Five stars. Five beautiful, ravishing, lovely, perfect stars.
I’m sitting here trying not to cry at how brilliant this book is. I loved every second of reading this book: from the beginning line to the final page. It truly captivated me and I implore all of your to read it.
We get a girl who is impressively intelligent but her family doesn’t have there money to keep sending her to her elite boarding school. Terrified of leaving when this school could give her opportunities, she uses her newly discovered “power” of invisibility to help her schoolmates with their requests.
What I loved about this book is the subtly of racism throughout. It doesn’t shove racism in your face like other books do. It just gives you a scene or a remark, some little thing that ends up making a huge impact. It’s brilliant in its execution! Reading this, I was appalled and angry but I know this exists. People are this way and it sucks. I also loved how the main character handles some of these situations: brilliantly.
I loved Alice. She is a genuinely good person who is forced to do things she doesn’t want because she thinks that’s the only way she can “win” in this world. I loved her soliloquies on different topics throughout the book, her talking to Henry about everything. Her interactions with Henry in general were like bright patches of sunlight in this book. God, I loved the two of them, from the very first moment Alice stepped into Henry’s room…. I knew they were perfect together.
This book had everything and I can’t emphasize enough that it was so spot-on with it all. There were a few things that felt larger than life, but they also made sense.
One other thing is that I loved that even though I am not Asian, even though I’ve never been outside North America, I related to this girl who is smart but doesn’t have wealth. This books transcends cultural barriers while giving us a glimpse of what it feels like to be in Beijing. I think anyone can enjoy this book.
And I know I keep talking but one final thing is that the writing in this book was….. stunning. I never felt bored or aggravated by the grammar. I cannot believe this was written by someone in undergrad. Floored by the beauty of this writing! I will 100% be keeping an eye on this author and reading anything else Liang decides to write.
I’m sitting here trying not to cry at how brilliant this book is. I loved every second of reading this book: from the beginning line to the final page. It truly captivated me and I implore all of your to read it.
We get a girl who is impressively intelligent but her family doesn’t have there money to keep sending her to her elite boarding school. Terrified of leaving when this school could give her opportunities, she uses her newly discovered “power” of invisibility to help her schoolmates with their requests.
What I loved about this book is the subtly of racism throughout. It doesn’t shove racism in your face like other books do. It just gives you a scene or a remark, some little thing that ends up making a huge impact. It’s brilliant in its execution! Reading this, I was appalled and angry but I know this exists. People are this way and it sucks. I also loved how the main character handles some of these situations: brilliantly.
I loved Alice. She is a genuinely good person who is forced to do things she doesn’t want because she thinks that’s the only way she can “win” in this world. I loved her soliloquies on different topics throughout the book, her talking to Henry about everything. Her interactions with Henry in general were like bright patches of sunlight in this book. God, I loved the two of them, from the very first moment Alice stepped into Henry’s room…. I knew they were perfect together.
This book had everything and I can’t emphasize enough that it was so spot-on with it all. There were a few things that felt larger than life, but they also made sense.
One other thing is that I loved that even though I am not Asian, even though I’ve never been outside North America, I related to this girl who is smart but doesn’t have wealth. This books transcends cultural barriers while giving us a glimpse of what it feels like to be in Beijing. I think anyone can enjoy this book.
And I know I keep talking but one final thing is that the writing in this book was….. stunning. I never felt bored or aggravated by the grammar. I cannot believe this was written by someone in undergrad. Floored by the beauty of this writing! I will 100% be keeping an eye on this author and reading anything else Liang decides to write.