Should be a 4-star rating, but 3 stars overall.I went into this book with expectations, and while Cao's writing is great and full of subtle emotional intensity, the ending left me hanging. It felt unsatisfying the way nonfictional accounts of tragedies left you hanging in the balance. There's an uneasiness, a quiet disturbing sense of uneasiness that I left after reading. The feeling didn't go away for some time. If that was the intended effect, then the text is successful in that sense. But if it wasn't, then that's quite a peculiar side-effect.Let's talk about the writing. The prose is familiar to me because I've read many books that follow this kind of narrative. What makes Cao's story stand out is the subtle quiet silences that grew between mother and daughter as each gradually become a stranger in her adopted home.
