Her immensely powerful new book confirms Yang as one of America's sharpest nonfiction writers.

This journey across the world takes more than a decade, and it is told simply and earnestly in Yang’s limpid prose. She takes her time, and the pace of the book is luxurious.

Yang strikes deep with prose that is spare, concrete, sometimes indeed flat.

In an audacious act of love and art, Yang writes this memoir from her mother’s point of view.

Gripping and compassionate.

At its best, the book is compassionate, lyrical, tender, and insightful. Unfortunately, the narratorial voice often feels alienated and overwritten, a contrast that the stunningly intimate prologue—which the author wrote from her own perspective—renders particularly stark. Nonetheless, Yang offers an engaging story of escape, redemption, and heartbreak..