I think I'm missing something in this novel. It made the Booker Longlist last year, and the cover is plastered with praise from other authors, but I struggled to find what was so special about it. My heart didn't stop because it was so vivid (as apparently happened to Oisin McKenna) and I wasn't mesmerised while I was reading it like Michael Cunningham and I was surprised to read that Jemimah Wei wanted to live in it forever. Oh well, I guess Tash Aw can't win us all. It's not a bad book, and it is certainly not often that I have read something by a Chinese author, so it offers me something different to think about. The story is about a teenage boy, Jay, and his family who inherit a family farm in the south and go to stay there while they consider what to do with it. Jay has the opportunity to explore his sexuality once he is away from home and he soon finds himself in a relationship with Chuan, the son of the farm manager. Being away from his ...