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A review by rebeccazh
残次品 [Can Ci Pin | Imperfections] by priest
5.0
My short review is: priest is awesome.
My longer review: In this book, humans are living in a futuristic planet where everyone is part of a mental/neural network called Eden. People have given up their privacy and freedom so that Eden monitors people's slightest physiological and emotional status, making changes to ensure that people live well and happily. The average lifespan is now at least a few hundred years. There is AI everywhere and pretty much everything is automated, convenient and easy. Nearly anything can be done with technology - some of it includes creating virtual models of people who have passed so you can still interact with them in a very limited sense; recording memories like videos, travelling through space, gestating (?) infants outside of the womb... Eden sounds idyllic.
But there is a group of people, whom the novel refers to as 'imperfect' (the title), who are sort of 'brain dead'. They're not able to connect and be affected by Eden. They're considered the rejects of society and are pushed to the fringes of the galaxy, to the eighth galaxy, where they're ignored and treated as substandard. The novel follows two characters, Lu Bixing, and Lin Jingheng, who are both revolutionaries. They want to bring down the administrators of Eden and bring equality to the people of the eighth galaxy.
There are a lot of big questions about the future of humanity, freedom, equality, morality. She writes quite differently from Western authors about technology - quite a lot of the utopia/dystopia novels I've read have an anxiety about where technology is going, whether we are really in control of it, individuality, privacy, sensationalism, mind control in the form of mass media and mass entertainment... But priest's focus is less on technology and more about freedom and morality. Are we all free if one group is more free than another?
I have to reread this at some point - probably once the English translation finishes - because my Chinese is not up to scratch enough to understand the finer details of the debate within the book. I had to read with a dictionary, which was so tedious that I ditched the dictionary about halfway through and ended up skimming quite a bit because I couldn't understand, lol. But oh man I loved reading Priest's writing again! She is so funny. She's also well-versed in western novels and quotes George Orwell and name drops various other western classics at some point.
I also have to rave about her characters. I find that Chinese novels tend to write characters with very clear and strong motivations. It's completely clear to me how their circumstances, their past and their personality have shaped their motivations, attitudes and goals. Main characters undergo quite a lot of change and growth. There are very few villains who are villainous for the sake of it.
I read somewhere that she's a psychology major, which I think explains a lot about her understanding of people.
Lu Bixing is a very idealistic and big-hearted person. He hopes to build a school and bring education to the eighth galaxy, which is basically like wanting to bring education to the slums. The people themselves don't even want it. He's very upbeat and he's basically described to be like a puppy - never disheartened, always optimistic, and even if he did meet any obstacles, he's able to shake it off pretty quickly. Lin Jingheng is his opposite. Introverted, aloof, keep things close to the chest, analytical.
While it was interesting watching the way they interacted, I think where priest's writing really shines is when disaster strikes. About 60% into the novel (both characters are now in a relationship with each other), Lin Jingheng's ship is blown up and he is presumed dead. Lu Bixing and Lin Jingheng's reactions to the event showed very clearly how much they've changed. Lbx falls into a years-long depression; the description of it was visceral and accurate. He describes everyday as similar to walking on a tightrope. He has to make sure he doesn't lose his mind, lose hope and lose his soul while still maintaining his balance. It was quite painful to see how the optimistic, talkative and upbeat Lbx become withdrawn, quiet and even suicidal at times. I read The Body Keeps Score recently, and kept thinking about it when I was reading this.
Meanwhile Ljh who has always shown a very blasé attitude towards living - 'if I live, that's fine, if I die, that's fine too, I won't fight particularly hard to stay alive' - struggled very hard against difficult circumstances and a very sick and failing body to live.
It was even better after they reunited, because sixteen years had passed, and they'd both become very different people. There was this whole new, tenuous and painful period where they were trying to get used to each other again, with Ljh realizing that the person he'd immortalised in his mind and fought to live for was no longer that person, and he now had to bend over backwards to treat Lbx like glass. On the other hand, Lbx was struggling with being in the present moment where Ljh is alive, rather than being frozen in the traumatic past where Ljh is dead and Lbx is hopeless, helpless and reckless. It culminated into one of the most honest and vulnerable fights I saw a couple have in a Chinese novel. Usually, they don't talk about how they feel. They just kind of imply things. It was super cathartic and quite refreshing to read that.
This is not even mentioning the plethora of side characters and the plot twists. There were some really thrilling plot developments. My heart was in my throat, reading this.
I'm just heart eyes over this novel. It was so good.
My longer review: In this book, humans are living in a futuristic planet where everyone is part of a mental/neural network called Eden. People have given up their privacy and freedom so that Eden monitors people's slightest physiological and emotional status, making changes to ensure that people live well and happily. The average lifespan is now at least a few hundred years. There is AI everywhere and pretty much everything is automated, convenient and easy. Nearly anything can be done with technology - some of it includes creating virtual models of people who have passed so you can still interact with them in a very limited sense; recording memories like videos, travelling through space, gestating (?) infants outside of the womb... Eden sounds idyllic.
But there is a group of people, whom the novel refers to as 'imperfect' (the title), who are sort of 'brain dead'. They're not able to connect and be affected by Eden. They're considered the rejects of society and are pushed to the fringes of the galaxy, to the eighth galaxy, where they're ignored and treated as substandard. The novel follows two characters, Lu Bixing, and Lin Jingheng, who are both revolutionaries. They want to bring down the administrators of Eden and bring equality to the people of the eighth galaxy.
There are a lot of big questions about the future of humanity, freedom, equality, morality. She writes quite differently from Western authors about technology - quite a lot of the utopia/dystopia novels I've read have an anxiety about where technology is going, whether we are really in control of it, individuality, privacy, sensationalism, mind control in the form of mass media and mass entertainment... But priest's focus is less on technology and more about freedom and morality. Are we all free if one group is more free than another?
I have to reread this at some point - probably once the English translation finishes - because my Chinese is not up to scratch enough to understand the finer details of the debate within the book. I had to read with a dictionary, which was so tedious that I ditched the dictionary about halfway through and ended up skimming quite a bit because I couldn't understand, lol. But oh man I loved reading Priest's writing again! She is so funny. She's also well-versed in western novels and quotes George Orwell and name drops various other western classics at some point.
I also have to rave about her characters. I find that Chinese novels tend to write characters with very clear and strong motivations. It's completely clear to me how their circumstances, their past and their personality have shaped their motivations, attitudes and goals. Main characters undergo quite a lot of change and growth. There are very few villains who are villainous for the sake of it.
I read somewhere that she's a psychology major, which I think explains a lot about her understanding of people.
Lu Bixing is a very idealistic and big-hearted person. He hopes to build a school and bring education to the eighth galaxy, which is basically like wanting to bring education to the slums. The people themselves don't even want it. He's very upbeat and he's basically described to be like a puppy - never disheartened, always optimistic, and even if he did meet any obstacles, he's able to shake it off pretty quickly. Lin Jingheng is his opposite. Introverted, aloof, keep things close to the chest, analytical.
While it was interesting watching the way they interacted, I think where priest's writing really shines is when disaster strikes. About 60% into the novel (both characters are now in a relationship with each other), Lin Jingheng's ship is blown up and he is presumed dead. Lu Bixing and Lin Jingheng's reactions to the event showed very clearly how much they've changed. Lbx falls into a years-long depression; the description of it was visceral and accurate. He describes everyday as similar to walking on a tightrope. He has to make sure he doesn't lose his mind, lose hope and lose his soul while still maintaining his balance. It was quite painful to see how the optimistic, talkative and upbeat Lbx become withdrawn, quiet and even suicidal at times. I read The Body Keeps Score recently, and kept thinking about it when I was reading this.
Meanwhile Ljh who has always shown a very blasé attitude towards living - 'if I live, that's fine, if I die, that's fine too, I won't fight particularly hard to stay alive' - struggled very hard against difficult circumstances and a very sick and failing body to live.
It was even better after they reunited, because sixteen years had passed, and they'd both become very different people. There was this whole new, tenuous and painful period where they were trying to get used to each other again, with Ljh realizing that the person he'd immortalised in his mind and fought to live for was no longer that person, and he now had to bend over backwards to treat Lbx like glass. On the other hand, Lbx was struggling with being in the present moment where Ljh is alive, rather than being frozen in the traumatic past where Ljh is dead and Lbx is hopeless, helpless and reckless. It culminated into one of the most honest and vulnerable fights I saw a couple have in a Chinese novel. Usually, they don't talk about how they feel. They just kind of imply things. It was super cathartic and quite refreshing to read that.
This is not even mentioning the plethora of side characters and the plot twists. There were some really thrilling plot developments. My heart was in my throat, reading this.
I'm just heart eyes over this novel. It was so good.