While reading Edward Wong's At the Edge of Empire, I couldn't help but think of one age old maxim. Less is more. I also had a question. What point if Wong trying to make?

There is a lot going on in this book. It is part memoir of his father. It is part a personal memoir. It is a history of China mostly focused on World War II and after, but it will also reach even further back for a spell. It is the story of Hong Kong. And Tibet. Does this sound like too much yet? I can assure you it is too much.

It's not that Wong doesn't write well and certainly you can't work for the New York Times without being able to write. The major problem in this book is what he chooses to leave in the narrative. For example, his father is for an unknown reason, taken out of the Chinese air force and shipped to other parts of China. He doesn't know why but one day gets a look at his file. Wong writes a paragraph of several sentences just to unveil a single line to the reader. Is this a problem if it happens a few times? Of course not. The problem is that it happens frequently.

Then there are the time jumps. Since this is partly a dual memoir of a father and son, it is expected that you would change time periods. However, Wong will go from 2011 but then jump back to 2010 a chapter later then back to his father in 1950 and then back to the 2000s. The time was not linear between the two stories and it was confusing.

I was frustrated. Certain parts of the book are a glimpse of what it could have been. A chapter on ethnic violence in China is well written and interesting. The chapters on his father feel too wordy while not providing enough detail on what matters to the reader. I think Wong would write a wonderful biography of his father but he cannot keep it interesting when he is jumping all over the place.

Ultimately, I learned a lot from this book but in the most confusing way possible. It could be excellent if a lot is cut out and more focus is put on one aspect of the overall story.

(This book was provided as an advance copy by Netgalley and Penguin Group Viking.)