STORY OF YOUR LIFE - a good read

Here is Ted Chiang‘s short story on which the movie Arrival is based: Story of Your Life (39 pages).

Story of Your Life is a science fiction short story written by author Ted Chiang, which is a part of his Stories of Your Life and Others collection, originally published in 2002.

Alien lifeforms suddenly appear on Earth. When a linguist is brought in to help communicate with them and discern their intentions, her new knowledge of their language and its non-linear view of time (she remembers the future as well as the past) allows her to see future events and all the joy and pain they may bring.

Stories of Your Life and Others is the most entertaining and thought-provoking collection of science fiction stories I've read for a long time.

The story begins with the first-person narrator (Dr. Louise Banks) telling her child of the night she was conceived, and of the conversation between Dr. Banks and her daughter’s father. “This is the most important moment in our lives, and I want to pay attention, note every detail” (p.91).

Here it is essential to note that the use of verb tense in the story (i.e. past / present) is complex, but ultimately gives the impression that Dr. Banks is telling the story, as she remembers it, to the child as she remembers her. The question you need to answer when you finish reading the story is: when did the events actually happen?

The beautiful way that these two stories connect together is the reason why you will feel so overcome by this powerfully engaging story. This isn’t a story about aliens; this is a story about humanity and about how we perceive our own existence.

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