PositiveThe New York Times Book Review\"This is perhaps the book’s greatest power: It makes space for complexity without relinquishing the grip of a good story ... Chan reveals how war is experienced in bodies and hearts, breaking down the morale of those who remain ... At first, the point of the dual timelines feels uncertain, although it does provide context for Cecily’s guilt about her family’s disintegration. Then the threads converge, forming a braid that proves to be stronger than its individual parts ... At times, Chan’s narrative feels strained. The distinction between nation and family, between men with lofty plans for their country and women with quieter ones for their children, is drawn too cleanly. There’s a tendency to overexplain both the thematic shades of the novel and its historical context, which, while complex and under-recorded, can stand on its own. Often I felt the hand of the author leading me to conclusions, and wished she trusted me to find my own way. Indeed, the power of this story is such that I would want to. What makes the book pulse with life is not the grand sweep of its ideas but the tenderness in its details, the ordinary ways that these characters love and laugh in the face of the extraordinary.\
