China Mountain Zhang

I really liked this character-driven novel. McHugh creates an interesting an believable communist, sinocentric dystopia. She does not explain the culture but leaves it to the reader to figure out. This is the opposite of, say, a Neal Stephenson novel, where the whole culture would be explained and examined. I like both types of novel when they are done well, and McHugh's is. I thought that the storytelling (using several different narrators) was interesting and innovative. She is able to "complete" each narrator's story without producing a trite ending that feels too contrived.