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Comments (16)

What did you think about this title?
1 to 16 of 16 items
Jan 25, 2023
Lee really breathes life into the inhabitants of his distant future America - all the more impressive because he deliberately blurs the line between his heroine, Fan, and the role she takes on in the collective imagination of the people…
Feb 23, 2021johnjamison rated this title 3.5 out of 5 stars
A good book about a future world
Feb 15, 2021johnulee rated this title 3.5 out of 5 stars
Found it to be an interesting read, both from a story perspective as well as the diction, cadence, vocabulary, etc... as well as some aspects of the deeper commentary... but didn't understand a couple of things... the duration of time…
Aug 20, 2019Waluconis rated this title 3.5 out of 5 stars
This is a different novel for the acclaimed Chang-Rae Lee because it is set in a future an undetermined time from now. It begins in B-Mor, Baltimore remade for natives from ruined cities in the Shanxi Province in China to live. The…
Sep 15, 2018scribby rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
Fascinating twist on the dystopian future: written in a unique manner (often first person plural!) and where the dystopia is not established by some shadowy dictatorship, but by the people themselves. Fan's adventures are interesting as…
Sep 09, 2016LPL_KateG rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
What a fascinating book! Great for book clubs - the inventive narrative technique (first person plural!) and interesting/odd characters provide lots of discussion topics.
Sep 03, 2016jacksonsgf rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
I loved this so much. Apocalypse novels aren't usually my thing, but this heroine, her adventures, her strength, and the writing that lays it all out so beautifully...best novel I've read this summer. Disappointed that I didn't hear about…
Jul 26, 2015multcolib_rossb rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
Beautifully written and super evocative of one possible near future. Is it a dystopia? I'm not so sure. It's really not that different from the world we have right now, only that the lines between groups are drawn a little more thickly.…
May 05, 2015fmaack rated this title 2 out of 5 stars
I like this genre but this was all over the map. It was definitely a different spin on the post-apocalyptic, dystopian fiction I've read before but I never found this worked. There were some good ideas but also some really long, drawn-out…
Mar 14, 2015dihuda rated this title 2 out of 5 stars
could barely get through this, took a few months. the narrator was difficult to connect with. ending was kind of "meh." and I am an avid reader of dystopian fiction. I wouldn't include this one on my dystopia shelf...
Jan 26, 2015mexicanadiense rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
A solid entry in the "use a dystopian future to shine a light on current issues" tradition. I haven't read Mr. Lee's other works, which was probably to my advantage as it seems this was his first foray into speculative fiction and I…
Dec 17, 2014theresa_34 rated this title 2.5 out of 5 stars
This was an ok book. I finished it, but felt that there wasn't much to the story of Fan. It was more of reflection of a people on their society. Not as action oriented and suspenseful and post-apocalyptic as I thought it would be...
Apr 19, 2014kninchicago rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
The world building in this dystopian fiction is fantastic. Our main character is Fan, a teenage girl who lives in B-More (formerly Baltimore). In this America, the rust belt cities are occupied by “New China” residents who moved to…
Mar 03, 2014AnneDromeda rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
If you’re a reader of dystopian literary fiction (think Margaret Atwood’s most recent book, *MaddAddam*), then I have something to keep you happily occupied while spring gets its act together. Acclaimed author Chang-Rae Lee (Pulitzer Prize…
Feb 09, 2014lukasevansherman rated this title 2 out of 5 stars
Yeah, I agree with the other comment in terms of it being a little bland. It's become something of a minor trend for "serious"/acclaimed literary writers to turn to genre fiction, especially dystopian stories: "The…
msmigels
Jan 25, 2014msmigels rated this title 2.5 out of 5 stars
I can’t quite put my finger on why, but the narrator felt intrusive and it bothered me; my mind kept questioning how a B-Mor narrator could be omniscient and know what was going on with Fan and the other characters in the counties and…