PositiveThe Guardian (UK)The story at the centre of Ghost Music revolves around the struggles of living with an elderly in-law, the collapse of a marriage, and more generally the pressures on women to be doting wives in Chinese society. However, these themes are explored in such an unusual way that it doesn’t read like a domestic novel; throughout there is the uncanny sense of something odd, verging on supernatural, going on in the background ... The reader is left wondering what is real, and what is dream or hallucination ... A lot is unexplained in Ghost Music, and at times it’s not clear where the novel is going. However, among Yu’s many illuminating descriptions of music, one hints at a central idea ... This is an intriguing book that knits together music and life to touch on something profound.
Toya Wolfe
RaveThe New York TimesWolfe shows us Fe Fe’s still-tender, childlike mind...And yet, she recognizes that as a Black child, she is denied a claim on innocence ... This is a powerful novel about injustice, the institutional racism that is the foundation of the projects and their policing, and survival ... Tragic, hopeful, brimming with love, Wolfe’s debut is a remarkable achievement.
Alyssa Songsiridej
PositiveThe New York Times Book Review... intense, erotically charged ... raises interesting questions about gender roles and relations ... a worthy contemplation of sexual politics, revealing how losing and finding yourself do not have to be mutually exclusive.
Shiori Ito, Tr. Allison Markin Powell
PositiveThe TImes Literary Supplement (UK)The book reveals not only a culture of victim-blaming and lack of support for victims, but also the extent to which the powerful are protected in Japan ... Black Box, a comprehensive exposé of injustice by a fierce and talented journalist, is the proof.
