Sam and Dan review A Beast Slinks Towards Beijing by Alice Evelyn Yang.

**SPOILER ALERT:** This episode contains spoilers. We strongly recommend reading this book before listening.

Join us as we explore this dark folkloric family saga, following three generations whose lives are shaped by colonial legacy, generational trauma, and the ways pain, memory, and silence echo through families. We discuss the novel's historical backdrop, from the Japanese occupation of China to the Cultural Revolution, and how it sits somewhere between historical fiction, fantasy, and folkloric realism.

We dive into the experiences of Wei Hong, Ming, and Qianze, exploring how food, illness, childbirth, family conflict, and inherited trauma weave their way through each generation. We also unpack the book's deliberately ambiguous approach to magic and prophecy, and why its refusal to clearly separate folklore, metaphor, and reality makes the story all the more powerful.

From its beautifully atmospheric writing and complex family relationships to an ending that offers hope and repair without pretending that generations of trauma can simply be undone, we discuss why this heavy but deeply affecting debut left such a lasting impression on both of us.

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