I got really excited when I read the premise: a network of radical librarians helping to resist a regime that is based on anti-Asian hate, but that's really only a small part of the story. It's really primarily about the relationships between a son and his mother (and also somewhat about authorship and the life of a work of art). The fact that it's a realistic dystopia says a lot of the current state of the US. In general I liked it a lot, but it had a slow build to a relatively short and abrupt ending. I feel like the last third of the book could have been extended. Still, it's beautifully written, and I highly recommend it.