The world of Masquerade is rather Lewis Caroll-esque in its meandering way through a queer and migrant coming of age that is at once relatable to me in some quiet unhinged ways, but also perhaps a bit too indulgent. While I could relate to Meadow's caught-between-worlds state, I couldn't relate to his fundamental passivity. That said, his social landscape was very vivid and known to me, yet the narrative took way too long to get to the central plot churning, before which I was honestly bored by Meadow. The book in a book concert was pretty interesting, and something I would have liked to have more of a hold on the narrative than it did, but as it stands, there is a determined detached tone to the whole thing, which made this story just short of truly moving or remarkable to me.

Dear Author,

Your story was beautifully written. I love reading queer centered stories! Unfortunately, I did not connect with it completely.

Yours truly,
J. D. McCoughtry

Thank you NetGalley and Tin House Publishing for the chance to read this e-arc.

More poetic than plot, The Masquerade is an odd, slow burn of a story with beautiful prose. Primarily about the odd events of a summer in Meadow's life, we learn about the folks he surrounds himself with and the declining mental state of himself.
I think it's a fault of my own that I'm not able to fully appreciate this story, as symbolism has never been a strong suit of mine. This story relies heavily on a critical examination and your own interpretation of events. There's minimal plot which added to the overall confusion I had on what it was about. But the language and prose is gorgeous, so it's worth reading for that at least.
Overall I'd recommend it for anyone looking for an odd story or who enjoys more flowery prose. I probably won't read it again but I still liked the experience of reading it.

thank you to netgalley for the eARC.

this type of book is often a toss up for me, i either don’t like it much or will think about it for days after the fact and i unfortunately wasn’t a big fan of this one.

i was interested at the beginning and quickly lost interest. i think i should’ve dnf’d it then rather than reading it through since i honestly can’t remember much of what happened, it all feels very jumbled in my mind.

there was a chapter where several characters were introduced at once, something i really don’t like, and continued appearing so i was trying to figure out who was who, their relevance to certain characters and their relationships with certain characters. another thing i didn’t like about this book is the chapters were often really long and i found myself struggling to get through it. this book just had a lot of things i don’t enjoy.

one thing i did really like though was the culture in the book. the descriptions were well done and i was fascinated with them. i enjoyed them when i came across them.

unfortunately, i wasn’t a fan of this book, but i might give this author another try as their writing style was something i liked.

If you like magical, realistic mysteries, this novel is for you. It takes place in Shanghai and NYC. The protagonist is lost in life, love, and his career path. Throughout this adventure, he goes through a quarter-life existential crisis and searches for answers.

Meadow Liu is neither here nor there. He is house-sitting for his artist friend Selma Shimizu. He is between relationships. He is between countries. While he is house-sitting, he finds a book called The Masquerade, a translated novel about a masked ball in 1930s Shanghai by an author with his name. Thus begins a series of questionable Black Mirror-type events.

This queer coming-of-age novel forces the protagonist to take action. Move out of stasis. Stop being a ghost or a mere reflection of a person and be decisive. Be deserving of a life that he chooses instead of passively experiencing.

I recommend this novel. It will keep you guessing. The search for identity and finding one’s chosen family and path is relatable to all. And the mysterious elements are just icing on the cake.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tin House Books for the enjoyable ARC!