Amy Cheung

This is the story of a bunch of women living in Hong Kong on the cusp of turning 30 who all are in flawed relationships. Chow Jeoi is in year five of an affair with a married man. Chui Yuk's writer boyfriend is a loser who she supports financially. Yau Ying has been dating a man for seven years who no longer seems interested in her.

What a bunch of shallow, stupid people peppering this book. The women are overly obsessed with bustlines, their own and other women's, and superficial attractiveness. They are all desperate to hold onto the worthless men in their lives, to the point of sabotaging their own lives.

I was ready to DNF this book but persevered. It did get a little better once the women starting throwing the men to the side and I had hoped for some emotional growth from them, but again, what growth existed was purely superficial. I ended up not really caring about the characters or their lives.

The other issue I had was the writing. I'm not sure if this was due to the translator or if the novel was originally written in this fashion and the translator carried it over in English, but the entire book was very stilted. There was very little exposition; instead, things just happen. Characters just say things. What exposition exists is of the telling, not showing variety. It may work in Chinese; it did not work very well in English.

Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley.… (meer)

This book has lot of romance and sad moments, but falls short of any adventure. I could not bring myself to like this story because this book goes on and on about how these women let go of their self esteem and destroy themselves. May be the author attempted to portray these women as forgiving and sacrificing. I could not find adventure and independence either in the story or in these women. Perhaps, the background that women are working is all that makes a reader want to think that the women are independent. Again, there is no mention of their career or how their professional life has helped them find better position in their life. So I could not see independent women. I saw only working women. This might be story of most women who are head over heels for someone but it seems too immature for women in their thirties to be how these characters are described. I found it unrealistic. The three women find it so hard to make any decision and stand by it.It pretty much looks like adolescent heartbreak stories which can be seen in Taylor Swift 's or Selena Gomez' songs! There is no humor. Nevertheless, the attempt capture the emotional turmoil among each of their lives is very good and with lot of clarity.

2.5 stars because the story has good drama, good continuity of the plots in the women's lives and narration.… (meer)

This book has lot of romance and sad moments, but falls short of any adventure. I could not bring myself to like this story because this book goes on and on about how these women let go of their self esteem and destroy themselves. May be the author attempted to portray these women as forgiving and sacrificing. I could not find adventure and independence either in the story or in these women. Perhaps, the background that women are working is all that makes a reader want to think that the women are independent. Again, there is no mention of their career or how their professional life has helped them find better position in their life. So I could not see independent women. I saw only working women. This might be story of most women who are head over heels for someone but it seems too immature for women in their thirties to be how these characters are described. I found it unrealistic. The three women find it so hard to make any decision and stand by it.It pretty much looks like adolescent heartbreak stories which can be seen in Taylor Swift 's or Selena Gomez' songs! There is no humor. Nevertheless, the attempt capture the emotional turmoil among each of their lives is very good and with lot of clarity.

2.5 stars because the story has good drama, good continuity of the plots in the women's lives and narration.… (meer)