I feel like the one saving grace for this book was that I went into it completely blind, not knowing anything about it, so was pulled forward by the mystery and wondering what was going on and how it blended into the backdrop of the cultural revolution.

All of the characters felt like two dimensional moving parts just to push the plot forward. I'd describe this book as 'stuff happens' with the only character having any 'depth' being Shi and the first few chapters of Ye.