Kuang is clearly smart and has good ideas. Not a very good writer though. Nothing a good editor can’t help, but hers continues to let her down. Seriously, a book where the chapters just follow the story (almost entirely) in a straight line? Great premise—PhD student descends into Hell to retrieve her advisor—but the linearity gets old REALLY fast. 541 pages. Like “Babel,” the writing doesn’t merit this page count.