The Impossible City

By Karen Cheung,

Book cover of The Impossible City

Book description

A boldly rendered—and deeply intimate—account of Hong Kong today, from a resilient young woman whose stories explore what it means to survive in a city teeming with broken promises.

“[A] pulsing debut . . . about what it means to find your place in a city as it vanishes before…

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Why read it?

1 author picked The Impossible City as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

In many ways this is the quintessential Hong Kong book because its very style and approach is, as the title says, somewhat impossible, mixing the intensely personal with the political, closely observed reflections and a large collection of unique Hong Kong voices.

Written during and after the 2019/20 protests, Cheung throws her net wide to give the reader an intimate picture of the real Hong Kong, an exasperating and wonderful place. She is the youngest of the authors I have recommended and, therefore, closer to the generation who gave rise to the protests. People often speak of the unique Hong…

From Stephen's list on Hong Kong and China.

If you love The Impossible City...

Ad

Book cover of I Am Taurus

I Am Taurus By Stephen Palmer,

The constellation we know as Taurus goes all the way back to cave paintings of aurochs at Lascaux. This book traces the story of the bull in the sky, a journey through the history of what has become known as the sacred bull.

Each of the sections is written from…

Want books like The Impossible City?

Our community of 12,000+ authors has personally recommended 100 books like The Impossible City.

Browse books like The Impossible City

Book cover of A History of Hong Kong
Book cover of Indelible City: Dispossession and Defiance in Hong Kong
Book cover of The Cultural Revolution: A People's History, 1962--1976

Share your top 3 reads of 2024!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,580

readers submitted
so far, will you?

5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in Hong Kong, China, and Andrew Carnegie?

Hong Kong 59 books
China 662 books
Andrew Carnegie 20 books