... characterized by a narrative style both intimate and candid. It’s hard to avoid being swept up by [Cheung's] story.

... pulsing.

Cheung spends little time on political analysis or colonial history.

... tragically juxtaposes the author’s severe depression with the disintegration of democracy in Hong Kong, depicting a heartrending destruction of Hongkongese cultural identity.

Cheung’s intimate memoir of Hong Kong explores what it means to live in and love a complicated city.

[A] moving account of a Millennial who watches the free and international city in which she was born and raised slowly devolve into an oppressed society. With bracing honesty, Cheung writes about growing up in a broken family, finding belonging in the Hong Kong indie music scene, and becoming one of the million or more people who took to the streets.

Among the most salient talking points of Karen Cheung’s memoir is its engagement with Hong Kong’s languages.

Hong Kong journalist Cheung pushes back mightily on those who think her hometown could be summed up in one tome...Yet English-language readers might not find a book that captures Hong Kong in such visceral detail and humanity as Cheung’s.

... intimate.

Cheung is best at delivering personal missives about city life...She also hauntingly captures the tumult of the city’s political protests.