Dai Wei has been unconscious for almost a decade. A medical student and a pro-democracy protester in Tiananmen Square in June 1989, he was struc... read full description
reviews
Feb 05, 2009
Even reviewers who found serious problems with Beijing Coma admired its political honesty and narrative premise. They suggested that anyone reading this book would learn much about the circumstances leading to the confrontation in Tiananmen Square and the changes that have taken place in China since. But critics disagreed over the value of Beijing Coma independent of its clear importance as a work of dissident fiction. For example, some critics thought that Ma Jian's detailed descriptions of rel
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Nov 17, 2011
Cmorice
rated it: 
Ma Jian a quitté Beijing pour Hong Kong en 1987, peu avant que ses livres soient interdits en Chine, et vit aujourd’hui à Londres. Il a publié quatre livres en France, dont Nouilles chinoises (Flammarion, 2006) et Chemins de poussière rouge (Éditions de l’Aube, 2005).
« Tout était vert : les soldats, les tanks derrière eux, les immeubles des deux côtés. Le ciel était vert, et le soleil encore plus vert… Puis je la vis : c’était A-Mei, vêtue d’une longue robe blanche, ses cheveux fraîche More...
« Tout était vert : les soldats, les tanks derrière eux, les immeubles des deux côtés. Le ciel était vert, et le soleil encore plus vert… Puis je la vis : c’était A-Mei, vêtue d’une longue robe blanche, ses cheveux fraîche More...
Mar 06, 2011
Thurston
rated it: 
Overly long and overly ambitious take on China, through the bloody
lens of the Tianamenen Square 1989 events. While that is the focal
point, the story spans long before and long after. Working in the
history of brutality of the Cultural Revolution, set the table for the
outrage at the events of 1989, but the chaos and in-bred ennui
of the "leaders" made for a jarring juxtaposition.
Less successful a juxtaposition, the text switching senteces of poetic
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lens of the Tianamenen Square 1989 events. While that is the focal
point, the story spans long before and long after. Working in the
history of brutality of the Cultural Revolution, set the table for the
outrage at the events of 1989, but the chaos and in-bred ennui
of the "leaders" made for a jarring juxtaposition.
Less successful a juxtaposition, the text switching senteces of poetic
More...
Nov 04, 2010
Troy
rated it: 
On its most basic level, this book was a real eye-opener about the events leading up to the Tiananmen Square crackdown, and the clumsy push for democracy by the students.
On a deeper level, Jian weaves the story into the comatose plight of the protagonist ('himself') with emotive and nostalgic flashbacks, as well as interluding segments taken from the fictional book of "The Book of Mountains and Seas" with some rather bizarre metaphoric beasts. This leads you to ponder the po More...
On a deeper level, Jian weaves the story into the comatose plight of the protagonist ('himself') with emotive and nostalgic flashbacks, as well as interluding segments taken from the fictional book of "The Book of Mountains and Seas" with some rather bizarre metaphoric beasts. This leads you to ponder the po More...
Apr 18, 2010
Stephen
rated it:
The narrator of Ma Jian's long novel (703pp) is a comatose young man who was shot in the head near Tiananmen on the fateful day of June 4, 1989. He cannot move, but he is conscious of what is happening around him, and, more importantly, he can remember. Thus, the narrative moves back and forth between the narrator's memories of the events leading up to the Tiananmen massacre in which he was so gravely wounded and his perceptions of the "tiny" events transpiring in the apartment where
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Jul 24, 2008
Elizabeth said: I'm reading Beijing Coma, by Ma Jian. It's a novel about the events of Tiananmen Square in 1989. I was there as a journalist at the time, and I find a lot of his descriptions very accurate, not least the endless bickering between different factions in the student movement. But he hasn't so far been able to capture the putrid smell that goes with 100,000 unwashed bodies and jars of pickled cabbage left out in the Beijing summer!
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Jul 04, 2009
Meredith
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
Mar 21, 2011
Maggie
rated it:
This is a great book. And I don't say that solely because I liked it. I mean Great Book. As in Great books of the 21-first century. This is like fiction as historical documentary.
It's a novel about twentith century Political history -the reality of Communism in China as it was since the
"Liberation"-The Revolution which resulted in the ascendency of Chairman Mao. It touches on the Cultural Revolution which was an era of horrific sadism. But the main s More...
It's a novel about twentith century Political history -the reality of Communism in China as it was since the
"Liberation"-The Revolution which resulted in the ascendency of Chairman Mao. It touches on the Cultural Revolution which was an era of horrific sadism. But the main s More...
Oct 27, 2009
Sarah
rated it:
Although intense, this book was beautifully written and served as a true eye-opener. Our comatose narrator, Dai Wei, takes us through his father's plight during the Cultural Revolution, and then his own involvement with the student-led, pro-democracy protests ending tragically at Tiananmen Square in 1989. We see in graphic, gruesome detail a group of students evolve from self-centered, pretentious teens and early twenty somethings, into young adults giving their lives for freedom in China.
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Dec 20, 2008
Stephanie
rated it:
BEIJING Coma opens with its narrator waking from a long, deep sleep, as the apartment building around him is torn down to make way for an Olympic stadium.
To be more precise, Dai Wei has been lying in a coma for ten years, having been shot in the head during the Tiananmen Square massacre of June 4, 1989, in which hundreds of protesters, many university students, were killed by government troops.
He is paralysed from head to toe, but is still able to hear, think and remember: “A portion More...
To be more precise, Dai Wei has been lying in a coma for ten years, having been shot in the head during the Tiananmen Square massacre of June 4, 1989, in which hundreds of protesters, many university students, were killed by government troops.
He is paralysed from head to toe, but is still able to hear, think and remember: “A portion More...
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Jun 09, 2010
Spanakos
rated it:
Great book narrated by a Chinese man in a coma (he was shot when the Chinese government broke up the protests in Tiananmen Square in 1989). It is one of the novels that talks about the new and old China (from Cultural Revolution to Capitalist Consumerism with nostalgia leading to people following Falun Gong). Jian has been living outside of China for more than 20 years (although he has been allowed to visit) but he has an uncanny ability to capture the diversity of personalities, ideas, and int
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Jan 06, 2012
Sarah
rated it:
A fascinating portrait of China and its recent history. Beijing Coma is told through the eyes of Dai Wei, a student protester who falls into a coma after the Tienanmen Square protest of 1989. Dai Wei's recounting of the energy of the student protesters brings their movement to life and details of life in China highlight the practices the students were fighting against. However, one of the most interesting things about this novel is the depiction of the changes China experienced after the Tien
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Jun 20, 2011
Chris
rated it: 
Wow. I finally finished it. This book was long, but very interesting. The history of China covered spans from the cultural revolution, through tiananmen square and up to the preparations for the beijing olympics. I learned so much and felt like I had finally had my eyes opened to the atrocities the chinese people have endured. I think the book could have been more heavily edited with respect to the details of the hunger strike. The book was dense, but I'm glad I finished it (even though ou
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Oct 17, 2009
Martac
rated it:
The subject matter is just plain sad, but the story is well told. Although this is a piece of fiction, it often felt like a confessional or memoir, some sort of catharsis for the author.
Depressing: a young man shot in Tiananmen, stuck in a coma throughout the 1990s, his mother caring for him as apartments around them are demolished.
But well written, and well translated. The language is vivid and at times poetic. The flashbacks from childhood all the way through the prote More...
Depressing: a young man shot in Tiananmen, stuck in a coma throughout the 1990s, his mother caring for him as apartments around them are demolished.
But well written, and well translated. The language is vivid and at times poetic. The flashbacks from childhood all the way through the prote More...
Jul 25, 2011
Sunny
rated it:
a book told feom teh stundents point of view of the tianenmen square massacre. its told retrospectively from a comatose students point of view and slips between his life and mind in teh coma and his fatelful tale of those last few weeks before the massacre too place. its gets little boring in the middle i should say but is stunning in the last 200 pages. ma jian has a interesting way of describing things in a very minimilistic way but in a way that enables you to picture the whole scene. worth t
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Aug 21, 2010
Madeline
rated it:
So, I didn't like Beijing Coma much at all. Part of the reason, I'm sure, was the translation. I've no idea how faithful it was to Ma Jian's style, or tone, or anything, but it often read like something that had been only partially translated into idiomatic English. There was a strange mix of English-language slang, and often I think a phrase closer to the original Chinese idiom would have been a better choice. But then there are other times where things that I suspect were puns popped up, and t
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Apr 16, 2010
Mary
rated it:
Overall I liked this, and found it particularly exciting at the end. The book would have been a lot better if it had been about 200 pages shorter.
Initially I was much more taken by the background story – what had happened to the family, especially the father, in the past. As this rolled into Tiananmen Square, things in the background slowed way down, and I found myself fascinated by the coma story, especially the incredible sensitivity to sounds and smells.
There seemed to be More...
Initially I was much more taken by the background story – what had happened to the family, especially the father, in the past. As this rolled into Tiananmen Square, things in the background slowed way down, and I found myself fascinated by the coma story, especially the incredible sensitivity to sounds and smells.
There seemed to be More...
May 15, 2010
Ellen
rated it:
This is a rare historical novel in which the writing (translated from Mandarin into English) isn't just language competently handled to tell a story, but is interesting, layered and inventive in its own right. I'm a writer so I relish that. Sometimes a story is great but the writing is just okay. I could name some best sellers like this. Sometimes the story is okay but the writing is acrobatic and self-conscious. What about the story? Best of all is when a writer with a rebellious mind has a s
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Jan 22, 2010
Cheryl
rated it:
The novel has a good light prose style which which served as a counterpoint to the gruesome events which happened during the Cultural Revolution. Dai Wei seemed to finally understand his father and what he suffered after he read his diary. Maybe he was hoping to live up to him by getting involved in the student protests - he certainly didn't take up any leadership roles so one wonders if he was a reluctant participant.
The novel is woven with poetry and little character observations More...
The novel is woven with poetry and little character observations More...
Nov 22, 2009
Ula
rated it:
Beautiful and sad book about a man who was shot during the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989 and was in a coma for 10 years. It's a parallel story of Dai Wei's life as he remembers it while stuck in his physically useless body with an incredibly.detailed recounting of the entire student protest. The parts of the book where he's remembering his life while hearing everything that's going on in Beijing between 1990 and 1999 is really good. The story of the protests is interesting but so insanely
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Jul 19, 2010
Diane
rated it:
A long and difficult book. The story is told by a young man in a coma from being shot in the head during the June 4, 1989 Tianamen square student demonstrations and goes back and forth between his life as a "vegetable," his earlier life, and the Tianamen Square student demonstrations from April 17 to June 4. The student demonstrations are told in minute detail from the point of view of the organizers.
I slowly became aware of several things. (1)At first I was amazed at the More...
I slowly became aware of several things. (1)At first I was amazed at the More...
Jun 08, 2009
Leon
rated it:
From the first page on, life literally flashes by the protagonist. He is told: ‘This is a clear sign that now on you’re going to have to take life seriously.’
Dai Wei, a Beijing University student, has been shot in the head in the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre. The story proper begins as the narrator switches to Dai Wei, now in a coma.
We journey with Wei, from his birth, childhood and adulthood, to finality. We see him falling for his childhood love Lulu, who later betr More...
Dai Wei, a Beijing University student, has been shot in the head in the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre. The story proper begins as the narrator switches to Dai Wei, now in a coma.
We journey with Wei, from his birth, childhood and adulthood, to finality. We see him falling for his childhood love Lulu, who later betr More...
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Oct 26, 2008
Howard
rated it:
This is a great, but also greatly flawed, book. it tells the story of China's Tianenmen Generation through the memories and experiences of a comatose student who was shot in the head during the June 1989 crackdown of Beijing's democratic activists.
The book's greatness lies in the way it bears witness to the oppression of the Chinese by their government. The narrator tells his story in flashback as he lies in a coma. The narrative alternates between his memories and his current stat More...
The book's greatness lies in the way it bears witness to the oppression of the Chinese by their government. The narrator tells his story in flashback as he lies in a coma. The narrative alternates between his memories and his current stat More...
Feb 20, 2009
Golden
rated it:
Eh.
premise
Dai Wei is in a coma after being shot in the head at the Tianamen square massacre. His senses of hearing & smell are in tact. He drifts between memory of events leading up to the massacre and his present situation, lying almost senseless in a grimy, cluttered apartment being looked after by his struggling mother who is completley unaware that her son is not completely unaware.
The author uses switches in memory / reality rather than chapters, I think, to More...
premise
Dai Wei is in a coma after being shot in the head at the Tianamen square massacre. His senses of hearing & smell are in tact. He drifts between memory of events leading up to the massacre and his present situation, lying almost senseless in a grimy, cluttered apartment being looked after by his struggling mother who is completley unaware that her son is not completely unaware.
The author uses switches in memory / reality rather than chapters, I think, to More...
Dec 26, 2008
Josie
rated it:
It’s very tempting to write that reading Beijing Coma was like being in a coma. I can’t remember a book that felt this long. Yet it was remarkable in many ways and certainly worth having read once it was finished.
The novel’s protagonist and narrator, a victim of the Tienanmen square crackdown, spends the book in a coma; it alternates between his perception of the outside world in which he lies “encased in this fleshy tomb” and his memories. The remembering begins at the beginning More...
The novel’s protagonist and narrator, a victim of the Tienanmen square crackdown, spends the book in a coma; it alternates between his perception of the outside world in which he lies “encased in this fleshy tomb” and his memories. The remembering begins at the beginning More...
Sep 28, 2008
Olivia
rated it:
It would be strange to say I enjoyed this book, maybe, but I think it is a really "important" book. By that, I mean I felt I was reading something along the lines of Solzhenitsyn, but without such intimate personal details. Because these events happened in my life time, it feels like it is quite important to be reading about them. Having been to China recently, I kept thinking about standing in the square, and wishing I had known more about it at the time.
He does a good jo More...
He does a good jo More...
Jun 03, 2008
Victoria
rated it:
Ma Jian spent more than a decade writing this story of the events of Tiananmen Square prompted by his desire to force China to remember the tragic events of its past. He said of the novel: 'I wanted to write a book that would bear witness to recent history and help reclaim a people's right to remember.'
As someone who was in Tinanmen Square during the weeks leading up to the tragedy, Ma Jian is perfectly placed to reflect on his country's history. However, it is the way he frames his More...
As someone who was in Tinanmen Square during the weeks leading up to the tragedy, Ma Jian is perfectly placed to reflect on his country's history. However, it is the way he frames his More...
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Apr 16, 2008
Tammy
rated it:
Ma Jian's epic masterpiece about the 1989 Tiananmen Square Protests will be present in your mind long after you put the book down-- if you can do so. Dai Wei, a PhD student at Beijing University was struck by a bullet during the massacre that followed the student protests. As he lies in bed immobile for years, he lives in his memories of the past. He also silently observes everything around his big iron bed, trapped within his body. His mother, apartment, friends, and body break down around
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Jun 16, 2009
Ricki
rated it:
absolutely brilliant - it was one to be savoured -not read quickly - as part of the interest of the book is the slow build up to 4 June '89 - the positioning for power within the students in the movement and the recollections of people, places and times through the fog of the coma. I loved every minute of this book but will also admit to putting it down several times whilst I digested what I had read. All in all, it took me about 3 weeks to read it.........don't miss it.
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Jun 09, 2009
Travis
rated it:
Our protagonist is a student protestor from Tianeman Square, beaten so severely that he's in a coma. Our man is sentient though and takes us through the brutal memories & a handful of fleeting, poignant romances. As with Ngugi's Wizard of the Crow, I'm not sure everyone's willing to invest this much time (586 pages) on such a rough topic. I was wrecked afterwards. I believe its title in Chinese is "meat Earth" as in humans rolled under tanks.
