Taipei Story Is Her Best Novel
Yellowface was a lot of fun in an “oh my God, is she really going there?” way. Babel had a brilliant premise but didn’t do enough with it, and it was marred by anachronism and a grating, didactic approach. Katabasis was a slog. The Poppy War trilogy was ambitious and intermittently powerful but was the product of a very young writer, and feels like it.
Taipei Story is her first truly mature novel, one in which her reach didn’t exceed her grasp. It’s subtler than she’s been in the past; she doesn’t seem to have felt the need to be obvious in the way she sometimes has. It’s affecting. It feels true. And it’s written with un-showy gracefulness.
In the past, she’s hovered right above her characters, gesturing toward them. In Taipei Story, she’s stepped back, giving them room to breathe. It’s a real achievement.