PositiveLos Angeles Review of BooksIn its desire to get the facts right, the story sometimes falters, its expositional historical details taking us away from the characters’ subjective experience. But the novel speaks to something larger than the moment ... As Hilary Mantel, author of the Cromwell trilogy, puts it in her rules for writers: \'Concentrate your narrative energy on the point of change ... \' This is where Glorious Boy triumphs ... Claire is ahead of her time in many of her observations ... In some places, her inner monologue feels too didactic. Yet Claire’s critique of past malpractices in ethnography and colonial atrocities...challenges the white savior narrative. Because, in the end, what has she to offer this community? While some moments overwhelm with detail, at its most effective, Glorious Boy transcends history and geography and gets to the heart of things. In the everyday banality of motherhood and parenthood—from swimming lessons to toddler tantrums and the pains of breastfeeding—Liu invites the reader to bridge the gap between the present and the past, between ourselves and others.
Margaret Atwood
PositiveThe Los Angeles Review of Books... delivers the promised answers and closure ... a rallying cry to become conscious of the stories we are told, and tell, and the roles we assume. Which choices would we make if in Aunt Lydia’s shoes? Which parts of history do we wish to claim as our own? Which do we reject? Becoming aware of the mythos that constrains us also means we can collectively help dismantle it. As readers, we can imagine and work toward a better world.
