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The Impossible City
The Impossible City: A Hong Kong Memoir | Karen Cheung
8 posts | 4 read | 7 to read
A boldly renderedand deeply intimateaccount of Hong Kong today, from a resilient young woman whose stories explore what it means to survive in a city teeming with broken promises. Hums with the thrill of being lost in this massive, haunted, mythologized, neon city, yet finding oneself in the end.Hua Hsu, author of A Floating Chinaman Hong Kong is known as a place of extremes: a former colony of the United Kingdom that now exists at the margins of an ascendant China; a city rocked by mass protests, where residents rallyoften in vainagainst threats to their fundamental freedoms. But it is also misunderstood, and often romanticized. Drawing from her own experience reporting on the politics and culture of her hometown, as well as interviews with musicians, protesters, and writers who have watched their home transform, Karen Cheung gives us a rare insiders view of this remarkable city at a pivotal momentfor Hong Kong and, ultimately, for herself. Born just before the handover to China in 1997, Cheung grew up questioning what version of Hong Kong she belonged to. Not quite at ease within the middle-class, cosmopolitan identity available to her at her English-speaking international school, she also resisted the conservative values of her deeply traditional, often dysfunctional family. Through vivid and character-rich stories, Cheung braids a dual narrative of her own coming of age alongside that of her generation. With heartbreaking candor, she recounts her yearslong struggle to find reliable mental health care in a city reeling from the traumatic aftermath of recent protests. Cheung also captures moments of miraculous triumph, documenting Hong Kongs vibrant counterculture and taking us deep into its indie music and creative scenes. Inevitably, she brings us to the protests, where her understanding of what it means to belong to Hong Kong finally crystallized. An exhilarating blend of memoir and reportage, The Impossible City charts the parallel journeys of both a young woman and a city as they navigate the various, sometimes contradictory paths of coming into ones own.
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review
Trace
Panpan

All over the place.

review
Chelsea.Poole
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Pickpick

Listened to this a couple books ago, a recommendation from @Megabooks from awhile back that I just now got around to. I knew very little about Hong Kong prior to listening to this and now have a real feel for the city through the eyes of Karen Cheung, resident who got her start writing about Hong Kong for foreigners in English publications. Also using for #booked2022 #setinchina which kind of works and kind of doesn‘t lol

Megabooks Glad you enjoyed it too. Hong Kong is such an interesting place. 1y
Cinfhen Cool! My ideas about Hong Kong are based on Jackie Chan movies 🙄definitely need to read this! 1y
SamAnne I got to live there for about 6 months in 1991 and it was a transformative life experience for me. So different than I expected. Loved it. It's a different place today. Wish Hong Kong could have secured independent rule. 1y
80 likes1 stack add3 comments
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lilpumpkin2.0
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Pickpick

July 17, 2022 Happy reset Sunday! Already halfway through July? Man, July has gone by in a flash, hasn't it??! Anyway, I finished this book and I would give it 4.5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. If you like autobiographies, try reading this memoir. It is first person persepctive and discusses first hand how Karen felt about living in Hong Kong with all its history and horrifying events aka pandemic and protests etc

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lilpumpkin2.0
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July 14, 2022 Today I got my book that I ordered 11 days ago. YES YOU HEARD THAT RIGHT!!! 11 days. Outrageous but i am glad that it is in my possession. My new TBR includes White Fragility {from July 28, 2020} and 101 Essays that will Change the way You Think by Brianna Wiest. I am excited to read it LOL

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lilpumpkin2.0

July 9, 2022 REVIEW TO COME. Meanwhile, please comment below some 2022 autobiographies that I should read later as part of my TBR for August. Yup. We are nearing the halfway mark of July AND August is next month...

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lilpumpkin2.0
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July 9, 2022 As of today I am on page 100. There are exactly 293 pages in this book. Memoirs tend to be shorter than other kinds of autobiographies told from the first person point of view. I am enjoying this book because I have been to Hong Kong twice but I dont know much of the history. By reading it, I can get a look into how Hong Kong was versus how the city is now

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lilpumpkin2.0
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June 2, 2022 Let's take a moment of silence to appreciate the cover of the book (my next book) and that it is a memoir written by a young Asian woman in her mid 20s!

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Megabooks
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Pickpick

Cheung is a journalist who is a Hong Kong native. Caught between the wealthier international school set and her middle class neighbors, she writes about trying to embrace her identity in a city in flux. She shares her difficult home life and the problems of moving out into a city with sky high rent. I appreciated all the artist and activist interviews, and the information about various neighborhoods, too. Really great memoir!

Chelsea.Poole Oh, thanks for the tag! I haven‘t heard about this one; I‘ll see if I can find this one 🎧 2y
Cinfhen I have this as an ARC 🤭I totally forgot about 🤦🏼‍♀️and it really sounds great 2y
See All 7 Comments
Megabooks @Chelsea.Poole 👍🏻👍🏻 enjoy! 2y
Megabooks @Cinfhen not too late? I think you‘d like it. 💜 2y
BarbaraTheBibliophage Interesting! 2y
88 likes3 stack adds7 comments