I have mixed feelings about “Love and Death in the Time of Monsters,” by Frank Wu. It has a great title. The presentation on Escape Pod is fun. But I have to say I preferred the realistic elements to the scifi elements.
The narrator offers a moving story about losing a difficult mother to lung cancer. The most affecting passage was about his mother’s smoking and how he loved her best when she was smoking. The most upsetting passage was she raged at him and accusing him of not ever loving her. Those parts were well written.
But the title promises Kaiju Big Battel, and we don’t get to see it! Instead, we hear about a daikaiju destroying cities, with that helpless feeling we had on 9/11 when it seemed like the world was ending and all we could do was watch it on TV. It was effectively conveyed, but I wasn’t sure I really wanted to revisit that. Moreover, the metaphor of the monster being like cancer is not only made explicit but hammered like a gong.
Mostly it makes me want to watch the original Godzilla again. It’s been a while.
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