This story came very highly recommended for many reasons, but flat out disappointed from beginning to end. I stuck with it cause I purchased it and had hoped it would get better.
The one good quality of this story were the very complicated and adult emotions that the story dealt with. Grief, loss, living up to others expectations, reconciliation. I applaud Wang for tackling these issues in depth and showing multiple POV into a situation.
But all of this was overshadowed by the story and prose. The story felt forced and very disjointed at times. The dialogue felt cliche, and was usually followed up with narration to try make the reader understand why a character said something, instead of letting the dialogue speak for itself. That effect also killed the pacing, by introducing asides that broke my investments into the characters.
No spoilers here, but the last chapter brought in a character from early in the book where he was catching up with the main character. They went into details about the past friends that I think the author was trying to make you have an emotional connection with, but they barely had a chapter collectively and ultimately the reader just didn’t care.
I don’t understand the acclaim this book got. It’s downright awful in my opinion