The Girl Who Played Go: 01/31/07
The Girl Who Played Go by Shan Sa has a story laid out like a game of go. Each chapter is like a new move. Song of the Night, a young Manchurian girl plays the black side while the Japanese soldier takes the white. Anyone familiar with the game or with the history of Japan's invasion of China will know that this book won't be a happy one.

As with a game of go, the two characters don't meet or interact until half way through the book (page 127). As pieces are laid at opposite corners the soldier and the student seem to have very separate lives save for their shared interest in go. Once they meet in the middle the book's disjointed plot finally comes together and the story goes from a false sense of light-heartedness towards a tragic confrontation at breakneck speed. The second half can be read in half the time .

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