Tan confesses that when he was working on this story, he had no idea what it might mean--he leaves interpretation to his readers--but it has become his most popular work to date. The book has sold more than 30,000 copies in his home country, not a bad result considering Australia's relatively small population of 21 million. After this, Tan regained confidence in his literary talents.
這本陳志勇創作時也「不知隱喻為何、問題沒有答案，留給讀者詮釋」的作品，成為陳志勇最受歡迎的暢銷著作，在人口只有 2100 萬的澳洲，創造出三萬多本的佳績，讓陳志勇拾回對文字創作的信心。