Björn recenserade Explosionskrönika av Anna Gustafsson Chen
None
3 stjärnor
China is poor, too, but when the country becomes properly rich we can buy an American president.
2.5, probably. As a satirical chronicle of China's change from maoist farming nation to super-city capitalist superpower, it has both some good points and some good laughs, and Yan's targets are no less relevant outside China. Men get to make money for others, women get to sell themselves to others, repeat as the skyscrapers grow.
But 380 pages of that needs characters and plot to carry it. The narration is too dry even as it occasionally veers into sub-Márquezian magical realism, and the characters mostly consist of dramatic exclamations of what they want to do next, all driven by fate and plot necessity.
Brilliant translation, though.
China is poor, too, but when the country becomes properly rich we can buy an American president.
2.5, probably. As a satirical chronicle of China's change from maoist farming nation to super-city capitalist superpower, it has both some good points and some good laughs, and Yan's targets are no less relevant outside China. Men get to make money for others, women get to sell themselves to others, repeat as the skyscrapers grow.
But 380 pages of that needs characters and plot to carry it. The narration is too dry even as it occasionally veers into sub-Márquezian magical realism, and the characters mostly consist of dramatic exclamations of what they want to do next, all driven by fate and plot necessity.
Brilliant translation, though.