New Delhi, Oct. 3 -- There is something chimerical about the way the author of Taipei Story claims authorship of her work. Sometimes she's Rebecca F. Kuang, at other times an androgynous R.F. Kuang. Different editions of this, her latest, carry different versions of her name. As I cracked Taipei Story open, I wondered whether this has any bearing on her diverse and whimsical bibliography-she has written epic, sweeping fantasy in The Poppy Wars series, Babel and Katabasis, and also a sharp, zeitgeist-friendly novel about the global book publishing industry in Yellowface. Taipei Story is equally difficult to pin down in terms of genre-is it memoir? A travelogue? A coming-of-age novel?

Lily Chen is a 19-year-old Chinese American student fro...