Book Review: A man searches for meaning in Mike Fu’s unnerving debut novel, ‘Masquerade’

Meadow is coming up on 10 years living in New York, and he’s still adrift. His boyfriend ghosted him, his current residence is actually a housesitting gig, and his bartending job isn’t exactly filling his parents with pride. But this summer, strange things keep happening that will make or break him.

Right at the start of Mike Fu’s debut novel, “Masquerade,” Meadow finds a strange book called “The Masquerade” — written by someone with his same name.

In a rush to catch the plane to visit his parents in Shanghai, he stuffs the book in his bag. As he reads it, he finds uncanny parallels between his life and the novel.

Dream-like, “Masquerade” begins somewhat aimless, introducing small mysteries and oddities that provide an unnerving background hum to an otherwise aimless plot. Like Meadow, we’re not sure where this is all going, or what is going to prove important later, though the occasional foreshadowing reminds us there’s a bigger issue at hand.

There’s a disappearance. There’s an apparent doppelganger, and maybe a ghost, too. And a strange mirror haunts Meadow’s dreams.

Jumping around in time, Fu slowly reveals Meadow’s history — largely revolving around existential dread quieted or swept aside by a constant stream of parties and benders.

In his 20s, Meadow throws himself into postgraduate studies to avoid the financial crash, and then into office work to avoid the self-important but pointless academic work, then into bartending when he finds office work just as pointless and soul-sucking. Now in his 30s, he’s reckoning with a sort of second coming-of-age.

“Masquerade” is a meandering, surreal, and unsettling search for identity as Meadow examines the masks he’s worn throughout his adult life.

While various oddities turn out to be only mysterious — rather than actual mysteries — the novel’s ending has a hopefulness and purpose that helps counterbalance the main character’s lack of agency throughout most of the story.

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