Ping Lu
World Editions
3 November 2026
220
eBook - EPUB
Contemporary Fiction
ARC via NetGalley
Min-Hui's travels from Taiwan to Beijing in search of her vanished husband in this multi-layered meditation on marriage and freedom from Taiwan's most sophisticated contemporary voice.
While chasing business opportunities in China, Min-Hui’s husband disappears without a trace, forcing her to uproot her quiet life as a writer in Taiwan and travel to Beijing, where the chaos of the city leaves her reeling. Does the Chinese government truly have her best interests at heart, and how hard are the authorities looking for her missing husband? Marooned in the ancient capital, Min-Hui encounters the enigmatic Shangjun, a self-proclaimed human rights activist who seeks refuge in her hotel room. As their relationship blooms, Min-Hui allows him to read her novel in progress: a young Qing emperor confined within the Forbidden City becomes fascinated by pirate merchant Zheng Zhilong’s tales of the Taiwanese seas. All the while, Min-Hui contemplates the discord in the marriage she is desperate to save. Exploring the universal longing for freedom with her signature multi-layered narrative, Ping Lu interweaves Min-Hui’s search for her husband and her Beijing love affair with the historical backstory of her novel and unsent letters from her vanished husband. To the East of the East offers a profound meditation on liberation, destiny and the contingencies of national histories by one of Taiwan’s most sophisticated contemporary voices.
To the East of the East was a book I could appreciate in some ways but which fell flat for me in others. In the early chapters I was invested. Min-hui's husband had gone missed in Beijing. What could have happened to him and what will she discover as the journey unfolds? I was completely on board for that tale. What didn't work for me was how much was crammed into what is really a novella/short novel only. Having Min-hui's POV was fine, although she was such a passive character it often felt like she wasn't doing much and only reacted as things happened to her. I also didn't mind the husband's POV in the form of his letters to her, as they offered us the other side of the story and another viewpoint on their relationship. But then there were the long sections of the novel Min-hui was writing. Had it just been a case of reading her novel, I may well have found it interesting, but juxtaposed with the rest of the narrative, it didn't feel like it had a natural place, even if there was some sense of everything coming together by the end. As a story about marriage and relationships it was fine and had some interesting things to say, but the execution overall just didn't gel with me completely. For that reason, I am giving it 3.5 stars. If you are interested in Asian contemporary fiction and don't mind a little disjointedness in your narratives, it would be worth a read.
I received this book as a free eBook ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
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