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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
"I saw China as an old hag...decrepit and brainsick.", 27 Nov 2002
Originally written in draft form around the time of the Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989, Ha Jin's novel recreates those tumultuous times and the forces which built up and exploded in student protest--the stifling of true inquiry and creativity, institutionalized adherence to old-style, hard line bureaucracy, and an all-powerful state which manipulates every aspect of a person's destiny, from education and career path to place of residency and choice of spouse. With candor and a sense of immediacy, Ha Jin illuminates the pressures and frustrations of Chinese academic life, as seen by Jian Wan, studying for his Ph.D. entrance exams in literature, and by Prof. Yang, his mentor and academic advisor. When Prof. Yang, who is also Jian Wan's future father-in-law, suffers a serious stroke, Jian Wan is the one who must tend him in the hospital. Half-crazed and irrational, Prof. Yang has moments of lucidity in which he speaks urgently to Jian and offers heartfelt advice, but most often Jian finds him singing songs from his childhood, recalling nightmarish events from the long-buried past, and reliving conversations and recent events which have dramatically affected both his personal relationships and his career. As Jian listens to Prof. Yang, he finds himself examining his own life and goals with a more critical and discerning eye, becoming more and more disillusioned by the injustices he sees all around him, both within the academic community and in the countryside, where poverty is still rampant, the people are utterly powerless, and life is a hopeless search for a way out. Filled with fascinating insights into the nature of life in a totalitarian state, the novel is both moving and enlightening, though it is sometimes didactic. In clear, efficient prose which avoids all frills and flourishes, Jian tells his story in the first person. The scope expands as the maunderings of Prof. Yang, along with his symbolic stories and recollections, reveal the history of the Chinese Revolution in personal terms. Numerous aphorisms constantly remind the reader of the universality of the characters' observations and of the author's themes: "We're all automatons without a soul," "Intellect makes life insufferable. It's better to be an ordinary man working honorably with your hands," "As a scholar, you're just a piece of meat on a chopping board," and "I want to take my fate in my own hands...I want to be a knife instead of a piece of meat." The dramatic conclusion, full of ironies, is a bit preachy in its message, but few will fail to be moved by scenes from the Tiananmen Square massacre, which provides dramatic and powerful imagery of a China which will "devour her children to sustain herself. China is an old [female dog] that eats her own puppies." Mary Whipple
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