I finished reading Opium and Absinthe over a week ago, but I needed some time to figure out how I felt about it. I’ve read some of Kang’s previous work and really enjoyed them - but this particular book didn’t really sit right with me. 

Tillie’s sister is viciously murdered the same day Tillie is injured while horseback riding. Her injury leads to her addiction to pain medication - opium, morphine and eventually heroin. 

Tillie is determined to figure out who killed her sister, but spends most of the time fighting her own demons. The murder mystery is treated like a footnote, with most of the story focused on Tillie’s addiction. The story felt very unbalanced, and the ‘villain’ was ridiculously comical. I couldn’t take the resolution of the mystery seriously, and the whole thing left me disappointed. 

If you’d like to read a much better book written by Kang, I strongly recommend The Impossible Girl instead.