Cirrus@Austlit

'One of the most striking elements of Isabelle Li’s A Chinese Affair is its sense of melancholy. Her inaugural short story collection is comprised of sixteen subtly oppressive tales, divided into four suites; nearly all are starkly told, and haunted by the weight of what remains unarticulated. There is an authorial confidence to A Chinese Affair that belies its existence as a debut collection; showing a restraint that tends to elude many (younger) writers. In fact, I suspect that the collection as a whole may prove to be understated to the point of frustration for many readers: many of the tales are devoid of clear resolutions, startlingly opaque on even the most basic level of narrative...' (Introduction)