The Washington Post - USA (2022-03-06)

E16 EZ EE THE WASHINGTON POST.SUNDAY, MARCH 6 , 2022

book world

PAUL YEUNG/BLOOMBERG NEWS

Karen Cheung takes r eaders t o o ffbeat, “underground” places behind Hong Kong’s glittering facade.

BY SHARMILA MUKHERJEE

There’s a terrific mix of youth-

fulness and gravitas to Karen

Cheung’s poignant debut, “The

Impossible City: A Hong Kong

Memoir.” Yes, this is a love letter

to Hong Kong, but it’s one free of

romanticized illusion. Cheung is

acutely aware of the city’s abys-

mal failings: its hyper-capitalism,

bureaucracy, corruption and lim-

ited voting rights.

Hong Kong, Cheung reports, is

changing immeasurably under

pressures of gentrification and

China’s authoritarian crackdown

on its freedom. The protests

against these forces have been

well documented, but, through a

blend of memoir and reportage,

Cheung asks readers to step back

and consider what’s really at

stake. “We protest because we

want to ‘preserve our way of life,’ ”

Cheung writes. “But what does

the way of life look like? Why are

we still trying to fight for it rather

than choosing to flee?”

Cheung’s search for answers

leads her to create an archive of

the city’s vanishing way of life

through depictions of neighbor-

hoods, cultural practices and peo-

ple. She introduces readers to an

array of characters and tackles

themes such as belonging, identi-

SEE CHEUNG ON E17

Karen Cheung’s t ribute

to a vanishing Hong Kong

THE

IMPOSSIBLE

CITY

A Hong Kong

Memoir

By Karen

Cheung

Random House.

352 pp. $28.99

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