This is a well written book. It has some fine lines, a few well-conceived set pieces, a fair share of perceptive and insightful observations, and occasionally a dreamy and yet edgy narrative drive. The premise is enticing, and I can see the book's appeal, regarding both style and content, for its target audience. That said, try as I might I found neither the characters, nor their situations, nor the overall narrative and its execution compelling enough to fully engage and hold my curiosity and attention. As a consequence, it doesn't seem fair to write much more of a review, apart from encouraging inquisitive readers to give the book a try.

The political and physical geography of the novel - if I’d read the author’s name and bio before reading the novel - would of course have pointed me toward Hong Kong. In her afterword, Tse makes the connection clear. But this novel is much more than an easy metaphor for the oppression by first the English and then the Chinese of the small peninsula and group of islands that comprise Hong Kong. For Tse, Hong Kong is a city that exists “at the intersection of dreaming and being awake” and much of the novel exists in that space. It’s never clear whether or not Professor Q’s extramarital adventures are happening in the “real” physical world or if he’s participating in an elaborate fantastic delusion where dolls are real and shadows become revolutionaries become shadows.