Smart Oven For Lonely People by Elizabeth Tan
Trigger Warning: not providing one for this book.
Age Rating: 17+ [only two stories with mature themes]
Overall Rating: 5 out of 5
Genres: New Adult, Science Fiction, Surrealism.
A Spoiler Free Summary
A short story collection full of relevant social issues in conjunction with surrealist elements that touch on both degenerate utopias and dystopias which questions the readers’ belief if there is actually a difference between the two. Overall, for those who don’t want to analyse the stories’ content, it is just a fun short story collection to read.
Review
Tan’s unique titles and stories are eye catching and enticing. I loved her short story collection which was introduced to me through school [specifically literature] and is definitely a book I would recommend to others. Apart from her in-depth way of writing I was so happy to find an Australian Asian author, especially part of the VCE curriculum and I hope her work will continue to be there. She tackled many relevant topics and exaggerated the world we live in which draws us close, so we understand and see that this saturated version of a degenerate utopia is actually what our world is becoming. In stories such as “A Girl Sitting on a Unicorn in the Middle of a Shopping Centre” it criticised materialism and consumerism in a more advert way and expressed a girl who was simply looking around a shopping centre. This is very much like the reality of our world and “Ron Swanson’s Stencilled ‘Stache” is about a the take over of social media and how many things that seem real but are just a façade. I really enjoyed the way she wrote some of her descriptions were so satisfying [I have added some of my favourite moments in the quotes section] and definitely her titles were some of the most interesting ones I’ve read, which really encompasses her personality of her short stories. As I read this a couple months ago for school [even earlier when I read it for the first time], my initial thoughts aren’t as clear, but I still wanted to share this book, the main thing I remember is how refreshing the novel was from the sea of classic literature school required.
I also would just recommend her short stories in general because the writing is so engaging, and the stories are just very enjoyable in general.
School had also required me to write a short story based on one of her stories, before my SAC, we wrote practice stories and I wrote on inspired by the elements of “A Girl Sitting on a Unicorn in the Middle of a Shopping Centre,” I’ll be sharing that towards the end of the holiday season as that plays a part in the story so please keep an eye out, in the meantime please check out Elizabeth Tan and her work, including “Smart Oven for Lonely People.”
Quotes
“Grown-ups had a way of doing that-flattening their fears with concrete, building something neat and pretty on top, as if life really were a picnic.” [Night of the Fish]
“A man-shaped membranous sac of blood.” [Our Sleeping Lungs Opened to the Cold]
“This gentle darkness, this soft temple. This loving body, unspooling from the harness of man-made meaning.” [Our Sleeping Lungs Opened to the Cold]
“It please her to be a girl and to be like other girls because the best people in her life are all girls, so why wouldn’t she want to be like other girls?” [A Girl is Sitting on a Unicorn in the Middle of a Shopping Centre]
“Or a kind of perfunctory empathy, the detection of a blip in his beautiful universe, something to rectify as soon as possible so he could keep sailing on?” [Smart Ovens for Lonely People]
“I came to be in this very predicament, I would lie awake in the cold indigo light, nerve-bitten, twitching, strapped hopelessly to consciousness like half an avocado to one of those avocado saver things.” [Ron Swanson’s Stencilled ‘Stache]
“She messaged the red lines intersecting her torso and tried to love and understand and honour her body into something less conspicuous, something to carry without apology.” [Washing Day]
“The sky becomes the sinister colour of cordial.” [Lola Metronome and Calliope St Laurent Having a Picnic at the End of Civilisation as We Know It]
Recommendations
If you are looking for a short story collection that tackles materialism, consumerism and many relevant issues today in a unique and over saturated way, this is a wonderful story collection for it.
Pros
It’s a short story collection so the information is easy to digest and especially good if you are trying to get out of a reading slump.
Cons
Nothing in particular.
Enna Mari 