Indelible City

Praise

Praise for Indelible City:
 
“The engine for this vivid, loving book is Lim’s insistent questioning — her recognition that whatever comes next for Hong Kong will require not only fortitude but also willful acts of imagination.” –The New York Times

“Bring[s] to light the remarkable resilience of Hong Kongers . . . . [and] shows the vibrancy, volatility, attempted erasure, and resistance of the people.” –Shondaland

“Powerful.” –The Economist

“Dismantles the received wisdom about Hong Kong’s history and replaces it with an engaging, exhaustively researched account of its long struggle for sovereignty.” –The New York Times Book Review

“Arriving at the exact right moment, Indelible City charts the course of the region by digging deeply into its history. Lim deftly weaves her way through the ages, arriving at our current time, all the while capturing Hong Kong’s soul inside the book’s pages.” –Newsweek

“Cleverly uses the story of a slightly mad calligrapher, Tsang Tsou-choi, to discuss Hong Kong’s erased history. . . . Lim’s book is touched by a sense of loss, even while she hopes for Hong Kong’s renewal in the future.” –New York Review of Books

“A great book. . . hits [the] sweet spots. . . history, myth, activism, and what it means to call a place home. . . . Lim’s work feels particularly relevant now.” –WNYC, On the Media

“Beautiful and timely. . . . [Louisa Lim] fills a gap that has long been missing in books about Hong Kong: an account of the city’s long history of defiance, told from the perspective of Hong Kongers themselves.” –Commonweal Magazine

“Lim takes her reader on an intimate and dream-like wend through the streets of Hong Kong, revealing layers of the bracing, complex, and palimpsestic city. . . . Weaving together multiple histories and narratives, those real and fictive, sanctioned and preserved, erased and newly discovered, Lim pushes back against the authoritative, state-imposed narrative.” –LitHub

“Lim uses reporting and memoir to sketch a vivid portrait of her native Hong Kong’s past and present. . . . [and] uncovers the inspiring, complicated, and rebellious history of her city and its citizens.” –The Millions

“Riveting. . . . a vivid and vital contribution to postcolonial history.” –Publishers Weekly, starred review

“Beautifully written… A fascinating work that is essential reading for anyone with an interest in Hong Kong.” –Library Journal, starred review

“Lim’s outstanding history of Hong Kong is an epic must-read. . . . From the first page, the importance of language and the voices of Hong Kongers are central themes. Yet Indelible City captures much more as it records the struggle of people oppressed. . . yet determined in their pursuit of freedom and cultural identity.” –Booklist, starred review

“The best book about the indelible city to date. Irresistibly real and emotionally authentic, it shines with a shimmering light rarely seen in political narrative. A truly extraordinary elegy.” –Ai Weiwei

“An utterly brilliant and original ode to Hong Kong, throbbing with eccentricity and sense of place. Like Joseph Mitchell’s singular rendering of New York, Lim’s Hong Kong will be read decades from now as an indelible portrait.” –Evan Osnos, author of Age of Ambition, winner of the National Book Award

“I absolutely loved this book. Each page is a revelation about a city whose history I thought I knew well. Lim’s exploration of Hong Kong’s identity is insightful, refreshing and entirely original.” –Barbara Demick, author of Nothing to Envy and Eat the Buddha

“I read Louisa Lim’s book slowly, haunted by memories and stymied by sorrow. An archaeological dig into the disappearing present, her fascinating and heartbreaking account reveals an indelible history hidden in plain sight, and a future that Hong Kong’s unique sensibility promises even as the world’s most powerful autocracy strives to erase it.” –Geremie Barmé, editor of China Heritage