EVERYDAY MOVEMENT

What is worth disrupting your comfortable life for? A novel set in Hong Kong in 2019 explores this question.

Panda and Ah Lei, youthful acquaintances who later become college roommates, confront their circumstances during a time of upheaval and rebellion in different ways. Both actively support the student-led protests opposing an extradition bill that would permit the transfer of Hong Kong citizens to mainland China, which was seen as a potential infringement on the civil liberties enjoyed by residents of the self-governing area. Panda’s temperament leads her to continue her life much as usual, dressing in cute clothes and following a beauty routine. Ah Lei takes the civic unrest to heart and is preoccupied with the dangers to activists and the future of Hong Kong’s tenuous hold on democratic practices. Leung focuses on the girls’ activities during a violent and uneasy summer of protests but incorporates the activities, ideals, and thoughts of a circle of friends and family members, as well. As the demonstrations—and the government response to them—grow more intense and dangerous, the stakes escalate for everyone involved: Small business owners, for example, need to protect themselves from accusations of favoritism, leaving an aesthetician to remark, “Even beauty has to be political.” Relationships are challenged and family ties ignored as the girls and their friends and loved ones determine how to go forward. Scenes of day-to-day life, meals, and movie-watching amid the chaos alternate with episodes of brutality, violence, and injury. By the time one young couple hooks up while Talking Heads’ “Life During Wartime” plays in the background, Leung’s points are clear: This is a war and sides need to be taken and what you don’t do may matter as much as what you do.

A cinematic, sympathetic view of the personal costs of political conflict, many of which will be frighteningly familiar.