The medicine man He Song offers us a wooden box that contains a baby hand. Do we open it or leave it be? Chinese culture, history, and dangerous political objection intertwine with memorable characters that seem somehow more than human. Set in a place where the ancient past lingers in memories, objects, and the dust of forgotten temples, levon a serves as both an escape from reality and a wakeup call to face it. Readers who initially question the experimental format will sing its praises by the end. It works in levon a (a novel, backwards) because it serves to deepen the meaning of the actions. After the enigmatic characters experience the consequences of their choices, the complex reasons and events that occurred previously reveal why they made them.