# Dear Cyborgs

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***Dear Cyborgs*** is a 2017 novel with elements of [speculative fiction](/source/Speculative_fiction) by American writer [Eugene Lim](/source/Eugene_Lim_(novelist)). 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](/source/2016_United_States_presidential_election#Results).[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](/source/Tan_Lin) *Insomnia and the Aunt* and [Yongsoo Park's](/source/Yongsoo_Park) *Boy Genius* both influenced the novel's plot as existing works that subvert tropes in Asian American assimilation plots.[3] [Robert Creeley's](/source/Robert_Creeley) *The Island* and [Eileen Myles’](/source/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](/source/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](/source/Farrar,_Straus_and_Giroux), published the novel in 2017.[7]

## Reception

Critics gave *Dear Cyborgs* mostly positive reviews. The novel was a *[Literary Hub](/source/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](/source/Hua_Hsu) praised the book, stating in *[The New Yorker](/source/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

1. ["ABOUT – Eugene Lim"](https://eugenelim.com/about-2/). Retrieved 2025-10-17.

1. Cutaia, Sara (5 June 2017). ["Eugene Lim Wrote 'Dear Cyborgs' in a State of Despair"](https://chireviewofbooks.com/2017/06/05/eugene-lim-dear-cyborgs-interview/). [The Chicago Review of Books](/source/Chicago_Review_of_Books). Retrieved 3 January 2018.

1. Lim, Eugene (6 June 2017). ["Eugene Lim: American classics that influenced Dear Cyborgs, mostly in pairs"](https://www.loa.org/news-and-views/1287-eugene-lim-american-classics-that-influenced-dear-cyborgs-mostly-in-pairs/). Library of America. Retrieved 2 February 2026.

1. Hassani, Amelia (1 June 2017). ["Review: DEAR CYBORGS by Eugene Lim"](http://blog.pshares.org/index.php/review-dear-cyborgs-by-eugene-lim/). [Ploughshares](/source/Ploughshares). Retrieved 3 January 2018.

1. Lorentzen, Christian (27 June 2017). ["Eugene Lim's Dear Cyborgs Engages the Post-Occupy Moment"](http://www.vulture.com/article/eugene-lim-dear-cyborgs-book-review.html). [Vulture](/source/New_York_(magazine)#Digital). Retrieved 3 January 2018.

1. Barkan, Ross (15 August 2017). ["How Eugene Lim's "Dear Cyborgs" Explores Life, Death, and Asian Identity"](https://web.archive.org/web/20170815170949/https://www.villagevoice.com/2017/08/15/how-eugene-lims-dear-cyborgs-explores-life-death-and-asian-identity/). [The Village Voice](/source/The_Village_Voice). Archived from [the original](https://www.villagevoice.com/2017/08/15/how-eugene-lims-dear-cyborgs-explores-life-death-and-asian-identity/) on August 15, 2017. Retrieved 3 January 2018.

1. ["Dear Cyborgs"](https://web.archive.org/web/20180103201937/https://us.macmillan.com/dearcyborgs/eugenelim/9780374537111/). Macmillan. Archived from [the original](https://us.macmillan.com/dearcyborgs/eugenelim/9780374537111/) on January 3, 2018. Retrieved 3 January 2018.

1. ["FSG Originals | Dear Cyborgs"](https://www.fsgoriginals.com/books/dear-cyborgs). *FSG Originals*. Retrieved 2025-10-17.

1. Hsu, Hua (2017-06-07). ["Eugene Lim's Uncanny Sense of What It's Like to Be Alive Right Now"](https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/eugene-lims-uncanny-sense-of-what-its-like-to-be-alive-right-now). *The New Yorker*. [ISSN 0028-792X](https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0028-792X). Retrieved 2025-10-17.

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Dear Cyborgs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dear_Cyborgs) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dear_Cyborgs?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.