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grayjay's review
5.0
Can Xue writes of an enchanting and ominous place called Pebble Town, where poplars haunt the river, wolves and snow leopards roam about the marketplace, a headless man runs a hostel, a tropical garden invades dreams and obsesses many people, and a mysterious and powerful woman leads the Design Institute that seems to employ most of the townsfolk while not really having any purpose.
The story is told from the points of view of many residents of Pebble Town, shifting back and forth across generations and through complex interconnected relationships. Can Xue's style is surreal, surprising, and improvisational. I found it challenging to follow at times, but rewarding nonetheless. Just as Khakpour expressed in the introduction, finishing it made me want to start it again immediately. I felt like the book could continue forever in and endless loop and still become more cryptic and complex with every reading.
*Second reading - I enjoyed it just as much — understood it a little bit more, but probably have more questions than before.
The story is told from the points of view of many residents of Pebble Town, shifting back and forth across generations and through complex interconnected relationships. Can Xue's style is surreal, surprising, and improvisational. I found it challenging to follow at times, but rewarding nonetheless. Just as Khakpour expressed in the introduction, finishing it made me want to start it again immediately. I felt like the book could continue forever in and endless loop and still become more cryptic and complex with every reading.
*Second reading - I enjoyed it just as much — understood it a little bit more, but probably have more questions than before.
sam_bizar_wilcox's review
5.0
Very weird, but in the best possible way.
Frontier actively evades a traditional narrative structure, instead focusing on single or clusters of related characters, but all centered around Pebble Town (a sort of mythic, surreal nonplace) and obliquely connected to the Design Institute. What makes this novel work is the almost mythical description and resonant patterns that emerge. The novel is more interested in motifs of friendship, family, loss, and alienation than explaining what sits at its narrative surface. This is a book to think about reading its final page, one immeasurably engaging and unique.
Frontier actively evades a traditional narrative structure, instead focusing on single or clusters of related characters, but all centered around Pebble Town (a sort of mythic, surreal nonplace) and obliquely connected to the Design Institute. What makes this novel work is the almost mythical description and resonant patterns that emerge. The novel is more interested in motifs of friendship, family, loss, and alienation than explaining what sits at its narrative surface. This is a book to think about reading its final page, one immeasurably engaging and unique.
jmm3rs's review
challenging
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
In the depths of the pandemic I had an idea to write a book that followed the not-logic of dreams, without explanation: a person morphing cleanly into someone else with no loss of sensibility, stepping to the right and suddenly being dislocated to a different city, warped versions of familiar hallways. I think, however, Can Xue beat me to the punch. This is a bizarre fever-dream of a book, and no it does not wrap up into a coherent plot point or arc, but it is so full of sensation and the fantastic that I couldn't put it down.
ridgewaygirl's review
2.0
Frontier is an experimental novel by Chinese writer Can Xue set in on the northern border in Pebble Town, an odd city dominated by the mysterious Design Institute. Each chapter follows a different character or group of characters, but the story centers on Liujin, a woman living on her own since her parents retired to Smoke City. As she, and those she comes into contact with, go about their lives, odd things happen.
Frontier is described as surreal and there is a folk tale feel to this novel, with wolves and snow leopards wandering through the marketplace, a garden floats and young woman's hand occasionally transforms into a scythe. Sometimes the bizarre is remarked upon, at least by newcomers, but mostly the residents of Pebble Town continue to live their odd lives and think their random thoughts. Most of the book has the feeling of a dream sequence, where events occur unrelated to the events that precede or follow. Time and space are equally unstable.
This book defeated me. I read the entire thing, but each new, weird occurrence left me increasingly disconnected from whatever Can Xue was trying to communicate. The writing was stilted and varied between short lyrical segments interspersed with jarring, technical-feeling language. I'm uncertain of what was the intention of the author and what is the result of a tone-deaf translation. I have other issues with the translation, which leads me to think that the translators did the author a disservice beginning with the odd decision to give half of the characters random westernized names. What I'm left with is having slogged through a novel-length first draft of someone's dream. I suspect that had I a decent knowledge of modern Chinese literature and folklore, or had read this as part of a class, I might have been able to find the substance in this vaporous vision. It was interesting to venture so far from what I usually read, but I can't call the experience a rewarding one.
Frontier is described as surreal and there is a folk tale feel to this novel, with wolves and snow leopards wandering through the marketplace, a garden floats and young woman's hand occasionally transforms into a scythe. Sometimes the bizarre is remarked upon, at least by newcomers, but mostly the residents of Pebble Town continue to live their odd lives and think their random thoughts. Most of the book has the feeling of a dream sequence, where events occur unrelated to the events that precede or follow. Time and space are equally unstable.
This book defeated me. I read the entire thing, but each new, weird occurrence left me increasingly disconnected from whatever Can Xue was trying to communicate. The writing was stilted and varied between short lyrical segments interspersed with jarring, technical-feeling language. I'm uncertain of what was the intention of the author and what is the result of a tone-deaf translation. I have other issues with the translation, which leads me to think that the translators did the author a disservice beginning with the odd decision to give half of the characters random westernized names. What I'm left with is having slogged through a novel-length first draft of someone's dream. I suspect that had I a decent knowledge of modern Chinese literature and folklore, or had read this as part of a class, I might have been able to find the substance in this vaporous vision. It was interesting to venture so far from what I usually read, but I can't call the experience a rewarding one.
catspajamas09's review
5.0
While the nature of Pebble Town and its inhabitants reveals itself slowly over time, there is excitement around every corner. Secrets abound: Frogs and turtles shifting underground, the mischievous snow mountain, a boy wearing leaves.
There is a unique and indescribable connectivity that permeates the fabric of Frontier. Yearning, which is a dominant emotion expressed by Liujin and Jose, materializes as a kind of duality. The inner tendencies and emotions of these characters are not projected onto the environment, but rather are inseparable from happenings in the fantastical world of Frontier.
***
"'You can't guess a person's age only by his appearance. For example, look at that polar across the river: Does it look very young? But it didn't grow from a seed. It grew out of a old tree's roots. Our Pebble Town is a huge magnetic field [...]'"
There is a unique and indescribable connectivity that permeates the fabric of Frontier. Yearning, which is a dominant emotion expressed by Liujin and Jose, materializes as a kind of duality. The inner tendencies and emotions of these characters are not projected onto the environment, but rather are inseparable from happenings in the fantastical world of Frontier.
***
"'You can't guess a person's age only by his appearance. For example, look at that polar across the river: Does it look very young? But it didn't grow from a seed. It grew out of a old tree's roots. Our Pebble Town is a huge magnetic field [...]'"
hanntastic's review
4.0
Global Read Challenge 41: China
I really liked it, but it is super out there.. maybe Ishiguro and Kafka on steroids. There were definitely times when it dragged, but overall I'm really glad I read it and there's a lot of imagery that will stay with me.
I really liked it, but it is super out there.. maybe Ishiguro and Kafka on steroids. There were definitely times when it dragged, but overall I'm really glad I read it and there's a lot of imagery that will stay with me.
apollonium's review
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
nini23's review against another edition
I picked up Can Xue's Frontier due to the pundits predicting she would win this year's 2023 Nobel Prize for Literature. I don't have a lot of experience reading Chinese contemporary literature but my understanding is that Can Xue is one of China's most celebrated surrealist literary authors. Unfortunately I encountered major problems with the English translation, which is really 🫤 given the translated novel won a translation award (?!). The anglicized names which the translators said are 'similar to the Chinese' were a major problem. Shi Miao became Sherman, Ayi became Amy, Niansi became Nancy, Hu Shan became José etc. This is frankly atrocious. Chinese names are imbued with meaning, even a syllable that sounds the same depending on the actual written character and intonation can have vastly different meanings. Niansi, the protagonist's mother's name, for instance, means year and missing wistfulness. Replacing it with bland nondescript 'Nancy' strips it of any poetic significance. I kept having to flip to the beginning of the book to check what the original name was supposed to be and got tired of that. Translators should bridge the distance of the original text with the author's intent meaning, not widen it. I will just have to improve my Chinese to a level where I can read the original text to appreciate it.
belwau's review
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
rouge_red's review
mysterious
slow-paced
3.75
I liked the way I approached this collection of stories- I read at most 2 or 3 a day and I found dipping in and out of this world when I wanted gave me that weird feeling I like so much with magical realism. Not sure that, like the author said, these stories about the residents of Pebble Town were about freedom. They always seem to be looking for meaning, for something they cannot see, for other people or to the past. No one really seems happy, but rather the dominant feeling is one of longing for something. These weren't melancholy stories by any means, mostly just slice-of-life with oddness peppered in. Which ultimately worked for me, so I'm hoping to read more Can Xue in the future.