Book Blog

Ha Jin

This book has a wonderful, plain style. Passages feel as if I'm reading with sunglasses that sap the book's emotional undercurrent of its spotlight. Intellectually I know that emotions are at play and yet I feel more connected to the zombie protagonist Lin, because the style of the writing matches Lin's state of mind.


I know very little about China particularly China in the last half of the 20th century but references to Shanghai watches, Phoenix bicycles, and walks through Victory Park in a city not too far from the Manchurian and Siberian borders bring to mind some kind of bleak picture. Something like Narva, where Nanci and Adam and I found ourselves walking through some of the more rundown areas of town (how could we avoid those areas?! They were all around the place). But no, really Narva is actually quite beautiful in some areas.

Anyway, the plot: a love story of a sort, two ladies and an indecisive man. Its sad.