2025 & 2026 Reading Challenge discussion

This thread is to discuss Frontier by Can Xue.

Pages: 361 pages

Length: 1 month (August)

Participants: SarahKat, oshizu, Sunny

Everyone reads at their own pace during a Buddy Read. Because participants can be at different parts of the book at different times, it is extremely important to mark spoilers so that the book is not ruined for someone who is not as far along as others!!!

Mark spoilers by placing {spoiler} before the text and {/spoiler} after the text but use the < and > instead of the { and }.

Hi ladies, I'm starting this one tonight!

After reading the first 2 chapters, I have realized I will need to write down my thoughts after every one. This is not written in a linear, sensical way, so after reading chapter 2, I only vaguely recall chapter 1. Oh well.

Fun fact! In the intro for this book by Porochista Khakpour, she is in Ucross, WY. I live about 30 minutes away from there! (We Wyomingites are always excited when our state comes up because it so rarely does)

Chapters 1 and 2 (but mostly 2): (view spoiler)[Liujin's chapter was intriguing but almost completely devoid of meaning for me. I was hoping some of this would be fleshed out throughout the book but as chapter 2 focuses on different people, I don't have high hopes. Wolves are stealing children, there's a child-that's-not-really-a-child, people going in and out of Meng Yu's house... I don't know. Too much and not enough is going on here.

José and Nancy: Still weird, but now I know what kind of book this is. NOT the kind you can read while distracted by other things like husbands watching tiktok, sons playing video games, and daughters potty-training. No, I read this chapter at work (hehe). Still very dreamlike. The characters seem to drift in and out of lucidity. They've come to Pebble Town to work at the Design Institute. Nancy sees things José does not. I wonder who is "right?" I was thinking perhaps José was too rigid and unimaginative to see these things. But now I'm thinking perhaps Nancy is falling for the Design Institute's illusions. Like the garden that seemed to be just outside but it's all just a barren wasteland. (hide spoiler)]

Edit: Also, I saw this quote I love about this book: "Reading this book is like trying to solve a mystery in a dream. Like the Pleiades, it's best glimpsed without looking at it directly."

I just saw this. Since you have started, I'll also start reading this tomorrow. :D

Yay oshizu!

Chapter 3: I read this chapter slowly over 2 days in small chunks and you really can't do that with this book! This book is so high maintenance! In a perfect world, I think each chapter needs to be slowly consumed in one sitting and then digested for a while (and in my case written about) before starting on the next one. My life doesn't allow me to adhere to such a specific handling of this book. Oh well.
(view spoiler)[Qiming- janitor at the Design Institute. I have very few thoughts I can express with words about this character, but he seems so sad. He has a fantasy girlfriend. I think after holding Nancy's baby he feels for the first time that perhaps that's not enough. I think he wants to connect more with real people.
He runs into Haizai (sp?), who brings news of his father's death and gives him a watch. Not sure about the significance of this.
The director is getting curiouser and curiouser...
I am slightly offended by the first line in this chapter: "Although Qiming was thirty-nine, he didn't feel old at all." I am not yet 39, but I sure hope that's not old!
Also liked this quote: "Perhaps when one left home, one automatically became another person." (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 4: (view spoiler)[Apparently Pebble Town only "accepts" certain people. They talked about Nancy as though she belonged there and started speaking like the locals right away. There's a definite divide on how they speak in the frontier versus the "interior." Curious about this word choice... Also, the sailor guy, Anxiang seemed to not belong there and injured himself so he could leave.
Little Leaf, Sherman's daughter left also, and it sounded like Sherman's wife thought that was a good idea. We also found out why the garden wasn't found. It's not visible in the daylight. (hide spoiler)]

I read the introduction and Ch 1 yesterday.

In the intro (view spoiler)[ Khakpour mentions, This book won't end. I swore I was two hundred pages in a day ago and there I am today. Days later I felt I had made little progress. I thought, surely not another Flight! LOL (hide spoiler)]

I love Can Xue's narrative poetic flow!

Ch 1: (view spoiler)[ I'm assuming Liujin is seeing spirits/ghosts/ other worldly beings that just aren't visible to everyone. I'm wondering if her parents are actually still living or if they actually ever really existed at all. Seems like she has several beings interested in her welfare.

Sherman was chosen as an English translation for Shi Miao. The thing is ... each time I see Mr. Sherman, I think of Mr. Peabody and Sherman! I like him better than any of the others she has thus far come across, but I wonder if he's a good guy or a bad guy. I love that he rescued the frogs. (hide spoiler)]

I was so caught up in the narrative I didn't take time to note very many things. I just kept reading. I may have more to say with the coming the chapters. I'm looking forward to seeing how things are all tied together.

Chapter 5: (view spoiler)[The Baby is Liujin. Really weird prediction: is all of this happening at the same time? Like there is no linear time in this place it's all just at once? I'm wondering this because José seems to think the baby is Nancy in a past life (even though Nancy is still there). Also, Qiming has a close relationship with the baby, and also has a close relationship with the Director. There's a lot of crying randomly sort of under these conversations, which makes me think. Liujin = the baby = the director = Nancy? I have no idea. This book is so weird.

Also Nancy is up at the institute and can't leave apparently. I'm mad she abandoned her baby, but I like the relationship José has with his daughter. Although he asked Qiming to be her adoptive dad...

Also trying to figure out if anyone else grew up in Pebble Town besides Liujin so far. Qiming, Sherman, José and Nancy all came from elsewhere. Maybe the whole thing is just Liujin's dream. (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 6: (view spoiler)[Liujin's chapters are definitely the most surreal. The only thing I think I "got" out of this is that the little boy, Roy, is also the garden, and possibly Liujin's brother?

Also I feel like this quote is important: "'What was Pebble Town like forty years ago?' The old man paused in his handiwork and looked up at the sky. Then he pointed at her chest, bent his head again, and continued twisting his rope. Liujin was very confused, but she still gained a hazy enlightenment." This paired with the fact that 40 is apparently super old in this town, something is weird! (hide spoiler)]

I agree with both of you that this is not a speedy book to read. I love SarahKat's description of it as "high maintenance"!

I enjoyed SarahKat's connection to Ucross. It's an incredible introduction. After reading it, I had to put the book down to start another day.

Thoughts on Chapter 1 (view spoiler)[
*Narrative flow: In the future, i will read through each entire chapter in one sitting. I stopped midway through Ch 1 last night. This morning, when I resumed reading, I couldn't remember anything about Meng Yu.
That said, I enjoy Liujin's perspective and her confusion over her relationship with Mr. Sherman. I smiled when she mentioned her affection for him due to the way he fits into her chair.
The Frontier is so alive with wildlife of every kind: the small birds (including that possibly pessimistic one), the wolves, the geese.
Am I wrong to be delighted by the boy in the elm-leaves shirt who tricks Liujin into believing it's raining by pouring rain on her window with a watering can? He later disappears, leaving his clothes in the bathroom. Who is he? (hide spoiler)]

Thoughts on Chapter 2 (view spoiler)[
I realize I don't fare well with non-linear narratives, haha. I keep waiting for the unfolding story to make sense while it grows more and more irrational.
Did Mr. Lee "hurriedly throw behind the sofa" their puppy who has lost the desire to live? Am I remembering incorrectly or was Ch 2 mainly told from Nancy's husband's perspective (ugh, I forgot his name already). What does his for-the-rest-of-his-life job entail? (hide spoiler)]

I am purposely trying not to spoil myself by looking at the Table of Contents but wonder if we'll be revisiting the residents of the first two chapters.

oshizu wrote: "I agree with both of you that this is not a speedy book to read. I love SarahKat's description of it as "high maintenance"!

I enjoyed SarahKat's connection to Ucross. It's an incredible introducti..."

Y'all are so muh better a commentaries than I am =)

Re your thoughts on Ch 1 (view spoiler)[I had the same problem when I went back to finish up the last 3 or 4 pages of the chapter. So I'm waiting until I have ample time with not too many chances of interruptions before tackling the next one.

I don't think you're wrong at all about being delighted by the boy in the elm-leaves. I kind of forgot about him in with all the other things that went on. Hopefully he'll make another appearance. (hide spoiler)]

It will probably be Monday before I have a chance to read Ch 2 and beyond. I'll be disappointed if we don't revisit the residents in the 1st couple of chapters. I haven't met the ones in 2 yet, but am betting they're as fascinating as the ones on Ch 1.

I love how we all picked up on different things! When I have more time (just hopped on to update before I forget), I need to compare all of our chapter 1 notes side by side to get a clearer picture. Maybe between the 3 of us we can figure this book out haha

Really quick notes on
Chapter 7: (view spoiler)[Is everyone just dead? Is that a cliche plotline now? I'm just wondering because they bring up having something wrong inside of them that is now outside of them. Is the "interior" like the literal inside of their bodies??? (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 8: (view spoiler)[Didn't get much out of this one. Mostly just Nancy and Jose raising Liujin and her encounters with the black guy. One interesting thing is that Liujin thinks Ying is her great grandfather but he is the caretaker (or something) of the Design Institute. Which makes me feel like this is more proof that Liujin is a central, sort of circular fixture in Pebble Town. (hide spoiler)]

I tried to speed up my reading pace to make room for the dozen other books I plan to read this month, but now I've forgotten a lot of what I've read!
I've finished reading up to Chapter 6.

Chapter 3 (view spoiler)[
Apparently, Qiming was the man in the river who found Jose & Nancy when they'd gotten abandoned in the mountains after first arriving in Pebble Town. I didn't connect with him. Was his hometown friend Haizai responsible for bringing the institute director back to life by chatting with her in the morgue all night?
(hide spoiler)]

Chapter 4 (view spoiler)[
I no longer clearly remember what all happened in Chapter 4.
After all the town talk of Liujin and Mr. Sherman as a couple of sorts, I was surprised to learn that he still lived with his wife.
I'm still not sure why Mrs. Sherman stabbed Anxiang with her paring knife. Because he was being a door? Arrgghh. (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 5 (view spoiler)[
Are we in a time warp such that Nancy/Jose's daughter Liujin is the narrator of Chapter 1? The intro did remark that narrative time doesn't flow linearly, but I struggled to remember how Ch1's Liujin described her relationship with her parents.
Thinking back, she did seem to talk more of her father than her mother, remember their time and conversations together.

I'm not a Nancy fan. She "can't leave" the institute and yet she doesn't seem to actually doing anything up there.
Are Nancy and Jose happy in their separate lives? I was surprised that Jose asked Qiming to be Liujin's "adoptive father"; did he mean like a godfather? (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 6 (view spoiler)[
Roy is back! I'm very confused about the relationship between Liujin, Roy, and the snow leopards.
Roy, it seems, brings out maternal feelings in Liujin. Haha, part of me wanted him to move in with Liujin for his own safety and comfort. Also, so we can keep better track of him. That didn't happen, though.
I don't understand why Meng Yu (was he the one?) capture the wagtail and put it in a cage, knowing that he's "Liujin's wagtail." I thought she would go free the bird, but did she? (hide spoiler)]

Well, trying to comment on four chapters didn't work very well for me. But I'm afraid to read another book alongside this one because I have enough trouble remembering/understanding what's going on while reading on Frontier. *sighs
Will we gain more understanding of Pebble Town and its residents, or will we grow increasingly bewildered with each chapter? Hahaha

Chapter 7 Lee and Grace
(view spoiler)[In this chapter, we learn why and how this couple comes to Pebble Town, but why are they "welcomed" while other "illegal immigrants" are rounded up and harrassed by the policeman? Did they not get an invite from the Director after responding to the ad?
Jose first saw the garden from Grace and Lee's window so I was hoping to learn more about the garden in this chapter.
I don't particularly care for this couple. Should I?
The Director seems like a major weirdo in this chapter.... (hide spoiler)]

Ch 8 LIujin, Her Parents, and the Black Man
(view spoiler)[Liujin is 13-years-old in this chapter and we learn that Grace is a widow who sings on the road.
It's somewhat frustrating to read about Liujin trying to figure out the mysteries of Pebble Town. Her questions only increase my confusion.
I can understand her dislike for the director. Who gives a child a bottle filled with dead and almost-dead fish, saying they're for an execution experiment? I was excited about Ying and his five mysterious animals, but was he brought to the Institute as a slave by the Director's father? I was as surprised as Liujin when Ying said Nancy talks about Liujin all the time.
Nancy is not depicted as a likeable character or caring mother. I'm sad to learn that Jose has begun distancing himself from Liujin. (hide spoiler)]

Ch 9, Little Leaf and Marco (view spoiler)[
Haha, I don't remember Marco at all. Had he appeared earlier in the story? So now we learn about Little Leaf's life after she'd moved out from the home of her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Sherman.
As usual, lots of bizarre things happen, but here's the best quote from Little Leaf:
"Now she had changed her view of life: she would try to deliberately understanding anything again. She would just stay alert--that was enough."
That quote perfectly describes how I'll be approaching this novel. (hide spoiler)]

i've done very little reading this month. After a chapter or two of this book, I want to seek other "entertainment,' yet i fear picking up another book but I so easily lose track of what's going on in Frontier. That is, if I could describe my feeble grasp of the narrative 'keeping track" at all.
SarahKat, do you manage to read Frontier alongside another book? The other day, i read four chapters in two sittings then had to read some of your chapter spoilers to remember what exactly I'd read.
Sunny, how are you doing with this book?

Marco (view spoiler)[had appeared in chapter 3 or 4. When Little Leaf leaves, she leaves with him (hide spoiler)]

I also liked that quote in chapter 9 oshizu and is definitely how this book must be read! I'm trying to read a chapter and just letting the feeling in, rather than try to make sense of the words. It's difficult.

Yes, I am reading other books. I read the minimum pages I need to before it gets returned to the library (or 1-2 full chapters because it's hard to stop in the middle of these chapters). I always read this one first and then it feels like I get to reward myself with something easier to read after I get through my daily chunk of Frontier.

(be warned my notes are becoming less and less detailed)
Chapter 9 : (view spoiler)[Chapter 9 was very "watery." It seemed they were always at the river or ocean, or talking about it. It ends on a bridge where Marco is bit by a snake on his way to Holland...? But this is Holland...?
I liked this quote too, as a possible hint for what's going on: "She asked the manager if it was possible for one to be psychologically transformed into another person and never change back." (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 10: (view spoiler)[The director is in the hospital dying, but maybe not. Seems she sort of dies often and then comes back, maybe transformed? Nancy stays at the director's side. Is it because the director is Liujin, Nancy's daughter? I still haven't given up on this theory of mine. I believe Roy(?) has been climbing the tree outside and seeing him makes the director happy. The charge nurse is apparently a demon of some kind. (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 11: (view spoiler)[I have no idea who Amy is. I know she's been in it but I can never remember what she's there for. In this chapter, Liujin is helping her with a bunch of sheep. One of the lambs gets carried away by an eagle. There are a lot of birds in this chapter. And apparently the air is thin at Liujin's place and that's why people can't stay long.
Qiming gets attacked(?) by Amy's brother and Amy tells Liujin she's in love with him. Also a gecko tells Roy that Liujin is leaving. And there's a dude with a demi-wolf in a cage. Lots of animals...

I have no clue what's going on. (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 12: (view spoiler)[Liujin is at a hostel. With the manager, who is.. headless? And apparently Liujin's friend (are they talking about Roy?) was "temporarily dismembered." And also this hostel is floating I think. Closer to the sun, far away from the rest of the world. A mother is looking for her son (Roy) and finds him. (hide spoiler)]

SarahKat about Amy
(view spoiler)[Amy is the woman in the red skirt who sings. She is an unrelated resident of Meng Yu. It seems Meng Yu buys sheep from outside Pebble Town to sell their meat in the market, whereas Amy is the one looks after the sheep. (hide spoiler)]

Friends, I finished this book earlier today and have nothing coherent to add about the remaining chapters.
My impressions after finishing the book (view spoiler)[
I kept expecting some big reveal that would allow us to puzzle together the disparate narrative elements, but that never happened.
Some time warping, where LiuJin visits Snow Mountain where she visits Amy's home and meets Amy as an infant. I was absolutely clueless about the goings-on at the pseudo-Gobi Desert hotel. I kept expecting Ying to show up as the owner since he's mentioned it before, but I never figured out who the Headless Man/Men were.
Ultimately, LiuJin develops an attraction for Ying.
Frankly, the story arcs of all the characters confused me, though I enjoyed the characters/lives of LiuJin and Qiming the most. (hide spoiler)]

This book confused me from start to finish but I gave it 4 stars for sheer imagination. Not sure I'm brave enough to ever pick up another of Can Xue's books again....

Same, oshizu. I took a few notes but I feel like they don't matter.

Chapter 13 through the end: (view spoiler)[I was really hoping between our note-taking we could figure out some sort of story in this book, but alas. Nothing was revealed at the end to make this make any sort of sense. I'm all for weird dreamlike books, but at some point there needs to be a story. I liked Qiming. I liked the atmosphere of some of the chapters, but as I read more and more it just became frustrating not knowing what is going on. There is no forward motion with the plot, the setting, or the characters. (hide spoiler)]

I'm thinking this will be 2 stars. While parts of it were interesting, it never amounted to anything and ultimately ended up just being frustrating. But this completes my A-Z challenge! Yay!

@SarahKat

Haha, yes! The best thing about this book that it completed my A-Z challenge as well!

I've only read through Ch 3 because I didn't pick this one back up 'til yesterday morning; and I abandoned it in favor of binge watching Midsome Murders series 14. You know, the weird music from the theme of Midsomer fits this book =D

I honestly didn't write down anything as I read. I think my brain is on over-load. Though, weirdly enough I'm still enjoying what I'm reading. Or am I? Maybe I'm just dreaming that I'm enjoying it =D BTW, I've gone to sleep twice while reading it LOL

I am going to finish it. It's on my A-Z Challenge!

Sunny, I was initially posting impressions after each chapter (like SarahKat was doing) because I otherwise couldn't remember what was going on after reading several chapters.

You might "enjoy" your reading experience and finish the book quicker if you wait until you finish to post impressions. Just my two cents.

oshizu wrote: "Sunny, I initially posting impressions after each chapter (like SarahKat was doing) because I otherwise couldn't remember what was going on after reading several chapters.

You might "enjoy" your reading experience and finish the book quicker if you wait until you finish to post impressions. Just my two cents...."

Your two cents is well spent =D I'm sure I'll have plenty to say after I finish. I should at least be able to get a paragraph out of the experience!

Is this book worse or better than Flights? =D

SarahKat wrote: "I love how we all picked up on different things! When I have more time (just hopped on to update before I forget), I need to compare all of our chapter 1 notes side by side to get a clearer picture Maybe between the 3 of us we can figure this book out haha
..."

I'm not sure some things are figure-outable!

Sunny wrote: "Is this book worse or better than Flights? =D"

Both books took me longer to finish than they should have, mainly because I couldn't continue reading either book for very long.
After a little while, I'd feel restless and need to go find something more entertaining to do.
Though Flights consisted of episodes that were only tangentially related to each other, at least each episode made sense of sorts within its own chapter.
We knew early on that Flights was not a contnuous interlinked narrative.

Okay, y'all. I finally plowed my way through this thing. Made myself stick with it until I got it done. I'm thinking I may use it on the rare nights I have trouble sleeping. I went to sleep several times while reading it -- even during the day!

My thoughts:

(view spoiler)[ I have decided I am not on the same planet/plane as the author and the people who admire (and seem to understand) this book. What's more, I'm not sure I want to be, either!

The best way I can describe what this book was like to me: The Twilight Zone on steroids. Poisonous butterflies for gosh sakes!
And all the people or whatever they may be see to be arriving in The Frontier looking for it to be Utopia and are finding it to be something else entirely. And even when they seem to find good stuff it turns into some sort of burden.

I did manage to know before I was told that Jose and Nancy were Liufin's parents. Liujin had some pretty amazing gifts, but her mother was afraid of her. I was reminded of Rosemary's Baby!

However, no matter what I thought or figured out -- none of it really mattered a hoot. I mean, all of the characters were interesting, but I was left wondering what the heck was the purpose of any of them and their stories. None of them were really happy or content no matter what they were doing. And all of them seemed a bit freaky and spaced-out. When the nurse mentioned that the hospital came first, I thought: Of course it did! And then all the loonies were released into The Frontier.

And how ironic that Liujin found Mr. Sherman strange!

I think perhaps I would have been slightly more satisfied with things if it had ended with the Director being in a nursing home -- and everything that took place was her fantasy world.

Anyways ...

In spite of enjoying parts of this book, there's no way I would ever recommend it to anyone so I'm giving it 2 stars; and will be content with having an "X" for for my A-Z challenge. (hide spoiler)]

I went through reading ya'll's previous thoughts and comments and spent my time laughing because I related with what you all were saying -- we were all on the same page with this thing. I love reading things with y'all -- even when they end up being something that drives us crazy.

Sunny
Warm congratulations on managing to finish Frontier, so you could count it toward the A-Z Challenge.
LOL!

oshizu wrote: "Sunny
Warm congratulations on managing to finish Frontier, so you could count it toward the A-Z Challenge.
LOL!"

10-Q, 10-Q, 10-Q! LOL