Written in the aftermath of the Tiananmen massacre, The Noodle Maker is a virtuoso piece of 'red humour' - a darkly funny novel about the absurdities and cruelties of life in modern China. Every week, a writer of political propaganda and a professional blood-donor meet for dinner. They make unlikely friends, the one tortured by the desire for intellectual excellence, the other more concerned with the down-to-earth practicalities of life. Nevertheless, the writer enjoys the blood-donor's company, perhaps because, as the richer of the two, he provides the dinner. Over the course of one especially gastronomic and drunken evening, the writer moves from complaints about his latest commission - the composition of an epic account of a Communist hero - to recount the stories he would really like to write, had he the freedom. A young man buys an old kiln from an art school and opens a private crematorium, delighting in his ability to harass the corpses of police officers and Party secretaries; an illegal migrant scrapes a living writing letters for the illiterate, but becomes so immersed in the lives of others that he loses a grip on his own; a heartbroken actress performs a public suicide.
The Noodle Maker
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"Deep black humour and a perfect pitch in registering both fear and absurdity - owes a debt to Italo Calvino" (Daily Telegraph )
"One of the most important and courageous voices in Chinese literature" (Gao Xingjian, Winner Of The 2000 Nobel Prize For Literature )
"Compelling, inventive and bleakly funny" (Big Issue )
"Brave New World territory, where national euphemisms attempt to obscure the nation's true horrors... Richly drawn characters... The Noodle Maker is a remarkable achievement" (Time Out New York )
"Written in a spirit of opaque humour-shot through with the glimmers of human resilience, friendship and the capacity for love. Ma's writing shines a light that is both humane and angry into some of the dustiest corners of a closed and often forgotten society" (Observer ) --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
"One of the most important and courageous voices in Chinese literature" (Gao Xingjian, Winner Of The 2000 Nobel Prize For Literature )
"Compelling, inventive and bleakly funny" (Big Issue )
"Brave New World territory, where national euphemisms attempt to obscure the nation's true horrors... Richly drawn characters... The Noodle Maker is a remarkable achievement" (Time Out New York )
"Written in a spirit of opaque humour-shot through with the glimmers of human resilience, friendship and the capacity for love. Ma's writing shines a light that is both humane and angry into some of the dustiest corners of a closed and often forgotten society" (Observer ) --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
Book Description
'Playful and wonderfully dark, The Noodle Maker confirms Ma Jian as a Chinese Kundera. The funniest book I've read in a long time' Philip Marsden (20040624)
--This text refers to an alternate
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
An interesting book giving a Dark Humoured insight into the changes going on in China, many amusing anecdotes for a hard existence.
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
As soon as I read Ma Jian's Red Dust it soon became my favourite book about China. I have loved his other works too, a brilliant writer, harsh existence he inhabits.
3.0 out of 5 stars
'I want to transform their lives into a work of art, although I am sure they will never bother to read it'
30 Aug 2012
By sally tarbox
TOP 500 REVIEWER
Format:Paperback
Two old friends - a professional blood donor (a profit seeker) and a state employed writer (an idealist) - meet up for a regular dinner. The latter compains about his latest assignment: a book about a Communist hero. He yearns to write about other people:
'A young entrepreneur who runs a private crematorium; an illegal migrant who writes letters for the illiterate; a father who spends his life trying to get rid of his retarded daughter...These are people he knows, has read about or sees every day on the streets...But he is fully aware that if he wrote about these sad and feeble characters, his leaders would consider him unfit for the post of professional writer'.
In a series of interlinked short stories, the writer tells the stories of these characters...
An excellent translation by Flora Drew. Interesting read although sometimes I felt the hidden meanings escaped me!
'A young entrepreneur who runs a private crematorium; an illegal migrant who writes letters for the illiterate; a father who spends his life trying to get rid of his retarded daughter...These are people he knows, has read about or sees every day on the streets...But he is fully aware that if he wrote about these sad and feeble characters, his leaders would consider him unfit for the post of professional writer'.
In a series of interlinked short stories, the writer tells the stories of these characters...
An excellent translation by Flora Drew. Interesting read although sometimes I felt the hidden meanings escaped me!
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