false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1168452002m/33561.jpg 33561 9 It's the <I>little</I> things that kill us, as that master of the miniature Ha Jin well knows. Not oppression in general, but the tea thrown at us by railroad policemen; not failure, but the old flame who fails to visit; not grief, but the peanuts our kindergarten teacher stole from our pockets. In <I>The Bridegroom</I>, such moments run surprisingly deep, as if they traced the grooves history has left on individual hearts. The book's 12 tales capture a China in transition, en route from Maoism to market-friendly socialism, from isolation to increasing contact with the West. "I never thought money could make so much difference," says the narrator of "An Entrepreneur's Story," who's been transformed from black-market lowlife to new-economy hero. He wins respect and gets the girl, but it all feels too easy somehow, and he revenges himself by lighting his kerosene stove with bank notes. <p> Other characters navigate this sea change with similar bewilderment. The professor mistaken for "The Saboteur" thinks news articles about the end of the cultural revolution mean he can reason with the police (wrong!), while the bridegroom of the title story is hauled off to jail for so-called hooliganism rooted in "Western capitalism and bourgeois lifestyle"--that is, loving other men. "What a wonderful husband he could have been if he were not sick," his father-in-law thinks. In the story that deals most explicitly with the conflict between East and West, an American chain named Cowboy Chicken sets up shop in Muji City. The new order isn't that different from the old one, thinks one of the Chinese workers: "We nicknamed Mr. Shapiro 'Party Secretary,' because just like a Party boss anywhere he didn't do any work. The only difference was that he didn't organize political studies or demand we report to him our inner thoughts." In the end, as often happens, greed begets revolution--but whose greed? When the workers at Cowboy Chicken go on strike, jealous of one of their coworker's paychecks, they're replaced by an African American woman who teaches English at a nearby college and her students, who sing "We Shall Overcome" while they wipe tables. <p> But as in Jin's National Book Award-winning novel, <I>Waiting</I>, even the broadest political and cultural ironies are painted with an extraordinarily light-handed brush. Despite their apparent simplicity, these stories run deep; it's as if some 19th century master had wandered into our midst, writing prose whose unruffled surface recalls the virtues of the very long view. Like Chekhov, another great miniaturist and the writer he most resembles, Jin understands that humor <I>is</I> compassion, that a well-honed appreciation for the absurd is sometimes the best and most honest way to honor failed lives. While his characters attempt to balance the needs of the self and the demands of the state, we see less what is foreign to us than what is native to the human heart. <I>--Mary Park</I> 33628 2000 The Bridegroom: Stories total:478|5:112|4:198|3:143|2:22|1:3| 478 1828 667 58 5 0 false false Sun Jul 26 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 15 14:36:07 -0700 2009 Sun Jul 26 21:30:45 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Tue Aug 21 20:36:30 -0700 2007 Tue Aug 21 20:37:05 -0700 2007
lately i've been addicted with chinese contemporary literature. the bridegroom is a collection of stories about the contemporary life in china. most of the stories set in the last half of the 20th centuries. where things turn so comically trag...more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Mar 23 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Mar 17 15:02:04 -0700 2009 Mon Mar 23 04:54:25 -0700 2009 more...]]> 0 0 false false Thu Feb 05 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sun Jul 26 23:02:55 -0700 2009 Sun Jul 26 23:02:55 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Mon Mar 30 16:02:47 -0700 2009 Thu Apr 02 18:19:38 -0700 2009 The Bridegroom seem underdeveloped. I suggest picking up War Trash, Waiting or In the Pond if you want to start reading Jin, because this one might be a disappointment. more...]]> 5 0 false false Mon Sep 22 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Sep 10 07:11:14 -0700 2008 Wed Sep 24 12:59:09 -0700 2008 "After Cowboy Chicken Came to Town" was my favorite s...more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Mon Jun 29 17:06:47 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 29 17:08:57 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Wed Jan 21 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Wed Sep 16 00:39:14 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 16 00:41:34 -0700 2009
Everyone I have shown this collection of short stories has read it quickly and commented favourably on the author. ]]> 5 0 false false Thu Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Nov 01 08:02:36 -0800 2009 Sun Nov 01 09:09:39 -0800 2009 5 0 false false Fri Jul 24 21:39:15 -0700 2009 Fri Jul 24 21:40:06 -0700 2009 2 0 false false Sun Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Tue Mar 17 09:21:54 -0700 2009 Tue Mar 17 09:26:40 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Wed Jan 21 17:34:59 -0800 2009 Fri Jan 23 02:26:17 -0800 2009 4 0 false false Mon Mar 03 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Wed Apr 30 10:56:39 -0700 2008 Wed Apr 30 10:56:39 -0700 2008 more...]]> 0 0 false false Mon Jun 22 09:47:59 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 22 09:48:35 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Tue Jul 28 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Jul 27 17:06:26 -0700 2009 Tue Jul 28 17:29:04 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Sat Aug 22 17:12:38 -0700 2009 Sat Aug 22 17:14:29 -0700 2009 2 0 false false Wed May 20 11:21:42 -0700 2009 Thu May 28 10:41:20 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Wed Aug 26 20:15:04 -0700 2009 Wed Aug 26 20:15:21 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Sat Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sat Mar 01 12:50:10 -0800 2008 Sat Mar 01 12:57:31 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Jun 30 14:35:37 -0700 2007 Wed Aug 08 06:28:11 -0700 2007 more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=33561