"'The Dissident' concludes with a conventional happy ending...for one of its protagonists." Was that really necessary? I know a review has to give away some plot points, but reviewers should be extremely cautious when discussing a novel's ending. Maybe Andrew O'Hehir had a sense of impending doom for all the characters while reading Freudenberger's book: those of us who read his review won't.

It is the rare book reviewer who truly understands that minor characters in a novel are not required to be fully-formed "people," especially in any book with a first person narrator. In literature, as in life, we come across persons (and/or characters) who only show us one or two sides of themselves, offering only "splotches of color" to our total experience of living or reading. Reviewers should remember that they, too, are human beings who have acquaintances--and even family members--about whom they lack the time or interest to contrive to learn more. Such "minor characters" pass in and out of our lives, make their fleeting impressions, and, busy as we are with living our main story, are given short shrift. We are not at fault for this; that’s just life. As far as minor fictional characters go, an author should not be faulted either; that’s just literature.

"Freudenberger has the kind of old-fashioned storytelling gift you can't learn in any MFA program."

It's worth noting that Freudenberger went to the MFA program at NYU. While she might not have learned her "old-fashioned storytelling style" entirely at NYU, it's likely that she practiced and refined it there. It's true that no fine arts program in any medium can teach mastery, nor can one produce an accomplished artist without that artist having native talent -- but are we to take cheap shots at apprenticeship programs whenever a young artist seems to have matured independently?

On a related note, the character of Yuan Zhao reminds me of the real-life Breyten Breytenbach, a South African writer who was imprisoned by his country for his opposition to Apartheid. Since his release , Breytenbach has continued to produce numerous works of literature and paintings. He now teaches, for part of every year, in the MFA program at NYU.

Far from being tipped off to major plot points by the Salon review, I finished reading The Dissident with a feeling of complete confusion. It was hard to keep the Chinese "East Village" characters straight, and by the end I had no idea if YZ was really X or just non-YZ. Did HL know his secret? I enjoyed the book for its literary pleasures, but no way would I read it again to figure all this out. I feel like an idiot.