由 ray 
Finished reading the latest book by Celeste Ng. It is a dystopian American story when right-wing extremism took political power in the name of patriotism. Ms. Ng has wonderful rhetoric of euphemism and crafted montages in this novel as if it was a production-ready script. She was able to capture the most impressive detail and leave only that detail at the center of her lens, which creates a strong visual impact. When Margarita went to Ethan’s apartment for the first time, she got in from the fire escape, then put a ring on his shoulder with her teeth. That is the end of the scene. There are many other occasions of the same style. Concise, powerful, and has plenty of space for imagination.
Many western authors wrote popular dystopia stories. To name a few, J.K Rowling’s Harry Potter, George Orwell’s 1984, and Marvel’s story about Thanos and the Handmaid story, all of which were made into screenplays. But they often render the story unimaginative about evil and poverty. Broken lift? Eat boiled cabbages for weeks? Use the same shaving blade for months? These are not real poverty. As for evilness, killing half the population with a snap? Scare people with gunmen? No, killing people is not the worst, real evil destroys humanity. In the past, there were whole generations mentally destroyed, lost trust even between kin family members, and mis-educated on value, history, and reasoning. Ms. Ng clearly has an advantage over others. Maybe because she is a Chinese descendant.
Remember what Mark Twain once said,
“Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn’t”