Reviews

Full disclosure: I know Ed Lin and he is, like his author bio says, a real stand-up kinda guy. That said, I completely enjoyed this book. A departure from his Robert Chow series (which began with what I think is Lin's best book, This Is a Bust), this one follows a young man in Taipei trying to figure out both his future and the reason behind the death of his high school girlfriend. A lot of background is given on Taiwan, but it never detracts from the story. Terrific characters and a great read which really intensified towards the end.

deadnberried's review against another edition

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3.0

I picked this book up at a library book sale thinking it was going to actually involve ghosts or the supernatural, but it does not. (The sale was crowded, the books not really organized, so I just snatched some things that looked interesting without researching plots)

The edition I picked up was an unedited galley, so I'm not sure how much it changed from the edition I read to the final. I found the story fairly slow moving, bogged down with lengthy asides about Taiwanese culture, especially involving those of native/Chinese/Japanese lineage, which didn't really figure into the mystery at hand: Who murdered Jing-nan's fiance?

The main character's main defining characteristic is that he's been really into Joy Division since discovering them in middle school, and he references this interest a lot, but the music/lyrics/themes from the music or the history of the band also have no bearing on the plot. Basically this author talked about several 'guns on the table', and then left them sitting there. Luckily he doesn't exacerbate this tendency by also making the book lengthy.

It was a meh read, mainly valuable because of what you learn about Taiwan along the way.

evilyn's review against another edition

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dark mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Content Warnings

gemmahenrynovels's review against another edition

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5.0

A nice easy read for a foreigner travelling through Taiwan. I started reading upon my arrival in Taipei and finished up the day I left Hsinchu City. I loved the complexity and internal monologue of the main character and found the pacing made me want to keep reading. I also loved reading about a place visited by characters in the book, only to visit them myself not long after. Perfect read for my holiday.

peachberrypie's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny lighthearted mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

marystevens's review against another edition

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3.0

This book is as much about TaiPei as it is a mystery. The author is a journalist and this shows in the inner dialogue the protagonist Jing-nan has with the reader. It's a bit of a jivey travelogue, not that I wasn't interested in Taiwan, at least to a degree. The mystery is "why did Julia,(his childhood sweetheart) die in such disgraceful circumstances?" and the plot is pretty complex. Jing-nan and Julia were stars of their high school class and each won scholarships to US universities: UCLA and NYU. Pledged to stay apart and focus on academics until each had graduated, circumstances nonetheless aborted their academic careers and brought each of them separately back to Taipei. Still bound by their pledge, Jing-nan did not even know Julia was in TaiPei. When he sees her on the news, murdered at a betel-nut stand, he is driven to find out all he can and avenge her. I liked nearly all the characters, and I was motivated to find out how Jing-nan would manage to elude each succeeding danger but I would recommend this book primarily to people who are interested in China and Taiwan.

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