Ghost Town by Kevin Chen

This is yet another book that I would personally recommend to people, but not one that I can say I actually liked. It has so much content that it brings a whole community and, by extension, another country to the reader’s mind. I chose to read this book because we made a short visit to Taiwan before we left HK. It was a very hurried thing. I tagged along for a conference and extended things by a couple of days. If we had known we would be moving away from the area, I might have put more thought into the visit. We traversed a part of the country by train, and it differed greatly over the stretch we covered. The people were very friendly and even without a common language we found them extremely helpful. We had to hunker down during a typhoon as well, so that definitely cemented the trip in my memory. I mention all this because, throughout my reading of this book, I could feel the collective variety of the people introduced to us. There is nothing remote about this book. It is brutally honest at most times. The narrative moves backwards and forwards time, and it is only towards the end that we have a complete picture of a family. The family had multiple daughters but only two sons. The community of the time and the opportunities dictated to them defined how all of them were treated. None of them is truly happy by the time the book concludes, and I did not see much hope for any resolution of feelings – this might be the personal reason I did not enjoy the book. Each sister is not introduced by her name. We earn her name after learning of her situation and the work she puts in on a daily basis. One brother is completely missing from the plot, leaving one. We know enough about multiple generations and the aspirations they had for the community that stagnated after a point. I cannot talk of any particular plot point because many of them wrap around and surprise the reader. It is a very clever book that manages to hold something back after every reveal, keeping it hidden until one assumes they know everything there is to know. It is the kind of book I would genuinely recommend to friends of mine who want to try a different story based on a whole other culture. I have learnt over the years to take some of the sadder narratives in my stride, but after witnessing multiple iterations of issues that the family has, I wanted closure. I kept waiting for any small happiness that could be someone’s future but saw none forthcoming. This left me annoyed. I know I cannot expect to feel at ease with a story like this, but I hoped for more. This is probably why I recommend the book, even though I did not like it. It is an intelligent narrative that employs the style to ensure interest in the overall direction of the plot. I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers, but the review is entirely based on my own reading experience.