The Dissident

I picked up Nell Freudenberger's The Dissident after liking her responses in The Secret Miracle. I was not disappointed. Freudenberger tells the tale of a Chinese performance artist and political dissident who comes to L.A. for an artist residency and teaches at a girls' school. He stays with an affluent family with a slew of problems and the story switches back and forth between his perspective and members of the family. There are several stories going on and the dissident has two stories--his past in China and what is happening in L.A. I don't want to give too much away because there is a nice twist I'd hate to spoil. I was just reading a review that said she tried to tackle too much in this book and I'd have to agree. It's true that she starts a couple story lines and does not tie them up. This book isn't for everyone-- the review I read said it was "annoying," but I really liked the book and Freudenberger's writing style. I'll definitely be checking out her short story collection sometime...