What do you think?
Rate this book
Yiwu
Can dreams come true? They can if you win the lottery, which promises to provide what your heart desires. For a humble shopkeeper in Yiwu, it’s a living, selling lottery tickets. Until a winning ticket opens up mysteries he’d never imagined. Lavie Tidha's Yiwu is a Tor.com Original short story.At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
26 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 23, 2018
4 people are currently reading
225 people want to read
About the author
Lavie Tidhar
394 books744 followersLavie Tidhar was raised on a kibbutz in Israel. He has travelled extensively since he was a teenager, living in South Africa, the UK, Laos, and the small island nation of Vanuatu.
Tidhar began publishing with a poetry collection in Hebrew in 1998, but soon moved to fiction, becoming a prolific author of short stories early in the 21st century.
Temporal Spiders, Spatial Webs won the 2003 Clarke-Bradbury competition, sponsored by the European Space Agency, while The Night Train (2010) was a Sturgeon Award finalist.
Linked story collection HebrewPunk (2007) contains stories of Jewish pulp fantasy.
He co-wrote dark fantasy novel The Tel Aviv Dossier (2009) with Nir Yaniv. The Bookman Histories series, combining literary and historical characters with steampunk elements, includes The Bookman (2010), Camera Obscura (2011), and The Great Game (2012).
Standalone novel Osama (2011) combines pulp adventure with a sophisticated look at the impact of terrorism. It won the 2012 World Fantasy Award, and was a finalist for the Campbell Memorial Award, British Science Fiction Award, and a Kitschie.
His latest novels are Martian Sands and The Violent Century.
Much of Tidhar’s best work is done at novella length, including An Occupation of Angels (2005), Cloud Permutations (2010), British Fantasy Award winner Gorel and the Pot-Bellied God (2011), and Jesus & the Eightfold Path (2011).
Tidhar advocates bringing international SF to a wider audience, and has edited The Apex Book of World SF (2009) and The Apex Book of World SF 2 (2012).
He is also editor-in-chief of the World SF Blog , and in 2011 was a finalist for a World Fantasy Award for his work there.
He also edited A Dick and Jane Primer for Adults (2008); wrote Michael Marshall Smith: The Annotated Bibliography (2004); wrote weird picture book Going to The Moon (2012, with artist Paul McCaffery); and scripted one-shot comic Adolf Hitler’s I Dream of Ants! (2012, with artist Neil Struthers).
Tidhar lives with his wife in London.
Tidhar began publishing with a poetry collection in Hebrew in 1998, but soon moved to fiction, becoming a prolific author of short stories early in the 21st century.
Temporal Spiders, Spatial Webs won the 2003 Clarke-Bradbury competition, sponsored by the European Space Agency, while The Night Train (2010) was a Sturgeon Award finalist.
Linked story collection HebrewPunk (2007) contains stories of Jewish pulp fantasy.
He co-wrote dark fantasy novel The Tel Aviv Dossier (2009) with Nir Yaniv. The Bookman Histories series, combining literary and historical characters with steampunk elements, includes The Bookman (2010), Camera Obscura (2011), and The Great Game (2012).
Standalone novel Osama (2011) combines pulp adventure with a sophisticated look at the impact of terrorism. It won the 2012 World Fantasy Award, and was a finalist for the Campbell Memorial Award, British Science Fiction Award, and a Kitschie.
His latest novels are Martian Sands and The Violent Century.
Much of Tidhar’s best work is done at novella length, including An Occupation of Angels (2005), Cloud Permutations (2010), British Fantasy Award winner Gorel and the Pot-Bellied God (2011), and Jesus & the Eightfold Path (2011).
Tidhar advocates bringing international SF to a wider audience, and has edited The Apex Book of World SF (2009) and The Apex Book of World SF 2 (2012).
He is also editor-in-chief of the World SF Blog , and in 2011 was a finalist for a World Fantasy Award for his work there.
He also edited A Dick and Jane Primer for Adults (2008); wrote Michael Marshall Smith: The Annotated Bibliography (2004); wrote weird picture book Going to The Moon (2012, with artist Paul McCaffery); and scripted one-shot comic Adolf Hitler’s I Dream of Ants! (2012, with artist Neil Struthers).
Tidhar lives with his wife in London.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 51 reviews
September 10, 2018
Esham ate shaved ice with lychee syrup. It had been a strange day, he thought.
set in near-future yiwu, china, this is an urban fantasy story whose premise is infused with the kind of magical realism that makes it feel very much like classical folklore until the more contemporary bits creep in and it turns into a melting pot of many genres while being its own thing. a lottery system where winning grants you your true heart's desire, and the one time it...doesn't. it's a short n' sweet one, and that means - DRUM ROLL - short review for a short story!!!
read it for yourself here:
https://www.tor.com/2018/05/23/yiwu-l...
come to my blog!
June 19, 2018
Check out all my short SFF reviews at https://1000yearplan.com/2018/06/18/t...
Tidhar’s futuristic science-fantasy fable is the story of Esham, who runs a booth selling lottery tickets in the Chinese city of Yiwu. The lottery is basically magic, as winners are granted their fondest wish – the first time Esham sells a winning ticket, the winner transforms into an ibis and flies away. But, much later, when one of his regular customers, Ms. Qiu, buys a winning ticket, nothing happens. The lady herself shrugs it off and leaves the ticket behind, but Esham can’t let it go, and he sojourns to lottery HQ to find out what went wrong. The story is likely to be off-putting to readers who need their SFnal elements kept away from their fantastical ones, the way some people freak out when the veggies are touching the mashers on their dinner plate. The basic rules of physical science and logic are brashly disregarded in “Yiwu”. The “tech” behind how the lottery supposedly works is dubiously explained (or unexplained) in mythical terms, and simply walking through an office door can transport one to outer space. These whimsical suspensions of disbelief in Tidhar’s stories aren’t beside the point, though, nor are they lazy excuses for a lack of scientific rigor. Like his spiritual ancestors (Dick, Zelazny, Ballard, etc.) supposed, science fiction is just as fanciful as a folk tale, and a writer shouldn’t have to be anchored to dogma to make art that matters. The important thing about “Yiwu” is that it engages the adult SFF reader’s chimerical impulses on the most fundamental level, appealing to a childlike wonder sans childish comportment.
Tidhar’s futuristic science-fantasy fable is the story of Esham, who runs a booth selling lottery tickets in the Chinese city of Yiwu. The lottery is basically magic, as winners are granted their fondest wish – the first time Esham sells a winning ticket, the winner transforms into an ibis and flies away. But, much later, when one of his regular customers, Ms. Qiu, buys a winning ticket, nothing happens. The lady herself shrugs it off and leaves the ticket behind, but Esham can’t let it go, and he sojourns to lottery HQ to find out what went wrong. The story is likely to be off-putting to readers who need their SFnal elements kept away from their fantastical ones, the way some people freak out when the veggies are touching the mashers on their dinner plate. The basic rules of physical science and logic are brashly disregarded in “Yiwu”. The “tech” behind how the lottery supposedly works is dubiously explained (or unexplained) in mythical terms, and simply walking through an office door can transport one to outer space. These whimsical suspensions of disbelief in Tidhar’s stories aren’t beside the point, though, nor are they lazy excuses for a lack of scientific rigor. Like his spiritual ancestors (Dick, Zelazny, Ballard, etc.) supposed, science fiction is just as fanciful as a folk tale, and a writer shouldn’t have to be anchored to dogma to make art that matters. The important thing about “Yiwu” is that it engages the adult SFF reader’s chimerical impulses on the most fundamental level, appealing to a childlike wonder sans childish comportment.
June 30, 2018
His accommodation was free and his needs were few, and only the rich, as the old proverb goes, have time to dream. But that’s what the lottery was for, he thought. For the poor to have dreams.
Absolutely fantastic short story from Lavie Tidhar - a whole universe is built in just a few words. Nothing I could say would do it justice, so read it free here: https://www.tor.com/2018/05/23/yiwu-l...
Absolutely fantastic short story from Lavie Tidhar - a whole universe is built in just a few words. Nothing I could say would do it justice, so read it free here: https://www.tor.com/2018/05/23/yiwu-l...
December 19, 2018
Errr... I THINK I get it? Not bad but I need a tad more to feel confident in my interpretation of the ending. If it was a little clearer, four stars. As it stands now, 3 stars.
Edit: Dec 2018-LeVar Burton Reads Podcast offering. Makes more sense when hearing it. 3.5 stars, not overly impressed, so staying at 3 stars.
Edit: Dec 2018-LeVar Burton Reads Podcast offering. Makes more sense when hearing it. 3.5 stars, not overly impressed, so staying at 3 stars.
September 9, 2020
Yiwu is a short story that introduces the reader to a futuristic setting, where the main character is selling lottery tickets to different people that are described in a few paragraphs. The writer does manage to explain the main narrator in such a short length and to kind of present the new reality to the reader. However, it still felt too short for the universe that they wanted to create. However, overall, it was a nice read.
May 1, 2019
Read this review and others on my blog!
I feel a bit like Jenna Marbles right now. “We-put-out-new-videos-every-Wednesday-slash-Thursday-SUBSCRIBE!!!!” Sometimes life happens, and you run a little late. This week it was health stuff… But I’m here now and ready to rumble. 🙂
So this week I returned yet again to Tor.com to check out their original fiction. I was intrigued by this story by Lavie Tidhar, since I have a passion for and academic background relating to the Chinese language and culture, so “Yiwu” it was. You can read the short story here…
I liked this story… okay. I appreciated the focus on environmental details in the story, but there were just so many of them that it gave an overall jumbled effect.
Used a bit more sparingly and with greater care, these details could have done a great job setting the scene (I’m thinking specifically of Haruki Murakami, who’s an expert at this sort of thing), but here the narrative felt cluttered by details that gave the impression they were only there to grant exotic flair.
The sparse plot, too, I was only halfway invested in. Once we got to Esham visiting the lottery office, I was getting a bit excited, since it seemed like we were going to get a chance to peek at the wizard behind the curtain. I was definitely wondering if everything thus far was some sort of virtual reality… and maybe it is? But the author shields us from garnering any further truths, which just left me a bit frustrated. I wanted more of a concrete look at the realities of this mysterious world, but the simple ending just left me a bit annoyed. So I’ll give this three stars for some nice imagery and the tantalizing feeling of being just about to see the cogs that are making this world tick… But overall I just wanted more substance.
I feel a bit like Jenna Marbles right now. “We-put-out-new-videos-every-Wednesday-slash-Thursday-SUBSCRIBE!!!!” Sometimes life happens, and you run a little late. This week it was health stuff… But I’m here now and ready to rumble. 🙂
So this week I returned yet again to Tor.com to check out their original fiction. I was intrigued by this story by Lavie Tidhar, since I have a passion for and academic background relating to the Chinese language and culture, so “Yiwu” it was. You can read the short story here…
I liked this story… okay. I appreciated the focus on environmental details in the story, but there were just so many of them that it gave an overall jumbled effect.
The air smelled of hot leather, shoe polish, fried garlic, knockoff Chanel No. 5 perfume, uncollected garbage, frangipani and the recycled air blown out of a thousand air conditioners.
Used a bit more sparingly and with greater care, these details could have done a great job setting the scene (I’m thinking specifically of Haruki Murakami, who’s an expert at this sort of thing), but here the narrative felt cluttered by details that gave the impression they were only there to grant exotic flair.
The sparse plot, too, I was only halfway invested in. Once we got to Esham visiting the lottery office, I was getting a bit excited, since it seemed like we were going to get a chance to peek at the wizard behind the curtain. I was definitely wondering if everything thus far was some sort of virtual reality… and maybe it is? But the author shields us from garnering any further truths, which just left me a bit frustrated. I wanted more of a concrete look at the realities of this mysterious world, but the simple ending just left me a bit annoyed. So I’ll give this three stars for some nice imagery and the tantalizing feeling of being just about to see the cogs that are making this world tick… But overall I just wanted more substance.
December 7, 2020
✨🌟 8.25 out of 10 stars 🌟✨
Confusing but creative. It has potential and I will certainly read it again if it in longer format.
Keywords: short story, science fiction, fantasy, far future
REVIEW
Yiwu tells about a lottery seller named Eshammudin in a bizarre world of Yiwu. The story is really bizarre and confusing but also mesmerizing to read. I don't know what else can be said about this other than it certainly has a lot of potentials.
Confusing but creative. It has potential and I will certainly read it again if it in longer format.
Keywords: short story, science fiction, fantasy, far future
REVIEW
Yiwu tells about a lottery seller named Eshammudin in a bizarre world of Yiwu. The story is really bizarre and confusing but also mesmerizing to read. I don't know what else can be said about this other than it certainly has a lot of potentials.
December 1, 2018
Story 1 in my 24 Days of Shorts
What is your heart's desire?? Do you know? Would you recognize it?
This is one of those fantastic stories that is short in words but enormous in thoughts! Set in far-future Yiwu, China, the city is described exquisitely, with just enough detail to transport you there, but never too much detail. This was just right.
read it for yourself here:
https://www.tor.com/2018/05/23/yiwu-l...
My 24 Days of Shorts
1. Yiwu by Lavie Tidhar
2. The Night Cyclist by Stephen Graham Jones
3. AI and the Trolley Problem by Pat Cadigan
4. Sleeper by Jo Walton
5. She Commands Me and I Obey by Ann Leckie
6. Your Orisons May Be Recorded by Laurie Penny
7. This World is Full of Monsters by Jeff VanderMeer
8. The Lady Astronaut of Mars by Mary Robinette Kowal
9. Triquetra by Kirstyn McDermott
10. A Human Stain by Kelly Robson
11. Our King and His Court by Rich Larson
12. Errata by Jeff VanderMeer
13. Night's Slow Poison by Ann Leckie
14. A Kiss With Teeth by Max Gladstone
15. God Product by Alyssa Wong
16. Our Faces, Radiant Sisters, Our Faces Full of Light! by Kameron Hurley
17. The Perilous Life of Jade Yeo by Zen Cho
18. The Devil in America by Kai Ashante Wilson
19. Blue is a Darkness Weakened by Light by Sarah McCarry
20. The Too-Clever Fox by Leigh Bardugo
21. Daughter of Necessity by Marie Brennan
22. Red as Blood and White as Bone by Theodora GossRobert Charles Wilson
23. 'Tis the Season by China Miéville
24. Julian: A Christmas Story by Robert Charles Wilson
And then she smiled.
And then she turned into a black-headed ibis and flew away into the sky.
What is your heart's desire?? Do you know? Would you recognize it?
This is one of those fantastic stories that is short in words but enormous in thoughts! Set in far-future Yiwu, China, the city is described exquisitely, with just enough detail to transport you there, but never too much detail. This was just right.
read it for yourself here:
https://www.tor.com/2018/05/23/yiwu-l...
My 24 Days of Shorts
1. Yiwu by Lavie Tidhar
2. The Night Cyclist by Stephen Graham Jones
3. AI and the Trolley Problem by Pat Cadigan
4. Sleeper by Jo Walton
5. She Commands Me and I Obey by Ann Leckie
6. Your Orisons May Be Recorded by Laurie Penny
7. This World is Full of Monsters by Jeff VanderMeer
8. The Lady Astronaut of Mars by Mary Robinette Kowal
9. Triquetra by Kirstyn McDermott
10. A Human Stain by Kelly Robson
11. Our King and His Court by Rich Larson
12. Errata by Jeff VanderMeer
13. Night's Slow Poison by Ann Leckie
14. A Kiss With Teeth by Max Gladstone
15. God Product by Alyssa Wong
16. Our Faces, Radiant Sisters, Our Faces Full of Light! by Kameron Hurley
17. The Perilous Life of Jade Yeo by Zen Cho
18. The Devil in America by Kai Ashante Wilson
19. Blue is a Darkness Weakened by Light by Sarah McCarry
20. The Too-Clever Fox by Leigh Bardugo
21. Daughter of Necessity by Marie Brennan
22. Red as Blood and White as Bone by Theodora GossRobert Charles Wilson
23. 'Tis the Season by China Miéville
24. Julian: A Christmas Story by Robert Charles Wilson
April 22, 2021
A very quick peak at a mysterious future where hope maybe shouldn't be quite as hard to come by as everyone thinks.
December 2, 2022
Every morning he sat up in his cot and brushed his teeth in the sink and washed his face and his armpits and he drank a cup of tea. Then he unfolded the walls of the lottery booth and prepared to welcome the day. If the previous day’s take was good, he might walk to a nearby stall for a bowl of congee. If the take was not good, he would usually forego breakfast. His accommodation was free and his needs were few, and only the rich, as the old proverb goes, have time to dream. But that’s what the lottery was for, he thought. For the poor to have dreams.
This is a gem of a story. I was apprehensive when romance arrived, but I shouldn't have been. I was apprehensive at almost every possibility that presented itself as the tale wound on, but I needn't have been. There is the seed of a greater lesson here, but I will not learn it. Fitting, really, for this little story.
Available for free at Tor, and you should absolutely give it a scratch:
https://www.tor.com/2018/05/23/yiwu-l...
2022 Short Story Advent Calendar
And hello December! It's time for the 2022 Advent Calendar. Maybe this year I'll actually manage to finish it. I learned from my experiment last year that reading from multiple collections does not work for me, so I'm trying to clean up some free standing short stories this year, and I have a lot of Tor shorts to go. Perhaps a few other things. One short story every day, and I will update links as I go.
12/01/22: Yiwu
This is a gem of a story. I was apprehensive when romance arrived, but I shouldn't have been. I was apprehensive at almost every possibility that presented itself as the tale wound on, but I needn't have been. There is the seed of a greater lesson here, but I will not learn it. Fitting, really, for this little story.
Available for free at Tor, and you should absolutely give it a scratch:
https://www.tor.com/2018/05/23/yiwu-l...
2022 Short Story Advent Calendar
And hello December! It's time for the 2022 Advent Calendar. Maybe this year I'll actually manage to finish it. I learned from my experiment last year that reading from multiple collections does not work for me, so I'm trying to clean up some free standing short stories this year, and I have a lot of Tor shorts to go. Perhaps a few other things. One short story every day, and I will update links as I go.
12/01/22: Yiwu
May 19, 2024
really ornate and packed with tiny details. science fiction in a futuristic mishmashed oriental style. he ate a bowl of crossing-the-bridge noodles at a yunnanese stall, then had sweetened mint tea at a lebanese café near the zone 7 mosque, and then he walked slowly back. two blind musicians played the guqin outside pig sty alley, and the air was perfumed with wisteria. [ . . . ] that night, esham drew the walls of his stall-home down and sat inside. he tuned in to the latest episode of his favourite soap, chains of assembly, which broadcast across the hub network of the conversation in near space, all the way from mars. in the air before him, the beautiful maharani argued with johnny novum inside her domed palace, as ice meteorites fell onto the red sands far in the distance. esham ate shaved ice with lychee syrup. it had been a strange day, he thought.
November 18, 2020
Brilliant! I've really been enjoying Tidhar's stories and they are at the forefront of my favorite SF lately. Tidhar writes with exciting lyrical beauty and reading this story, while perfect for its length, made me wish it continued on further. Tidhar's 'Yiwu' has the feel of a future stewpot where the world's cultures are all simmering together, like Bladerunner but without all the dark gloom and rain, and off-world travel is possible through seemingly hallucinogenic states of mind. Winning the lottery, as is told in this story, creates magical possibilities, some greater than others. I loved Tidhar's meshing of the familiar, common, everyday humdrum within the exotic futurist setting of the 'Zones'. Definitely one of my fave reads this year.
August 19, 2018
Ehhhh okay I get the message of this jumbled little parable, but my mind kept wandering, so I can't give more than 2.5 stars. It had too much unnecessary description, and was lacking in drama and energy.
May 31, 2018
Fascinating and whimsical magical story about lottery ticket seller in Yiwu.
October 8, 2018
4.0⭐ “ There were others. They came and went like the tides..”
**spoilers**
If you’re here, and you’re following my reviews, thank you for rolling with me. We’re on episode 35 of Stitcher’s LeVar Burton Reads, and we’re gifted with "Yiwu" by Lavie Tidhar.
Once in a while, I’ll watch or read some kind of science fiction that reminds me that I live in science fiction. Someone in a greatly distance past dreamed up the place I’m in now. “Imagine a world,” they say to a friend, “Where we can keep food cold and safe to eat for days, or even years.” “Imagine if we could go faster than trains in our own little personal railcars, and control where they go, and how far, and when they stopped.” “Imagine being able to send someone a letter anywhere in the world in seconds instead of months.” “Imagine a machine that could play chess with me on a Sunday if everyone was busy that day.”
We drive cars everyday without thinking about them, but imagine how dazzling and overwhelming our highways might appear to a civilization that has so far, only walked.
Here we are, living in a science fiction, and most of us don’t even know it. I think of scenes in Harry Potter where letters at the ministry of magic fold themselves into little animals and scurry off to their recipient. Isn’t it just as amazing that our letters fly through digital, invisible space and reach their recipient? But we’ve lost the enchantment, just like wizards have probably lost enchantment to origami email. Knowing how it works might be disillusioning, but Tidhar knows, and his story reminded me today. Tidhar sees where we are, and might just see some version of where we’ll go next.
I love the simplicity of this character. He’s been through terrible tribulation, and most days it’s enough to earn a living, have a decent meal, and keep ends met. He has a whole world in front of him asking for more—asking for it all, in fact. But he’s not judgmental, and I like that about him. He could sneer at the waste of spending money on an unlikely chance, but he seems to have a subtle appreciation for the patrons. He makes small connections with them, and that made him sort of sweet and endearing, if not a little distance.
I have a small theory about this, but I’m probably wrong. I think the automaton knew she couldn’t qualify for the win, because her heart was biologically different. But, we saw she had a family and that she was happy, so she had some kind of heart. It was a heart that the lottery wasn't designed for, but it was a heart that recognized Esham’s value. I think she was always buying a ticket for him, always hoping to win for him.
I think when she walked away, she meant for the ticket to default back to him, but the card didn’t work because in the same way the card can’t bring the dead back to life, it cannot force people to be in love. It has to happen on its own, so the card became null. The lottery is the lottery, so who knows? Fun to think about though, hmm?
┐(ﾟ～ﾟ)┌
Love happened for him anyway. Some people have all the luck <3
This story is blissfully spiritual, mechanical and human.
Thanks for reading, and If you wanna chat about the latest LBR episodes, hit me up in the comments and come meet up with us at LeVar Burton Reads: The Community on Facebook.
- 📚☕♥
**spoilers**
If you’re here, and you’re following my reviews, thank you for rolling with me. We’re on episode 35 of Stitcher’s LeVar Burton Reads, and we’re gifted with "Yiwu" by Lavie Tidhar.
Once in a while, I’ll watch or read some kind of science fiction that reminds me that I live in science fiction. Someone in a greatly distance past dreamed up the place I’m in now. “Imagine a world,” they say to a friend, “Where we can keep food cold and safe to eat for days, or even years.” “Imagine if we could go faster than trains in our own little personal railcars, and control where they go, and how far, and when they stopped.” “Imagine being able to send someone a letter anywhere in the world in seconds instead of months.” “Imagine a machine that could play chess with me on a Sunday if everyone was busy that day.”
We drive cars everyday without thinking about them, but imagine how dazzling and overwhelming our highways might appear to a civilization that has so far, only walked.
Here we are, living in a science fiction, and most of us don’t even know it. I think of scenes in Harry Potter where letters at the ministry of magic fold themselves into little animals and scurry off to their recipient. Isn’t it just as amazing that our letters fly through digital, invisible space and reach their recipient? But we’ve lost the enchantment, just like wizards have probably lost enchantment to origami email. Knowing how it works might be disillusioning, but Tidhar knows, and his story reminded me today. Tidhar sees where we are, and might just see some version of where we’ll go next.
I love the simplicity of this character. He’s been through terrible tribulation, and most days it’s enough to earn a living, have a decent meal, and keep ends met. He has a whole world in front of him asking for more—asking for it all, in fact. But he’s not judgmental, and I like that about him. He could sneer at the waste of spending money on an unlikely chance, but he seems to have a subtle appreciation for the patrons. He makes small connections with them, and that made him sort of sweet and endearing, if not a little distance.
I have a small theory about this, but I’m probably wrong. I think the automaton knew she couldn’t qualify for the win, because her heart was biologically different. But, we saw she had a family and that she was happy, so she had some kind of heart. It was a heart that the lottery wasn't designed for, but it was a heart that recognized Esham’s value. I think she was always buying a ticket for him, always hoping to win for him.
I think when she walked away, she meant for the ticket to default back to him, but the card didn’t work because in the same way the card can’t bring the dead back to life, it cannot force people to be in love. It has to happen on its own, so the card became null. The lottery is the lottery, so who knows? Fun to think about though, hmm?
┐(ﾟ～ﾟ)┌
Love happened for him anyway. Some people have all the luck <3
This story is blissfully spiritual, mechanical and human.
Thanks for reading, and If you wanna chat about the latest LBR episodes, hit me up in the comments and come meet up with us at LeVar Burton Reads: The Community on Facebook.
- 📚☕♥
June 3, 2019
I was half expecting the town of Yiwu to be a mechanized contraption as in Westworld. What a strange and lovely story.
September 4, 2022
Yiwu by author Lavie Tidhar is a short urban fantasy story you can read for free on the Tor.com site https://www.tor.com/2018/05/23/yiwu-l...
Can dreams come true? They can if you win the lottery, which promises to provide what your heart desires. For a humble shopkeeper in Yiwu, it’s a living, selling lottery tickets. Until a winning ticket opens up mysteries he’d never imagined.
A wonderful melting pot. Amazing how much fabulous world building Thidar can put into 26 pages.
Themes: Yiwu China, a lottery stall in Zone 7, Ms Qiu.
4 Stars
Can dreams come true? They can if you win the lottery, which promises to provide what your heart desires. For a humble shopkeeper in Yiwu, it’s a living, selling lottery tickets. Until a winning ticket opens up mysteries he’d never imagined.
A wonderful melting pot. Amazing how much fabulous world building Thidar can put into 26 pages.
Themes: Yiwu China, a lottery stall in Zone 7, Ms Qiu.
4 Stars
October 2, 2018
It would be interesting to visit Yiwu.
May 28, 2018
As always, I enjoy Lavie's writing immensely. This is the sort of story that has subtle flavours and plays with notions of reality. I read it over at the Tor.com website at https://www.tor.com/2018/05/23/yiwu-l...
October 21, 2018
Thanks to Levar Burton for granting my hearts desire, reading me this delightful tale of what we all truly want.
August 11, 2020
A trama tecida por Lavie Tidhar parece simples. Vamos rever: um vendedor de loteria no futuro vende tickets de loteria para todo o tipo de pessoa. Logo na primeira página do conto ele fala que só viu três vencedores e as coisas mais estranhas aconteceram: uma vez começaram a cair coisas estranhas do céu, na segunda, o vencedor foi levado por dois caras de terno e na terceira, todas as estátuas do mundo inteiro dançaram ao som de k-pop por cinco minutos. Desejos absolutamente bizarros. Mas, a senhora Qiu é um mistério para ele. O que aconteceu com ela fez com que ele fosse tentar descobrir o inimaginável. Mais do que isso eu não posso contar.
Lavie Tidhar tem uma escrita bem redondinha, mas como o conto é bem estranho, o leitor precisa ficar atento à narrativa. Ainda mais porque a história é curtinha. A narrativa vai ficando cada vez mais estranha à medida em que vai avançando. E esse estranhamento vai se dando desde à apresentação de situações até os personagens envolvidos. Lá pelo final, vamos ver coisas completamente fora da realidade com uma percepção até de normalidade frente ao que já passamos parágrafos antes. É essa noção de crescendo na estranheza que faz o conto fazer sentido no final.
A vida de Esham é bem monótona. O autor vai colocando essa monotonia a cada página mostrando o quanto o personagem pouco se importa com o que vai acontecendo ao seu redor, mas ao mesmo tempo o quanto seu coração anseia por algo diferente. Se a gente for fazer um paralelo curioso, é como os dias de isolamento social durante a pandemia tem sido. A gente perde a noção de dias ou de semanas já que todos os dias são iguais. Tem um diálogo muito bom do Esham com a Isa em que ela pergunta a ele se ele se imagina fazendo alguma coisa diferente ou estando em algum outro lugar se ele ganhasse o prêmio e dizendo que não. Vender tickets é a vida dele e é tudo o que ele sabe do mundo. O que no fundo é triste.
Ao mesmo tempo a trama trabalha com a questão do que o nosso coração realmente deseja. E é aí que a coisa toma um rumo realmente diferente. Por que acontece tantas coisas bizarras ao longo da história? O único desejo aparentemente normal acaba nos parecendo estranho diante de todas as coisas bizarras que acontecem aos vencedores da loteria. Afinal, sabemos realmente o que nosso coração realmente deseja? Será que faz sentido? É com essa dúvida que Tidhar constrói sua narrativa e nos leva por um caminho tortuoso que nos leva para um final que eu achei bem singelo. Yiwu é um belo conto e uma maneira de usar o estranho para contar uma bonita história.
Lavie Tidhar tem uma escrita bem redondinha, mas como o conto é bem estranho, o leitor precisa ficar atento à narrativa. Ainda mais porque a história é curtinha. A narrativa vai ficando cada vez mais estranha à medida em que vai avançando. E esse estranhamento vai se dando desde à apresentação de situações até os personagens envolvidos. Lá pelo final, vamos ver coisas completamente fora da realidade com uma percepção até de normalidade frente ao que já passamos parágrafos antes. É essa noção de crescendo na estranheza que faz o conto fazer sentido no final.
A vida de Esham é bem monótona. O autor vai colocando essa monotonia a cada página mostrando o quanto o personagem pouco se importa com o que vai acontecendo ao seu redor, mas ao mesmo tempo o quanto seu coração anseia por algo diferente. Se a gente for fazer um paralelo curioso, é como os dias de isolamento social durante a pandemia tem sido. A gente perde a noção de dias ou de semanas já que todos os dias são iguais. Tem um diálogo muito bom do Esham com a Isa em que ela pergunta a ele se ele se imagina fazendo alguma coisa diferente ou estando em algum outro lugar se ele ganhasse o prêmio e dizendo que não. Vender tickets é a vida dele e é tudo o que ele sabe do mundo. O que no fundo é triste.
Ao mesmo tempo a trama trabalha com a questão do que o nosso coração realmente deseja. E é aí que a coisa toma um rumo realmente diferente. Por que acontece tantas coisas bizarras ao longo da história? O único desejo aparentemente normal acaba nos parecendo estranho diante de todas as coisas bizarras que acontecem aos vencedores da loteria. Afinal, sabemos realmente o que nosso coração realmente deseja? Será que faz sentido? É com essa dúvida que Tidhar constrói sua narrativa e nos leva por um caminho tortuoso que nos leva para um final que eu achei bem singelo. Yiwu é um belo conto e uma maneira de usar o estranho para contar uma bonita história.
September 27, 2020
didn't do a whole lot for me. I was also bothered by the fact that NO one is described physically, except for this ONE dude:
"Area Controller Dee was a short, fat man in a chequered shirt with one button too many undone and thinning black hair that stuck to his forehead. He mopped his face and pushed the basket of food on his desk towards Esham. / 'Prawns?' / Grease shone on his fingers. / Esham shook his head. / 'No. Thank you.' / 'Suit yourself.' / Dee ate fast. When he finished he let out a satisfied burp and wiped his fingers clean on a dirty napkin."
like...why
here
"Area Controller Dee was a short, fat man in a chequered shirt with one button too many undone and thinning black hair that stuck to his forehead. He mopped his face and pushed the basket of food on his desk towards Esham. / 'Prawns?' / Grease shone on his fingers. / Esham shook his head. / 'No. Thank you.' / 'Suit yourself.' / Dee ate fast. When he finished he let out a satisfied burp and wiped his fingers clean on a dirty napkin."
like...why
here
September 11, 2019
Yiwu was a short story that I listened to on LeVar Burton Reads that combined science fiction and magical realism in an urban future. At first, you are transported to a timeless bazaar in China where a shopkeeper sells lottery tickets in which a winner's deepest wish is realized. When someone's winning ticket doesn't result in a change the shopkeeper heads to the lottery offices to explore why. The new setting is jarring and took me out of the story, but the conclusion wraps up the story in a sweet way, as not everyone's happy ending needs to be big and dramatic.
January 31, 2024
(2.5 stars) I don't like books or short stories that feel like dreams. It just doesn't do anything for me. I feel like there was too much worldbuilding for a 26-page short story too and so none of it was able to be expounded. I wasn't drawn into what little plot there was. The writing was good, but many things deterred me from having an amazing experience. I can understand this is a "me" thing and that not everyone likes rules to be place for the books they read.
October 9, 2018
A fantasy short story set in a futuristic China. It's a about a mystical lottery that can grant you your hearts true desire, which is not always what you thought it was. And that makes it sound like a horrorstory, but its really not, it was actually quite sweet and kept me pondering until the end.
January 18, 2019
This story would be great if it were not for the absurdly predictable ending, or, at least, if there had been a reason to get to that ending other than "well, this is how stories are supposed to end, right?"
January 25, 2021
Good:
There seems to be a point to this story. Maybe. I think?
Bad:
A lot of words that are supposed to be vivid and descriptive but end up being just words. It ends up dragging for this reason - it feels much longer than it actually is, and not in a good way.
There seems to be a point to this story. Maybe. I think?
Bad:
A lot of words that are supposed to be vivid and descriptive but end up being just words. It ends up dragging for this reason - it feels much longer than it actually is, and not in a good way.
August 27, 2022
Very enjoyable little tale about magical lottery tickets that grant people their "heart's desire", and the person who sells them but never plays. I loved every moment of this story. Highly recommended.
June 12, 2018
I liked this, it went in a direction I did not expect, and it was very cleanly told. An enjoyable, easy read.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 51 reviews