JOSS AND GOLD

"The mark of an anthropologist," a character in Lim's richly detailed first novel observes, is that she "seldom misses an observation that counts." Neither does Lim, as she takes the reader from Kuala Lumpur in 1968 to Westchester County in 1980 and Singapore in 1981. When the novel opens, Malaysia—only 11 years independent—comprises an uneasy mix of Malays, Chinese and Indians (among many others) and is struggling to find its identity—not unlike the protagonist, Li An, a Malaysian-born Chinese enamored of British poets and beginning her first job, as an English tutor. Though Li An marries Henry, a graduate student from a wealthy Chinese family, she befriends and then falls for Chester Brookfield, an American Peace Corps volunteer. When a separatist riot results in a curfew, Li An spends the night with Chester, and though he quickly forgets it and returns to the United States, it changes Li An, leading her to begin a new career and to move to Singapore, settling down with her ex-husband's stepmother and forming a small family of unrelated women. Lim narrates this story in acute, realistic detail, careful to give even minor characters detailed histories. Lim is not, however, a great stylist (judicious editing would have helped), and this detail is sometimes burdensome. Yet Lim's insights are piercing. She has a keen eye for the effects of American imperialism, and she can write bitterly funny scenes, as she does when Chester has a vasectomy. Better yet, she keeps a grip on the strands of her complex story and brings them together in a resolution that is as moving as it is satisfying. (Sept.)