I am not a fan of chapters that skip from one character to another and Tash Aw does this in a very disjointed way that disrupts the flow of the narrative making it feel like you are being taken on a very erratic and bumpy ride. Even so I enjoyed his first novel but the second seemed like a reconstruction on the theme of the first he may lose this as time goes on. Even so the enlightening of the Indonesian history and culture that the book gave was enjoyable. Even so I will certainly none the less look forward to reading his next book. A.J. in Australia