Product Description

From the award-winning author of "Red Dust", comes 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 are unlikely friends - one of them tortured by his 'art', the other fat and wealthy from the earthy business of providing spare blood for the citizens of China. Over the course of one especially gastronomic evening, the writer starts to complain about his latest Party commission: the story of an ordinary soldier who sacrifices his life to the revolutionary cause. This is not the novel he wants to write, he tells his friend. Inside his head lives an unwritten book about the people he knows or sees everyday on the streets - people who lives are far more representative of the world in which he lives. 'A beautiful, disturbing read - a new Wild Swans' - "Observer". 'If you have time to read only one book on China this year, choose "Red Dust"' - "Financial Times". 'His narrative is blessed with a prose style that compresses meaning as succinctly as Chinese calligraphy. It opens windows on landscapes small and vast, all still largely unobserved and unknown to Westerners' - "The Times".

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #191674 in Books
• Published on: 2005-05-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 192 pages

About the Author
Ma Jian left Beijing for Hong Kong in 1987, shortly before his books were banned in China. After the hand-over of Hong Kong he moved to Germany and then London, where he now lives. His acclaimed book Red Dust won the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award 2002.

Customer Reviews

Too darkly humourous for me
An interesting book. I must admit, I probably wouldn't have realised it was supposed to be funny (even darkly so) had I not read the blurb on the back. I'm not a great fan of dark humour, and I found this particularly dark and, as I say, not really funny.

However, the writing is good and I suspect that those who like black humour would enjoy it more than I did. It paints a grim, bleak picture of life in China, but it is an interesting insight into a different culture. I felt I might have appreciated the story - and the humour - more if I had had a better knowledge of Chinese culture before reading.

Some of the chapters are pretty unpleasant so I wouldn't recommend it to those who are easily upset or queasy. It's not really a light or easy read, although the actual writing style is perfectly accessible - it's more the subject matter than made reading difficult. I would recommend it to those who like dark humour, or who have some knowledge or interest in Chinese culture and recent history.