Ugh.... ugh is a good one word description for what I just read. The entire premise and mystery about these "students" and reminiscing from the main character in the beginning was legit interesting. I thought this will be an interesting thing to string along and catch the reader by surprise or slowly build up to with an interesting twist. Before the First part is over, the mystery is gone and I was already disappointed. I spent another almost 200 pages thinking something else would come along to make another twist.

Honestly the characters weren't likable enough and I didn't really care bout the friendships outside of maybe the connection between Kathy and Tommy. Her memories and then her current present feelings never fully projected on to me as I expect the author wanted. I never felt for her or them, as Ishiguro tried but never compelled me to truly care.

There were some stand out moments, but nothing that made me glad I kept reading. Sadly it was just me wondering why I bothered. I know there's an audience for these books, but that sure as hell isn't me. 2 out of 5 stars.

I was pretty excited to read this book, but sadly was left a bit meh by the end of it. There was so many times Chun Sue was discussing school, family life, or the most interesting parts of Rock n Roll and bands in China, but ended up just constantly going back to her dysfunctional relationships. Every time the author would start a topic that sounded intriguing, it would swing right back to a relationship. There just wasn't enough balance between the two, that I didn't feel like this was a voice or statement of a generation as it pumps itself up to be.

Please don't get me wrong, I had no issue with hearing about her relationships, as they are very key to the book. I just really liked the discussion of Rock N' Roll, whether it be foreign bands or bands within China. I kept hoping we'd hear more about her thoughts on the subject. Even with her dealing with school or home life, it would build up and then kind of just drop out, without fully detailing her experience. Everything felt like a cliff notes except her relationships and their issues.

In the end I'd give this a 2.75 out of five. I liked some of it and it grabbed my interest early on, but I got bored with a lot of it by the halfway point.