Science Fiction Aficionados discussion

I am so hesitant to talk about this one, because once again, there are so many layers to this story I do not think it is possible to accurately describe it!

First, this is probably the longest story in here, so be prepared....lol:
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~esrabk...

This is about determinism, free will in how you think....it's also about language, and love, and acceptance. To get any more detailed than that at this point seems just wrong somehow....

I couldn't help but be reminded of Billy Pilgrim and his travels. While Vonnegut is more of a satirist, Chiang seems to inject a humorous intellect to the story

I just finished this book of short stories (my review - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...), so a little late to the party but they were so good, I was glad to see a discussion thread here! I understood where this story was going because a couple of months ago I saw the movie Arrival. Both story and movie were great. How about being able to see the 4th dimension?! Of course, the linguistics component of the story was great as well.

Maggie wrote: "I couldn't help but be reminded of Billy Pilgrim and his travels. While Vonnegut is more of a satirist, Chiang seems to inject a humorous intellect to the story"

So true! I read Slaughterhouse-Five earlier this year then read Story of Your Life a couple months later (and I have the Arrival DVD sitting around, waiting to be watched). There are definite connections regarding "seeing" the 4th Dimension. Interesting stuff.

This was my first Chiang story but I'm going to read the rest of his collection over the next few months.