Pulls You In with Complex Characters

Te-Ping Chen's background as a journalist on the ground in China is evident in "Lulu', the first story of the collection, as she creates complex characters whose lives unfold and intersect in surprising ways. Reading the story, I tried to suss out the subtle influences on the characters' lives, how two siblings from a seemingly ordinary station in life took such dramatically different paths, and while the story is subtle and doesn't offer any easy answers, I enjoyed it and the realistic characters.