Jill and her sister Celeste leave their homes in Canada to travel to Hong Kong, where their father lies dying in a hospital bed. Jill finds a letter, which seems to be exhorting or blackmailing her father. When she asks about the letter, he becomes agitated, and his health further declines. Determined to uncover the truth, Jill tracks down the letter's author.

Although I thought the story line and premise was interesting, I felt that nothing was really resolved in the book. Jill only uncover vague, incomplete stories. Much of the book is her speculating about what her father may have done. I found this a bit unsatisfying. Based on this criticism, I give this book a 3 out of 5 stars. ( )

Red Oblivion is one of those books that keeps reeling a person in. It's engaging from the start, but the more one gets to know the characters and the complexities of their relationships, the harder it becomes to put down. Some of the characters are difficult to like, but one wants to remain in their company anyway, both to understand them and to watch the development in their relationships with one another. The book offers a fascinating look into contemporary Hong Kong and the Cultural Revolution. Two sisters fly home to Hong Kong when their father is hospitalized. Their relationship with one another is strained, the relationship each has with her father is even more strained. When it becomes clear that their father's business success may be due to unscrupulous dealings during the Cultural Revolution, both women have to make decisions about how far they want to go to understand their own family's history. ( )

Unfortunately, this was not one of my favorite books of the year.

A major part of the fault is mine. Netgalley had this categorized both as general adult fiction and mystery/thriller. This book has mystery elements, but is not a traditional mystery; the answers to Jill’s questions will be obvious to anyone who reads many mysteries. It certainly isn’t a thriller, either.

That’s not a knock. It’s just to say that it’s literary, I expected mystery, and my expectations were not met.

(This has happened before with certain books. I’ve made a note to myself to be more careful with what I request on NetGalley. If it’s categorized as both general/literary fiction and mystery/thriller, I’ll assume that it’s more the former than the latter. I hope to avoid this situation in the future, as it's not fair to the author.)

Number 2 on the list of things that are my fault: I have never identified with stories where a sisterly relationship is a large factor. (Which may have been part of the issue with Fishnet, come to think of it.) While Jill and Celeste’s relationship isn’t the driving force in this story, it’s still a large part and as an only child, I couldn’t understand it.

Neither is the author’s fault. But it still influenced how I read this novel. However, there was a lot to like about this book.

One, the writing quality
Shimotakahara has a lovely way with words. For the most part, her storytelling skills are top-notch. While I did feel that the pace dragged in many places, it wasn’t as slow as many literary novels I’ve read.

Two, cultural details
She paints a vivid image of a city of contradictions: modern technology exists beside old fashioned ways, such as clothes lines. (The cheap cost of housekeepers justifies the lack of a dryer or dishwasher.) Cantonese mixes with English words. Jill tells us, “Words like okay and anyway and cool and what the f— and see ya always get said in English, for some reason.” (chapter 1)

It’s a city where the new never fully obliterates the old. The past is always there: Mao’s Red Guards, the impact of World War II on Hong Kong, the Cultural Revolutions of the mid-1960s. All of these still influence the residents of Hong Kong, particularly the older people like Ba, who lived through it.

Three, the characters
Jill, Ba, and Celeste are well-developed characters. While I was unsure if I found Jill likable, I did sympathize with her issues. Her life revolves around her father’s desires. Even when she’s rebelling against them, his desires are still determining her actions: what she won’t do.

There were some things I didn't enjoy, though. At several points, Jill is reading from a memoir. As both the memoir and the story are told from a first person point of view, it was difficult to shift between the two because of a lack of any distinguishing marks. (Nothing's set apart in italics or quotation marks, that sort of thing.) I hope the final print edition corrects this. The memoir is fascinating, though.

I was unconvinced by Jill's friendship with Terence, her only Hong Kong friend. To me, they didn't seem like old friends. Also, the climax felt underwhelming.

Overall, this is a solid novel. It wasn’t really to my taste. But for those who like literary fiction, this is a good choice.

Thanks to NetGalley and Dundurn Press for a copy of Red Oblivion in exchange for an honest review. ( )