consumed me -- it was all I could think about, I took the characters with me, and wove them into my own imaginative pursuits. The story became me, in part. It was no surprise, that after the climactic ending, I was breathless that this book was no more ...
What a find, and an unexpected gem of a find ... the best read I've come across in years.
Thank you, Larissa Lai.
I devoured this book on the first read, and I knew I had rushed through it, not letting the story and characters fully consume me. I read it in a second, more-dedicated reading a couple of months later. The book consumed me -- it was all I could think about, I took the characters with me, and wove them into my own imaginative pursuits. The story became me, in part. It was no surprise, that after the climactic ending, I was breathless that this book was no more ...
What a find, and an unexpected gem of a find ... the best read I've come across in years.
Thank you, Larissa Lai.
April 8, 2016
Short version: I don't know why this isn't considered a classic lesbian novel. It deserves way more attention. Long version: http://lesbrary.com/2016/04/10/danika...
September 9, 2016
This novel follows three different narrations that flow toward a common source. These narrations come closer and closer together until they join in a single river that sings a profound song. Goodreads describes When Fox Turns A Thousand as a lyrical novel. I can certainly see why for its prose is indeed lyrical. The novel is written beautifully and poetically. You know, if the author was South American in origin, perhaps we would call this novel magical realism. Speaking of origin, that happens to be an important theme in this novel. Asian origin is a much discussed subject in his novel. What does our origin really mean? Is it a cultural or a racial thing? Are there ties of blood that link us to the places of our origin, some kind of collective memory founded a biological basis we share, or is it a matter of choice, ties of heart and emotion? Or is it a matter of education? Can it be that knowing a lot about a certain culture makes us a part of it? This novel is all about female Asian voices, both past and modern ones. This story is about West meeting East, not East of the present but that of the past. East of the old preserved in the souls of women. For aren’t women traditionally keepers of lore?
In this novel you will see Asian mythology coming to life, getting mixed up in lives of modern women of Asian origin that are living in Canada of the present. To introduce this novel, I think it makes sense to add that it could also be described as a lesbian novel. That’s how I see it, because I don’t think that any of these sexual relationships between women described (both those set in past and those set in present) should be taken in a metaphorical way, they are to be taken for what they are. Homosexual love takes many shapes and forms in this novel, it is not always a perfect joining of souls, but it is always love. Lesbian love in varying degress of depth and meaning, ranging from loved primarily based on lust and desire to that based on deep connections and friendship.
Three voices (Artemis, the Fox and the Poetess) tell their story, but only one of them speaks to us directly. The fox is the only first person narrator and she seems to have an insight into the minds of the ladies whose stories parallel her narration. This mythological creature that is able to take a shape of a woman by reanimating corpses opens with her background story (that she will elaborate on many times). So, this novel starts off with a tale of loneliness. (Appropriate perhaps, because it is very honest in revealing what happens when we are searching for escape in romantic relationships. Often what happens is more loneliness.) Another narrator, the Poetess speaks in a first person voice often, but it is hard to tell her own history from the stories of women she talks about. In other words, it seemed hard ( to me at least) to tell the Poetess as a writer from Poetess as a person. Not that it didn't work in the context of the novel, for it surely did. It is just that as a narrator, I found it hard to visualize her and for some reason saw her only as an aspect of the fox (which she is not btw, she is based on an actual person from Chinese history). I suppose that the Poetess is an unreliable narrator and her actions are meant to be open to interpretation. Finally, there is Artemis whose story is told from a perspective of an all knowing narrator, so we get to know her most inner thoughts and desires. In a way she is also a narrator, because it is throught her eyes (or more specifically through an all knowing narrator that sees through her eyes) that we get introduced to a cast of female characters (Mercy, Diane and Claude). All of these contemporary Canadian- Asian female characters happen to be gay (as do all the important characters in the novel). In this novel you will find love stories told from different angles...and they are often open to intepretation. Who is a reliable narrator when it comes to love? Artemis isn’t exactly reliable either, she even says so herself. What does a reliable narrator even means and is there such a thing? The wonderful thing about this novel is that it shows there can be many views of the same event, that two lovers can feel betrayed at the same time, perhaps by the same action they both interpret (and cannot help themselves) in their own way.
As I said, only one of these three distinct voices belong to a woman living in our place and time. Artemis is a young student of Chinese origin trying to find her place in Canada. Both of her adoptive parents are white, which probably makes her feel a bit out of place for she is not exactly native and not exactly an immigrant. Perhaps this is to strengthen her connection with the Fox and the Poetess, to show that Artemis isn’t completely rooted in this material world, that her soul is so old that the modern world is a challenge for Artemis. Is Artemis meant to be a mystery or did the author had so much going on that she didn't manage to eleborate on everything? I can't tell for sure. Artemis' name reveals something of her character, but she is hard to understand. For most of the novel she is fairly passive and I must admit that made me feel frustrated at times. I know that Artemis is not meant to come off as a mortal vertical, I don’t have a problem with having a protagonist who isn’t exactly a saint but what bothered me is that she somehow doesn’t seem to be developing as a character. Only seen through fox’s eyes, she seems to come completely alive. That mystical aspect of the novels adds a new dimension to Artemis, but I think that there was more space for her character development. There were moments when Artemis’ relationships with other women seemed to cast a revealing light not just onto her, but on women she was with, but for most part it didn’t feel quite enough. I felt like something was missing, but I have hard time defining just what. Let’s get back to the novel and the actual story that gets shaped by these three narrations.
All these love stories told are tales of lesbian relationships. There is no place for romantic relationships between men and women in this novel, so if that is what you are looking for, you won't find it here. Relationship with men are often only alluded on, they’re never in a centre of any true love story. Men are defined only through their relationship with women, as a tool of getting something else, a sentimental memory or as an object that enables rivalry. I would say that these women character are authentically gay, which surely makes the novel more interesting. Women in thos novel are falling one for another, both in the stories of the old and those set in present time. That aspect of the novel was very refreshing. It is one of the things that makes it wonderfully original. Nevertheless, when it comes to love stories, I found the modern ones a bit lacking compared with those of the old. Another thing I liked is that it showed the complexity of women, how they are capable both for acts of great love and those of great cruelty. For me personally, the down side of the novel was characterization of modern characters (i.e. those that appear in Artemis’ narration) that ended up being less interesting than historical and fairy-tale ones.
I was surprised, given the fairy tale writing style, how real all the female characters in narrations of Fox and the Poetess seemed real. The fantasy element didn’t take anything away either, not at all. I loved that fantasy and historical aspect of the novel, it felt very genuine in its imaginative scope. Moreover, it was masterfully written. In fact, my favourite aspect of the novel was the narration of the Fox. Artemis wasn’t a character that was exactly likeable and the Poetess proved elusive and transcendental as good poetry ought to be, which means I enjoyed reading her passages but I didn’t really experience her as a distinct character/narrator. The Fox on the other hand, mesmerized me. If I were to be completely honest, I would have to say that the narrative following Artemis life was my least favourite one, for reasons I already explained. The characters are never explored in depth. In addition, there are some stereotypes in this story. It is a paradox that I found the stories told by the Poetess and the Fox more credible and better developed, especially as most of them are set in a distant time or place. Those women from far past seemed more real than their present day versions. Artemis, Diane, Mercy and Claude seem to be awfully similar at times, feeding on that victim glam that is so popular nowadays and starting drama for drama’s sake. None of them felt tangible and definable as a character, not in the way Fox did ( I don't mind the fact that a spirit that is about to turn 1000 years old seemed more real that present day characters, for what is reality in context of literature? I'm just making an observation about the novel and where there seems to be room for improvement).
That all being said, the way this novel ties everything up in the end is ingenious. I did enjoyed reading it, even if it was a bit predicatble at times. It deserves four starts easily, both for its satisfying ending and the unique beauty of its writing. It was well worth staying up late to finish reading it. As a drifted to sleep, I had a sensation there if turned the other way quickly enough, I would find that a friendly fox was looking at me. There is magic to be found in this novel.
In this novel you will see Asian mythology coming to life, getting mixed up in lives of modern women of Asian origin that are living in Canada of the present. To introduce this novel, I think it makes sense to add that it could also be described as a lesbian novel. That’s how I see it, because I don’t think that any of these sexual relationships between women described (both those set in past and those set in present) should be taken in a metaphorical way, they are to be taken for what they are. Homosexual love takes many shapes and forms in this novel, it is not always a perfect joining of souls, but it is always love. Lesbian love in varying degress of depth and meaning, ranging from loved primarily based on lust and desire to that based on deep connections and friendship.
Three voices (Artemis, the Fox and the Poetess) tell their story, but only one of them speaks to us directly. The fox is the only first person narrator and she seems to have an insight into the minds of the ladies whose stories parallel her narration. This mythological creature that is able to take a shape of a woman by reanimating corpses opens with her background story (that she will elaborate on many times). So, this novel starts off with a tale of loneliness. (Appropriate perhaps, because it is very honest in revealing what happens when we are searching for escape in romantic relationships. Often what happens is more loneliness.) Another narrator, the Poetess speaks in a first person voice often, but it is hard to tell her own history from the stories of women she talks about. In other words, it seemed hard ( to me at least) to tell the Poetess as a writer from Poetess as a person. Not that it didn't work in the context of the novel, for it surely did. It is just that as a narrator, I found it hard to visualize her and for some reason saw her only as an aspect of the fox (which she is not btw, she is based on an actual person from Chinese history). I suppose that the Poetess is an unreliable narrator and her actions are meant to be open to interpretation. Finally, there is Artemis whose story is told from a perspective of an all knowing narrator, so we get to know her most inner thoughts and desires. In a way she is also a narrator, because it is throught her eyes (or more specifically through an all knowing narrator that sees through her eyes) that we get introduced to a cast of female characters (Mercy, Diane and Claude). All of these contemporary Canadian- Asian female characters happen to be gay (as do all the important characters in the novel). In this novel you will find love stories told from different angles...and they are often open to intepretation. Who is a reliable narrator when it comes to love? Artemis isn’t exactly reliable either, she even says so herself. What does a reliable narrator even means and is there such a thing? The wonderful thing about this novel is that it shows there can be many views of the same event, that two lovers can feel betrayed at the same time, perhaps by the same action they both interpret (and cannot help themselves) in their own way.
As I said, only one of these three distinct voices belong to a woman living in our place and time. Artemis is a young student of Chinese origin trying to find her place in Canada. Both of her adoptive parents are white, which probably makes her feel a bit out of place for she is not exactly native and not exactly an immigrant. Perhaps this is to strengthen her connection with the Fox and the Poetess, to show that Artemis isn’t completely rooted in this material world, that her soul is so old that the modern world is a challenge for Artemis. Is Artemis meant to be a mystery or did the author had so much going on that she didn't manage to eleborate on everything? I can't tell for sure. Artemis' name reveals something of her character, but she is hard to understand. For most of the novel she is fairly passive and I must admit that made me feel frustrated at times. I know that Artemis is not meant to come off as a mortal vertical, I don’t have a problem with having a protagonist who isn’t exactly a saint but what bothered me is that she somehow doesn’t seem to be developing as a character. Only seen through fox’s eyes, she seems to come completely alive. That mystical aspect of the novels adds a new dimension to Artemis, but I think that there was more space for her character development. There were moments when Artemis’ relationships with other women seemed to cast a revealing light not just onto her, but on women she was with, but for most part it didn’t feel quite enough. I felt like something was missing, but I have hard time defining just what. Let’s get back to the novel and the actual story that gets shaped by these three narrations.
All these love stories told are tales of lesbian relationships. There is no place for romantic relationships between men and women in this novel, so if that is what you are looking for, you won't find it here. Relationship with men are often only alluded on, they’re never in a centre of any true love story. Men are defined only through their relationship with women, as a tool of getting something else, a sentimental memory or as an object that enables rivalry. I would say that these women character are authentically gay, which surely makes the novel more interesting. Women in thos novel are falling one for another, both in the stories of the old and those set in present time. That aspect of the novel was very refreshing. It is one of the things that makes it wonderfully original. Nevertheless, when it comes to love stories, I found the modern ones a bit lacking compared with those of the old. Another thing I liked is that it showed the complexity of women, how they are capable both for acts of great love and those of great cruelty. For me personally, the down side of the novel was characterization of modern characters (i.e. those that appear in Artemis’ narration) that ended up being less interesting than historical and fairy-tale ones.
I was surprised, given the fairy tale writing style, how real all the female characters in narrations of Fox and the Poetess seemed real. The fantasy element didn’t take anything away either, not at all. I loved that fantasy and historical aspect of the novel, it felt very genuine in its imaginative scope. Moreover, it was masterfully written. In fact, my favourite aspect of the novel was the narration of the Fox. Artemis wasn’t a character that was exactly likeable and the Poetess proved elusive and transcendental as good poetry ought to be, which means I enjoyed reading her passages but I didn’t really experience her as a distinct character/narrator. The Fox on the other hand, mesmerized me. If I were to be completely honest, I would have to say that the narrative following Artemis life was my least favourite one, for reasons I already explained. The characters are never explored in depth. In addition, there are some stereotypes in this story. It is a paradox that I found the stories told by the Poetess and the Fox more credible and better developed, especially as most of them are set in a distant time or place. Those women from far past seemed more real than their present day versions. Artemis, Diane, Mercy and Claude seem to be awfully similar at times, feeding on that victim glam that is so popular nowadays and starting drama for drama’s sake. None of them felt tangible and definable as a character, not in the way Fox did ( I don't mind the fact that a spirit that is about to turn 1000 years old seemed more real that present day characters, for what is reality in context of literature? I'm just making an observation about the novel and where there seems to be room for improvement).
That all being said, the way this novel ties everything up in the end is ingenious. I did enjoyed reading it, even if it was a bit predicatble at times. It deserves four starts easily, both for its satisfying ending and the unique beauty of its writing. It was well worth staying up late to finish reading it. As a drifted to sleep, I had a sensation there if turned the other way quickly enough, I would find that a friendly fox was looking at me. There is magic to be found in this novel.
May 18, 2021
Finally able to wrap up January's 2021 SFFBC Amazin' Eights Challenge book.
A broadly interpreted retelling of the Fox Myth from Chinese legends. Good, but my reading was too spread out to really enjoy. Much of the change/action/growth was unspoken or derived from the visible action - not my style of writing, so it was difficult (for me). But a great fit for others out there.
I have to finish this review later, but will need this quote from the afterword:
"Within the processes of race and racialization in this country there is a tendency to look to those with bodies like mine – dark-haired, dark-skinned and dark-eyed – as carriers of a certain kind of authenticity, or to put it another way, as a kind of native informant on an exotic and distant culture. So let me be very clear. I got this story from library books. I don’t read Chinese. I read it in English translation. And I am fine with that. I have very little interest in those old colonial tropes of the “authentic” because they are invested in the production of an exotic other in order to maintain the centrality of the white European subject. "
A broadly interpreted retelling of the Fox Myth from Chinese legends. Good, but my reading was too spread out to really enjoy. Much of the change/action/growth was unspoken or derived from the visible action - not my style of writing, so it was difficult (for me). But a great fit for others out there.
I have to finish this review later, but will need this quote from the afterword:
"Within the processes of race and racialization in this country there is a tendency to look to those with bodies like mine – dark-haired, dark-skinned and dark-eyed – as carriers of a certain kind of authenticity, or to put it another way, as a kind of native informant on an exotic and distant culture. So let me be very clear. I got this story from library books. I don’t read Chinese. I read it in English translation. And I am fine with that. I have very little interest in those old colonial tropes of the “authentic” because they are invested in the production of an exotic other in order to maintain the centrality of the white European subject. "
October 2, 2017
Not my cuppa. This had so many elements that I thought I would love — three separate and entertwining narratives! mythological fox trickster spirits! university students in Vancouver! lesbian women of colour! poetesses in ancient China! — but instead I found myself bored and skimming pages in an attempt to get it over with.
I don’t know if it was my current mood or if it’s just that the lyrical, poetic prose and lack of plot ground on my nerves and wasn’t to my taste. I can see what the author was trying to do, and I appreciate someone tackling race and identity and sexuality and Asian prejudice; some of the passages I highlighted most were about Artemis Wong’s struggles with identity & authenticity & the gap between being Chinese and Canadian and Chinese-Canadian. E.g. her time spent in Hong Kong and feeling alien and sticking out like a sore thumb despite everyone looking like her for once; it was a moment I recognised deeply because it rang so close to my own visits to Tokyo.
But overall, I lost patience with the book about halfway through because I just really, really need concrete plot in my novels.
I don’t know if it was my current mood or if it’s just that the lyrical, poetic prose and lack of plot ground on my nerves and wasn’t to my taste. I can see what the author was trying to do, and I appreciate someone tackling race and identity and sexuality and Asian prejudice; some of the passages I highlighted most were about Artemis Wong’s struggles with identity & authenticity & the gap between being Chinese and Canadian and Chinese-Canadian. E.g. her time spent in Hong Kong and feeling alien and sticking out like a sore thumb despite everyone looking like her for once; it was a moment I recognised deeply because it rang so close to my own visits to Tokyo.
But overall, I lost patience with the book about halfway through because I just really, really need concrete plot in my novels.
July 24, 2012
Definitely interesting. I read this book because a classmate in my Third World Women Writers class recommended the author. I was interested in the fox spirit mythology. I was also interested in reading books that dealt with some issues of gender.
My favorite voices (out of the three) were the fox and the poetess. I wasn't so interested in Artemis' (so much drama...) but it wasn't terrible. It was hard to get through at times (like I said, drama!) but I'm glad I read it. There were definitely fascinatingly poetic sections that I really loved and would have underlined/marked-up if it weren't a library book!
My favorite voices (out of the three) were the fox and the poetess. I wasn't so interested in Artemis' (so much drama...) but it wasn't terrible. It was hard to get through at times (like I said, drama!) but I'm glad I read it. There were definitely fascinatingly poetic sections that I really loved and would have underlined/marked-up if it weren't a library book!
July 2, 2013
The subject matter was interesting and I loved the Fox Spirit Mythology, but felt the character development of the 9th century Poetess was very incomplete. Most of the story revolves around Artemis, the young student living in Vancouver. She is not particularity likeable, but I believe it was the author’s intention to portray her this way. Her experiences are very typical of people in their early twenties in that era, living on their own for the first time. I personally would have liked more details about the 9th century Poetess’s life. I also felt somewhat unsatisfied with the ending. All that being said, it IS a novel that leaves an impression and has you thinking about it even when not reading it.
Read
January 1, 2021If the fox was with the poetess in the 9th century (800s) and it’s now the 1990s, wouldn’t the fox already be a thousand? (Also this is a publishing issue but blurb on the back of the book refers to Diane, Artemis, and Ming as American women and the book is set in Vancouver??)
Not my fave Larissa Lai, clearly a first book, but I did enjoy it!
Not my fave Larissa Lai, clearly a first book, but I did enjoy it!
May 16, 2019
Fifty pages into this book, I was enjoying it. There are three different time periods in the book, signposted by beautiful visual prints of a fox, a lantern, a book. The fox signifies the titular animal, a trickster demi-deity who wants to turn one thousand years old because then she can really do some impressive supernatural stuff. The lantern is the story of a girl about a thousand years ago in China, who meets a mysterious woman, gets married into an unusual family. The book take place in 1990's Vancouver (so there can be mix tapes?) with a young college student named Artemis Wong. Artemis was adopted, she's at loose ends, kind of in love with a photographer who might be gay so is not into her in that way, and who seems to attract all the wrong sorts of people, like Diane (I know), who scams guys for credit cards, breaks into and uses homes when the owners aren't there, that sort of thing.
Sooo, one hundred pages in, I was still waiting for all this to come together. The last two storylines are about fox hauntings, that much is clear, but they don't seem to have much else in common and I don't see how reading one story helps me learn anything about the other stories. It just feels like random story breaks and switches, like a needle skipping and scratching on a record (remember, it's the 90's in Toronto!). I don't much like Artemis because she's not so much a character as a blank slate who has things happen to her. Since the book is only 200 pages or so, I feel that in 100 pages you ought to see some coming together of plot lines if there's going to be any. Artemis embarrasses me for myself when I was that age, because she's got so little regard for herself, has no idea what to do when others act in ways that aren't good for her, and thinks jerks are cool. I skipped ahead, and the characters pretty much come to no good end. I don't want that kind of ghost story right now.
Sooo, one hundred pages in, I was still waiting for all this to come together. The last two storylines are about fox hauntings, that much is clear, but they don't seem to have much else in common and I don't see how reading one story helps me learn anything about the other stories. It just feels like random story breaks and switches, like a needle skipping and scratching on a record (remember, it's the 90's in Toronto!). I don't much like Artemis because she's not so much a character as a blank slate who has things happen to her. Since the book is only 200 pages or so, I feel that in 100 pages you ought to see some coming together of plot lines if there's going to be any. Artemis embarrasses me for myself when I was that age, because she's got so little regard for herself, has no idea what to do when others act in ways that aren't good for her, and thinks jerks are cool. I skipped ahead, and the characters pretty much come to no good end. I don't want that kind of ghost story right now.
abandoned
August 23, 2025Read through page 89. I was looking forward to this but unfortunately the style really isn’t working for me—I’m not sure why people are praising the prose as it’s rather plain, and also abrupt and distant in a way that can make it hard to follow. The primary thread follows an uninteresting yet vaguely unpleasant college student as she meanders aimlessly around her life. The other threads, following a shapeshifting fox and a woman in 9th century China (albeit with a 20th century voice) get much less page time and suffer most from the abruptness of it all. Stopped because it had become a struggle to drag myself through.
January 23, 2021
Challenging but worthwhile read with beautiful writing.
January 22, 2021
22 Jan 2021
Objective v. Subjective Rating: 3 stars v. 1 star
Reason: I can recognize why this would be a book a lot of people would love, I swear. I'm just not going to be one of them. DNF @54%.
Thoughts:
1. Well, that was a bit of a disappointment.
2. I didn't come into this book with high hopes because I knew it was going to be more literary and experimental than it was storytelling. I did hope it would get better with time, but it mostly just feet like more and more of the same.
3. This story is a split narrative. One set of sections is told from the pov of the titular immortal fox. The other follows the story of a poetess in medieval China. The final section follows a Chinese-Canadian girl. The Fox bits are a bit flowery for my taste but interesting enough nevertheless. The modern stuff is eye-wateringly boring and the prose somehow gets worse. The poetess bits hover somewhere between the two.
4. I like individual elements of this story- the split narrative, the foxes being foxes, the casual lesbianism, fantasy fiction set in historical China and so forth. The problem is they they don't cohesively come together to form a story. It's much more stream of consciousness than plot and not gonna lie, this could have used a bit more plot.
5. Everyone is having (mostly terrible) sex all of the time and I am so bored by that. I was bored by alot of things but I was really bored by that. It sent me into a constant spiral of what is wrong with me why am I reading this?
6. The prose is not always bad. I can admit that. But a few disconnected clever turns of phrase are definitely not worth the hours you spend on listless semi-angst mostly-ennui stuff that doesn't go anywhere.
7. Characters. There were characters? The poetess is bland but her circumstances were interesting. Artemis is bland and so is whatever happens in her life. The Fox is probably the best of the bunch, but her sections are short and rare and there's only so much they can salvage.
8. It's entirely possible that I'm just too dense and disconnected with the premise to understand what this book is trying to say. But that makes no difference to the fact that I found it neither enjoyable nor enlightening.
Objective v. Subjective Rating: 3 stars v. 1 star
Reason: I can recognize why this would be a book a lot of people would love, I swear. I'm just not going to be one of them. DNF @54%.
Thoughts:
1. Well, that was a bit of a disappointment.
2. I didn't come into this book with high hopes because I knew it was going to be more literary and experimental than it was storytelling. I did hope it would get better with time, but it mostly just feet like more and more of the same.
3. This story is a split narrative. One set of sections is told from the pov of the titular immortal fox. The other follows the story of a poetess in medieval China. The final section follows a Chinese-Canadian girl. The Fox bits are a bit flowery for my taste but interesting enough nevertheless. The modern stuff is eye-wateringly boring and the prose somehow gets worse. The poetess bits hover somewhere between the two.
4. I like individual elements of this story- the split narrative, the foxes being foxes, the casual lesbianism, fantasy fiction set in historical China and so forth. The problem is they they don't cohesively come together to form a story. It's much more stream of consciousness than plot and not gonna lie, this could have used a bit more plot.
5. Everyone is having (mostly terrible) sex all of the time and I am so bored by that. I was bored by alot of things but I was really bored by that. It sent me into a constant spiral of what is wrong with me why am I reading this?
6. The prose is not always bad. I can admit that. But a few disconnected clever turns of phrase are definitely not worth the hours you spend on listless semi-angst mostly-ennui stuff that doesn't go anywhere.
7. Characters. There were characters? The poetess is bland but her circumstances were interesting. Artemis is bland and so is whatever happens in her life. The Fox is probably the best of the bunch, but her sections are short and rare and there's only so much they can salvage.
8. It's entirely possible that I'm just too dense and disconnected with the premise to understand what this book is trying to say. But that makes no difference to the fact that I found it neither enjoyable nor enlightening.
January 12, 2021
Oh dear, I really wanted this one to work out better than it did, but in the end I just couldn’t connect to the characters, and that made this a struggle to get through.
What I liked:
The representation. I could relate to the immigrant experience, especially of a generation not belonging to one culture nor another. Speaking a language with an accent, or people assuming you don’t speak at all. Especially for its time, I appreciated the intersectionality of having a cast of queer women of color.
90s nostalgia. Little things like asking for a quarter to make a call. If someone is late, having no recourse except to wait and be patient, hoping they show up. Linear television.
The poetry of language. Lai can write some very pretty lines, with synesthetic blendings of color and smell and sound. I simply had to read aloud passages to friends to share them. (The first section of Part 2 was my favorite bit, if you’re curious.)
What I didn’t like:
The characters. Lai explains in her afterword that she made the characters unlikeable on purpose. That’s reassuring to know, because my goodness did I want to take Artemis by the shoulders and shake some sense into her! She has no will of her own, getting into bad relationships, complacently reforming herself to suits to whims of those around her.
The Lack of Plot:
I was about 2/3s of the way through, and still had no idea what this book was supposed to be about. Nothing happens. There’s no direction. No wants, no desires. Just lethargic characters… existing.
The Vagueness:
There are 3 different storylines, and for a while I was trying to figure out how they were intertwined or connected. Trying to search for hidden clues and references like a detective. But the whole thing is intentionally vague. You’re not supposed to figure it out. This is by design, as Lai also wanted to depict the immigrant disconnection from history and culture. But intentional or no, it made the whole thing rather pointless, and unsatisfying to read.
What I liked:
The representation. I could relate to the immigrant experience, especially of a generation not belonging to one culture nor another. Speaking a language with an accent, or people assuming you don’t speak at all. Especially for its time, I appreciated the intersectionality of having a cast of queer women of color.
90s nostalgia. Little things like asking for a quarter to make a call. If someone is late, having no recourse except to wait and be patient, hoping they show up. Linear television.
The poetry of language. Lai can write some very pretty lines, with synesthetic blendings of color and smell and sound. I simply had to read aloud passages to friends to share them. (The first section of Part 2 was my favorite bit, if you’re curious.)
What I didn’t like:
The characters. Lai explains in her afterword that she made the characters unlikeable on purpose. That’s reassuring to know, because my goodness did I want to take Artemis by the shoulders and shake some sense into her! She has no will of her own, getting into bad relationships, complacently reforming herself to suits to whims of those around her.
The Lack of Plot:
I was about 2/3s of the way through, and still had no idea what this book was supposed to be about. Nothing happens. There’s no direction. No wants, no desires. Just lethargic characters… existing.
The Vagueness:
There are 3 different storylines, and for a while I was trying to figure out how they were intertwined or connected. Trying to search for hidden clues and references like a detective. But the whole thing is intentionally vague. You’re not supposed to figure it out. This is by design, as Lai also wanted to depict the immigrant disconnection from history and culture. But intentional or no, it made the whole thing rather pointless, and unsatisfying to read.
April 22, 2022
The husband was smitten.
Is it my fault she ran off with the concubine?
When Fox is a Thousand shifts between a few different narratives, the first about a mythological immortal fox that can disguise itself as a woman. The second is about a young Chinese woman adopted and raised by white people, who struggles with both her cultural identity and her sexuality. The last is about a real-life medieval Chinese female poet, and her relationship with the fox. It's primarily about sex and desire between women, and is really beautifully written, with a playful fairy tale feel in the parts narrated by the fox.
Is it my fault she ran off with the concubine?
When Fox is a Thousand shifts between a few different narratives, the first about a mythological immortal fox that can disguise itself as a woman. The second is about a young Chinese woman adopted and raised by white people, who struggles with both her cultural identity and her sexuality. The last is about a real-life medieval Chinese female poet, and her relationship with the fox. It's primarily about sex and desire between women, and is really beautifully written, with a playful fairy tale feel in the parts narrated by the fox.
December 26, 2009
This is a fascinating book, told in three narrative strands which follow a poet of ancient China, a young woman in modern Vancouver and the fox spirit who haunts them both. The modern section was my least favorite, mostly due to the passivity and diffidence of the protagonist, but the writing was well done and I really liked what the author was doing in trying to bridge the Chinese-Canadian gap. This reminded me of Charles de Lint's work, while being much more solid.
September 9, 2017
this was very queer, very complex and even confusing but very engrossing all the same. the three entwined stories stretching across space and time explore Chinese womanhood and sexuality and the haunting of past traumas in a fresh take on the take on the lore of the fox spirit who seduces unsuspecting scholars.
March 22, 2019
I like the multiple perspectives and what Lai was trying to accomplish with this novel. People have called it atmospheric and languid, which is spot on, but it detracted from the novel for me because it was pretty monotonous. I never became invested in any of the characters and had a difficult time pushing myself to the end. It is a novel that works better as poetry than prose.
March 25, 2019
Super satisfied thus far with my recent decision to read nothing but postmodern lesbian fiction for the rest of my natural life (this is a Seminal Lesbian Novel and it’s insane that there’s only 50-odd reviews for it on here when it’s been out for over 20 years now)
January 18, 2021
I'll probably have to read this again. I liked the parallel story threads, but definitely think that I'll see more on a reread, possibly as intended by the author.
Read
April 22, 2025The woman I am about to tell you about was not afraid of the sea. She was afraid of the moon, the way it tugs at our blood.
What about our blood? I wanted to ask. How can something clutch at us from such a great distance?
Now I want to ask her if that's how fate works, but she isn't here.
a very interesting read, but not quite what i expected it to be. the story follows three perspectives/characters: in 9th century china the poetess/taoist nun yu hsuan-chi (a historical figure, though the facts regarding her life are limited); in 20th century vancouver chinese-canadian student artemis wong; and across the centuries the fox spirit, working towards her 1000th birthday and true immortality.
this is a very solid fantastical setup, so it did surprise me how much of this novel read as a coming of age litfic. while the titular fox serves at the overarching narrator tying the story threads together, artemis both takes up the most pagetime and is the thematic focus of the story. artemis is young, queer, the adoptive asian daughter of white parents. through her we explore questions of identity, sexuality, race and racism, orientalism, cultural memory and legacies, diaspora, immigration, assimilation vs integration, relationships between women, and the many and messy intersections of all these things.
the other two narratives, much more explicitly magical, often feel like they're there in service of artemis' story, to create parallels and thematic echoes - the stories don't explicitly and directly link up until fairly late in the novel. though there are fantastical things happening at the corners of artemis' life, she is for most of the story unable to perceive them or unwilling to acknowledge them, and so for large chunks of text you are in fact reading contemporary fiction, in essence.
not bad contemporary fiction, mind! not by any means. but not what i was hoping for, to tell the truth, and i found myself looking forward to the fox and yu hsuan-chi (who we get the least of, alas ) more. at one point reading about artemis' 5th toxic friendship got a bit wearying, and reading about how this one woman specifically wreaked havoc upon seemingly every queer asian woman in late 20th century vancouver got especially wearying. if my (100% completely baseless, sorry ms lai if you god forbid ever read this) assumption that the author was exorcising some demons with that one is at all true, my condolences and i hope it felt good to get it out. but jesus.
the resolution and tying together of the three narrative strands, when it comes, is almost underwhelming, but as an appreciator of understated vibesy climaxes i solidly enjoyed this. the writing, especially in the fox sections, is often a bit trippy and dreamy, and only sometimes a bit too clever for its own good.
ultimately i am glad i checked this out finally, it's been on my tbr for an age and it was an interesting experience, despite not being a new favourite.
June 6, 2017
What a beautiful, meaty read. I haven't read something with so much intent in every word in a very long time. Despite being rooted in mythology, even paranormal, the one word that describes this entire book is: human. There are no heroes, just people. There's no blinding epiphany, just life and life's uncertainties. History isn't beautiful when it's told as humanity created it. All of this illustrated with some of the most beautiful imagery I've encountered in a long time.
Multiple slower rereads will help me peace out the complexities of themes about race, sexuality, and identity (among a few). For now I'll remember how beautifully unsettling this novel is.
Multiple slower rereads will help me peace out the complexities of themes about race, sexuality, and identity (among a few). For now I'll remember how beautifully unsettling this novel is.
April 17, 2021
This one had some great moments, but it didn’t hit for me, and certainly didn’t have the impact Salt Fish Girl had. Still enjoyed the historically-conscious, well-researched blending of myth and contemporary fiction, and was happy to reencounter some of Lai’s trademark themes and symbols.
I think if you’re starting out with Lai and read this *before* SFG, you’ll have a really different reaction. Take that into account!
I think if you’re starting out with Lai and read this *before* SFG, you’ll have a really different reaction. Take that into account!
April 13, 2022
The connections btw the stories and characters were sometimes a little hard to follow. But i loved the incorporation of the folktales and fox spirit.
October 2, 2025
I did not care for this hhhhhhhh
April 16, 2014
Like the fox of Eastern mythology, this book is rather mysterious. It lacks a traditional plot with a clear climax, protagonist, and antagonist, yet the writing style and the realism of the characters managed to hold my interest to the end.
The story has three voices: a fox nearing age 1000 speaks some parts, a Chinese poetess who lived around 1000 years ago speaks others, and a third-person narrator in the late 80s recounts the life of a Chinese-Canadian woman named Artemis in the rest. Neither the two characters nor the narrator are omniscient - individuals' emotions or motives are mostly evidenced by their actions, and their behavior and words are sometimes impulsive, inaccurate, and/or baffling. I never felt like I understood any of them fully, and they weren't even always likeable, but they all (even the fox!) were relatably human and fallible.
The book explores the ambiguity of identity, especially ethnic and gender identity. Artemis and her acquaintances never seem quite at peace with their Asian-Canadian identities: they are aware in varying degrees of their removal from the 'white' culture in which they live. The characters' sexuality is not clearly defined, either. Only one character is overtly labeled as gay; the others form physical relationships with men or women with apparent ease (at least, there is no self-questioning on this point).
I say "explores," but there is no discovery of any truth or position in the book. The story records actions and words in different settings and leaves the reader feeling as though he or she has sampled many dishes but ordered none: a strange feeling, but not an unsatisfactory one.
The story has three voices: a fox nearing age 1000 speaks some parts, a Chinese poetess who lived around 1000 years ago speaks others, and a third-person narrator in the late 80s recounts the life of a Chinese-Canadian woman named Artemis in the rest. Neither the two characters nor the narrator are omniscient - individuals' emotions or motives are mostly evidenced by their actions, and their behavior and words are sometimes impulsive, inaccurate, and/or baffling. I never felt like I understood any of them fully, and they weren't even always likeable, but they all (even the fox!) were relatably human and fallible.
The book explores the ambiguity of identity, especially ethnic and gender identity. Artemis and her acquaintances never seem quite at peace with their Asian-Canadian identities: they are aware in varying degrees of their removal from the 'white' culture in which they live. The characters' sexuality is not clearly defined, either. Only one character is overtly labeled as gay; the others form physical relationships with men or women with apparent ease (at least, there is no self-questioning on this point).
I say "explores," but there is no discovery of any truth or position in the book. The story records actions and words in different settings and leaves the reader feeling as though he or she has sampled many dishes but ordered none: a strange feeling, but not an unsatisfactory one.
August 11, 2013
I enjoyed this book - it was like writing three short stories that might or might not have some relation to each other. The fox is closing in on a thousand years, an age when she will be able to change her form at will, rather than relying on reanimated corpses. A parallel story involves a famous, doomed 11th century Chinese poetess who is on trial for beating her servant and lover to death out of jealousy. The last member of the trio is Artemis Wong, an adopted child of Canadian parents who is split between wanting to be thoroughly Canadian despite her adoptive parents insistence on keeping her 'in touch' with her Chinese background. Adding to her mental struggles are the friends and lovers who alternately enrich her life only to leave her one way or another and the biological mother who suddenly appears wanting to meet her after 20 years. The fox cavorts in and out of the plot, causing mischief as only an immortal fox can.
I assumed all these plots would coalesce and they did, more or less. Lai leaves some issues unresolved, which is more satisfying in a novel that has a more folktale-like feel to it. What really becomes of Artemis and her mother? Who killed her friend, Mercy? And how will the fox figure into the future of all the human characters? It's left up to the reader's imagination.
Lai's writing is beautiful. She is able to successfully shift her prose between folktale, historical memoir and modern-day search for self and happiness with skill and ease. Definitely worth the read.
I assumed all these plots would coalesce and they did, more or less. Lai leaves some issues unresolved, which is more satisfying in a novel that has a more folktale-like feel to it. What really becomes of Artemis and her mother? Who killed her friend, Mercy? And how will the fox figure into the future of all the human characters? It's left up to the reader's imagination.
Lai's writing is beautiful. She is able to successfully shift her prose between folktale, historical memoir and modern-day search for self and happiness with skill and ease. Definitely worth the read.
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