Cranesong: Author Interview and Book Review
When was the last time you discovered a new author whose work you ended up loving? It happened with Cranesong by Rona Wang for us and we are thrilled to share this book with you and tell you why we loved it.
We were fortunate enough to get advance copies of the eBook and were also able to interview Rona. Thank you to Half Mystic Press for coordinating this interview! To give you an idea about Cranesong, see what others are saying:
Praise for Cranesong
“The stories in Cranesong are the stories I’ve been waiting to read my entire life. They are the girlhood secrets, untranslatable sorrows, and quiet violences that often surround us but never quite catch our attention until they’re told by a writer like Rona Wang, whose words will uplift you just as much as they will shatter you.”
—Erin O’Malley, 2018 Lambda Literary Fellow and editor of The Ellis Review
“Captivating and ghostly, Cranesong disarms like no other. These stories are unapologetic about what it means to be Asian American and hurting, following different adolescents as they navigate the reclamation that comes with learning to be and become. Cranesong glitters and gleams, showcasing what Rona Wang does best: capturing the world in all its minute and wonderfully bizarre truths.”
—Margaret Zhang, editor-in-chief of Glass Kite Anthology, poetry and fiction published in SOFTBLOW, DIALOGIST, and Gigantic Sequins
Author Interview with Rona
Hi, Rona! We are so excited to have you on the blog today and talk about your book. One of our favourite things about Cranesong is your writing style, the captivating prose weaved with brazen honesty. Are there any influences that helped you write Cranesong with such authenticity?
Thank you, that’s much too kind! I’ve been storytelling my entire life, but I first began writing seriously, with the intention of publication, at age nine or ten. At that point, all my protagonists were white, which reflected the books I was consuming at the time.
Of course, in Cranesong, every protagonist is of Chinese descent. I only had the courage to start writing about characters who looked like me after discovering this gorgeous spring of literature starring Asian-American people–children’s books like Millicent Min, Girl Genius to literary fiction like The Buddha in the Attic. I’m forever grateful for that. Many of the emotional beats that Cranesong contains are mine, even if they are nestled within fantastical scenarios. I don’t know if I could write any other way, as it’s not a conscious decision of mine to infuse my fiction with the personal. My writing gives me the distance to understand myself intimately, if that makes sense.
How do you balance writing and other creative endeavors with your studies? Do you find that the technical and scientific environment at MIT influences your writing?
MIT is this wondrous smorgasbord (I finally get to use that word!) of creativity and inquiry. I love it. For example, this past weekend was Bad Ideas Weekend–a weekend where students carry out any absolutely terrible ideas they have–and ideas included baking a peach pie that was six feet in diameter; baking 2n cookies; downing condiment shots (which is exactly what it sounds like). It’s really important for me to step out of my writer bubble, which is like me and my brain and a stack of books in my messy bed, and stumble upon something wacky and unexpected. I’m also very interested in researching new methods of engagement and communication between writers and readers–text-based adventure games are one example of this–which MIT has fantastic resources for.
When you are reading for inspiration, do you find works inspire you more for plot or for style? Which books have inspired you most as a writer?
I feel like plot and style are intrinsically entwined. Recently, I read A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki, and it’s this wonderful novel about how writing is a conversation with the reader. The plot is shaped by the style–the footnotes, the voice, the multiple points of view. In my own writing, I always want to be very purposeful, both in plot and style.
I am forever grateful to the books of my youth–hi, Rick Riordan–for breathing magic into my life and inspiring me to spin my own stories. I also love poetry books, even though I could never be a poet (I love prose and traditional narrative too much, I think). Poetry disrupts and reinvents language in very empowering, intimate ways that encourages me to take more risks in my own writing. Shout-outs to Anne Carson and Jenny Zhang, all-time faves!
If you could summarize Cranesong in a sentence, what would it be?
Cranesong is a collection of iterations of the same questions about how love gets lost in translation and how mythology functions to articulate the unknowable language of trauma.
Cranesong showcases your ability to write in different genres. What’s next for you and how can we best keep up with your work?
I’m working on several children’s novels! Funny story: when Half Mystic Press accepted Cranesong, we agreed that one of the stories within the collection didn’t really fit with the rest, since it was written in a more juvenile style. Thus, it was removed, but I still wanted to do something with it, so I ended up expanding it into a full-length novel, which landed me my literary agent.
If you’d like, I would love to connect with you all on Twitter at https://twitter.com/ronaywang 🙂
About Rona Wang & Half Mystic Press
Rona Wang is a sophomore at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is originally from Portland, Oregon. Half Mystic Press is an imprint of Half Mystic, an independent, internationally-acclaimed arts organisation dedicated to the celebration of music in all its forms.
Book Summary
Cranesong by Rona Wang Published by Half Mystic Press on February 13, 2019
Pages: 83
ISBN: 1948552043
Goodreads
Half Mystic Press’ debut short story collection is, above all, a bright thing. Cranesong explores the trauma that haunts our bones, the echoes that infuse our language—and, at the same time, lingers inside wild wind, consumes the cartography of longing, interrogates all the colors piano music can hold. These stories pinwheel from realm to realm—some fantastical, some deeply modern, and some settling somewhere in between. Yet there is an ancestral lineage that braids them together. These characters don't exist in the same world, but if they did, perhaps they'd recognize each other.
Our Review
We received an advance copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are our own.
I was completely captured by this collection of short stories and that’s rare for me. Cranesong took me by surprise when I reached the end of the book and wanted more from Rona. You see, Alyssa Wong and Seanan Mcguire are two writers I admire and Rona’s writing reminded me of a beautiful blend of those writing styles.
Cranesong is filled with unapologetic voices from characters who are unafraid to tell their stories as they are. There are stories of aching for home, yearning to belong, and anger in grief and trauma.
“Education is all we FOBs have in this country with its fire-mouthed politicians and slack-jawed crowds who will devour us if we’re not sharp enough.”
— Liv, Liv, Lipstick Liar, Cranesong
There are stories of friendship, family, love, and hope. Whether it was a contemporary story, magical realism, or fantasy, Rona was able to get to the heart of loss, growing up, race, and sexuality.
I loved that each story was from a character of Chinese descent because I was further able to relate to them as a South East Asian living in North America. The Evolution of Wings, one of my favourite stories, resonated with me strongly.
“I felt less real than these girls who had mothers and church on Sundays and last names that teachers could pronounce. I was a silkscreen silhouette with an accent I couldn’t unhook from my teeth.”
“I wondered if the sparrows had forgotten their names, their families, their past lives. I wondered if they still remembered how to speak in their first languages, or if those words had been etched away by the incessant chirping. I wondered if they still searched for home, a light smudged on the endless horizon.”
— The Evolution of Wings, Cranesong
Cranesong is a collection that deserves a spot on every shelf. Rona’s lyrical writing, marked with sharp notes and gentle touches, is the perfect voice for stories that mark us deeply.
I am so grateful to Half Mystic Press for reaching out, and for giving both Shari and me the chance to read Cranesong.
As is probably apparent from my posts so far, I tend to stick to my two favorite genres when choosing my reads – fantasy and science fiction. Cranesong is the perfect example of why I need to branch out more often, because I am probably missing out on so many gems like this one. This is why I need infinite time to read!!
The writing style is beautiful and raw, and even though I didn’t relate directly to some of the stories Rona’s writing still managed to evoke memories and emotions in me that were surprisingly strong. One of the quotes Shari chose to highlight is the perfect example of this for me.
“I wondered if the sparrows had forgotten their names, their families, their past lives. I wondered if they still remembered how to speak in their first languages, or if those words had been etched away by the incessant chirping. I wondered if they still searched for home, a light smudged on the endless horizon.”
— The Evolution of Wings, Cranesong
When I first read this, it read to me as describing the immigrant experience of moving to a new country and attempting to assimilate into a new culture. While I can’t directly relate to that experience, this quote made me remember all the times I’ve felt lost and felt like I was searching for home in a new place. I’ve made two big moves in my life, and each time kind of felt like starting fresh, so I felt very disconnected from the previous stage of my life.
I think that’s the great power of Rona’s writing, that the emotions she sparks can be directly related to the experience she is writing about and yet still pack a punch for those of us who haven’t had the specific experience.
Thank you for joining us for our interview and book review! We’d love to do more of these in the future and welcome any feedback you may have. 😀
I am so impressed that Rona Wang has written this and is still studying at MIT. Wow!
I love the sound of her writing. <3
Right??? Thinking back to my undergraduate studies, I can’t even imagine doing anything other than uni work haha