| Author | Eugene Lim |
|---|---|
| Publisher | FSG Originals |
| Release date | June 6, 2017 |
| Pages | 176 |
| Preceded by | The Strangers (2013) |
| Followed by | Search History (2021) |
Dear Cyborgs is a 2017 novel with elements of speculative fiction by American writer Eugene Lim. Lim wrote two other novels before Dear Cyborgs, which include Fog and Car (2008) and The Strangers (2013).[1]
Development
Lim wrote the novel before the 2016 presidential election.[2] He nevertheless wrote it in "a state of despair" due to climate change and economic inequality, which he refers to as two “slow apocalypses”.[2]
Lim has said that he believes "...superheroes are the central mythology of our collective global era" on their inclusion in the novel.[2]
Influences
A number of works influenced Lim while writing Dear Cyborgs.[3] Tan Lin's Insomnia and the Aunt and Yongsoo Park's Boy Genius both influenced the novel's plot as existing works that subvert tropes in Asian American assimilation plots.[3] Robert Creeley's The Island and Eileen Myles’ Inferno—both "poet's novels"—influenced Lim's authorial presence.[3]
Setting
The novel alternates between several settings, including a "white-bread suburban" town in Ohio during the 1980s, and New York City circa 2011, during a fictionalized version of Occupy Wall Street.[4][5] Lim grew up in small-town Ohio, and later moved to New York.[6]
Publication history
FSG Originals, an imprint of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, published the novel in 2017.[7]
Reception
Critics gave Dear Cyborgs mostly positive reviews. The novel was a Literary Hub staff favorite book of 2017, one of Vol. 1 Brooklyn's Favorite Fiction Books of 2017, and chosen by BOMB Magazine as a one of their "Looking Back on 2017: Literature" selections.[8]
Writer Hua Hsu praised the book, stating in The New Yorker: "...his writing is confident and tranquil; he has a knack for making everyday life seem strange—or, in the case of "Dear Cyborgs," for making revolution seem like the most natural thing possible."[9]
References
- ^ "ABOUT – Eugene Lim". Retrieved 2025-10-17.
- ^ Cutaia, Sara (5 June 2017). "Eugene Lim Wrote 'Dear Cyborgs' in a State of Despair". The Chicago Review of Books. Retrieved 3 January 2018.
- ^ Lim, Eugene (6 June 2017). "Eugene Lim: American classics that influenced Dear Cyborgs, mostly in pairs". Library of America. Retrieved 2 February 2026.
- ^ Hassani, Amelia (1 June 2017). "Review: DEAR CYBORGS by Eugene Lim". Ploughshares. Retrieved 3 January 2018.
- ^ Lorentzen, Christian (27 June 2017). "Eugene Lim's Dear Cyborgs Engages the Post-Occupy Moment". Vulture. Retrieved 3 January 2018.
- ^ Barkan, Ross (15 August 2017). "How Eugene Lim's "Dear Cyborgs" Explores Life, Death, and Asian Identity". The Village Voice. Archived from the original on August 15, 2017. Retrieved 3 January 2018.
- ^ "Dear Cyborgs". Macmillan. Archived from the original on January 3, 2018. Retrieved 3 January 2018.
- ^ "FSG Originals | Dear Cyborgs". FSG Originals. Retrieved 2025-10-17.
- ^ Hsu, Hua (2017-06-07). "Eugene Lim's Uncanny Sense of What It's Like to Be Alive Right Now". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved 2025-10-17.