This is an incredibly atmospheric, melancholic, and unsettling story. As far as the plot goes, not much happens, but so much meaning is packed into this book. The author was very purposeful with her prose and imagery. I absolutely loved her descriptions and her ability to tell a small story with a few sentences. I loved the exploration of cultural exploitation/appropriation, depression, exploring one's identity, and beauty standards. The ending is abrupt, so I felt like there was something missing that I couldn't identify, but this is a novel that has stuck with me since I finished it, and I find myself thinking about it often.

"I would walk out to the pagoda at the end of the jetty, skin clammy from the stench of the sea spray that left salt on the cheeks, a taste of iron on the tongue, and soon, the thousands of lights would start to twinkle and the fishermen would cast off from shore and make their way out to sea with their light traps, a slow, stately procession, the Milky Way of the seas."

“Our beaches are still waiting for the end of a war that’s been going on for so long people have stopped believing it’s real.”