In Taiwanese writer Lo Yi-Chin's Faraway, a fictionalized version of the author finds himself stranded in mainland China attempting to bring his comatose father home. Lo offers a deft portrayal of the rift between China and Taiwan through an intimate view of a father-son relationship that bridges this divide. A very dense narrative, a paper river overflowing with a tremendous number of tedious details upon the waves of which glitter sudden bursts of simple and breathtaking literary beauty, confidently and delicately translated by Tiang...Rather than spelling out the emotional responses of the main characters, the narrative expresses the feelings of abandonment, meaninglessness, and Kafkaesque bewilderment through painstakingly detailed accounts of everyday consumption and bureaucracy.