Reviews

The Impossible City: A Hong Kong Memoir by Karen Cheung

janisreading's review against another edition

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informative medium-paced

4.0

xtie's review

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5.0

I haven’t tapped into this pain in a long time. It’s still crushing. I’m crying but this is a wonderful, heartbreaking, beautiful, essential and smart account of the impossibility of Hong Kong. I am going to aggressively gift this to my friends.

vickywong710's review

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dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

janroesler's review

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4.0

Thank you Karen for writing this book.

lfro2013's review

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It was very interesting and extremely engaging. However I found it very depressing and overflowing with sorrow. It felt like a eulogy for someone that hasn't yet died, but you have no hope of them surviving. Maybe she adds a hopeful turn at the end but I  didn't have enough faith in that to overcome the overwhelming feelings of despair and hopelessness I felt in the first chapters.

kaminator's review

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4.0

The author's description of her childhood in Hong Kong actually feels very similar to my experience growing up in NYC Chinatown. But then her experience rapidly diverges from mine after high school, and makes me realize how fortunate we are to enjoy the freedoms available to us in the USA.

crouchingdoctorhiddenbias's review

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dark emotional informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

achi1's review

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5.0

This book helps me understand thoughts I have about my hometown that I didn’t know I have or couldn’t articulate. Sometimes I felt as though I could have written some of this, albeit in different words with different stories. My own blogs over the years agonising my identity and sense of belonging echo parts of this book. I feel heard and understood.

Not sure how relevant this is for non-HKers, in the sense the author describes not merely if you live/d there. This is a book written for a very specific audience who needs no explanation of the cultural or political references.

song's review

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5.0

lovely turns of phrase; much more personal than I expected! (even though it says memoir on the cover lol)

cossettereads's review

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5.0

simultaneously heartbroken homesick and full of so much hope. my heart is so heavy.