Any book exploring the horror of the Chinese Revolution evokes profound sorrow, disbelief and visceral fear that it could happen anywhere. However, this book failed to produce anything but a desire to finish it. The characters were incredibly one dimensional, the writing - almost juvenile. To take a serious topic and trivialize it to this extent was a profound disappointment.

I liked this book at first. The author gets inside the head of Geoffrey in a very interesting way. Somewhere along the line, the book fell apart. Yes, it's a story about love. Love reflecting, love looking forward, tenacious love and love that is unsure and undefined. I think I understand where Mr. Saul was trying to go, but somehow it never took off. Marian was profoundly irritating and I wished, more than once, that Geoffrey had taken the hint and gone home. Eliot's loyalty, or whatever it was, his basketball, tennis, etc., kept him in his own little world.
The repetition of the Marian/Geoffrey theme held the story back and the ending was anti-climactic. I wished it could have been better. Mr. Sauls is an excellent writer who could have done better.