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A review by grisostomo_de_las_ovejas
Beijing Coma by Ma Jian
4.0
There are three reasons that could plausibly explain me saying I like this book.
1. This book took a lot of time to read and I want to convince myself that it was worth it and I don’t just lack the willpower to stop doing things I don’t like.
2. I don’t know much about Chinese politics or the 1994 Tiananmen Square Massacre and this was my first real dive into it
3. The book was good
I think a combination of reasons 2 and 3 best explain why I liked the book. Beijing Coma really was a good book, but it had serious shortcomings and I think reason 2 covered them up for me and let me give the book a good rating.
Starting with the good, the author, Ma Jian, did an excellent job of developing a large cast of characters well enough that I could keep them distinct and develop feelings for the thirty odd main ones over the course of 700 pages. In retrospect, I think that was really important. Seeing one person’s interaction with the protests in Tiananmen Square would’ve been interesting (because the protagonist is cool), but it would’ve taken away something from the book which, despite following a protagonist, really attempted to tell the story of Tiananmen through the eyes of a number of people. I liked seeing how students from Beijing Normal University talked to the police compared to those from Southern University compared to those from the Law College. It gave the book a dimension that I’d never thought of as being present during the Tiananmen Square protests—conflict not just between students and the government, but between students and other students.
Unfortunately, the student conflict occupied too hundred many pages (sorry). As much as I enjoyed getting to know the large cast, I was less than thrilled to read about them arguing over who would control the radio station on which day for the sixth time. I get that the confusion, chaos and constant bickering between student protesters is an overlooked dynamic in the history of the Tiananmen Square protests, but reading the book, I got so tired of hearing about it, that I wanted to fast-forward through the hundred-odd argument scenes. It’s the authors job to relate important themes to me without making me want to snooze. Ma Jian may have forgotten that.
Speaking of the author forgetting things, I wouldn’t have minded seeing chapters in this 600 page book. It’s a bit fatiguing to slog through that much content without easily identifiable stopping points.
But like I said at the start of this review, four stars. The uniquely good parts of this book combined with its novelty for me were so overwhelming that I urge anyone who reads this review (hello, Divia) to check out the book and ignore my whining. I enjoyed it.
1. This book took a lot of time to read and I want to convince myself that it was worth it and I don’t just lack the willpower to stop doing things I don’t like.
2. I don’t know much about Chinese politics or the 1994 Tiananmen Square Massacre and this was my first real dive into it
3. The book was good
I think a combination of reasons 2 and 3 best explain why I liked the book. Beijing Coma really was a good book, but it had serious shortcomings and I think reason 2 covered them up for me and let me give the book a good rating.
Starting with the good, the author, Ma Jian, did an excellent job of developing a large cast of characters well enough that I could keep them distinct and develop feelings for the thirty odd main ones over the course of 700 pages. In retrospect, I think that was really important. Seeing one person’s interaction with the protests in Tiananmen Square would’ve been interesting (because the protagonist is cool), but it would’ve taken away something from the book which, despite following a protagonist, really attempted to tell the story of Tiananmen through the eyes of a number of people. I liked seeing how students from Beijing Normal University talked to the police compared to those from Southern University compared to those from the Law College. It gave the book a dimension that I’d never thought of as being present during the Tiananmen Square protests—conflict not just between students and the government, but between students and other students.
Unfortunately, the student conflict occupied too hundred many pages (sorry). As much as I enjoyed getting to know the large cast, I was less than thrilled to read about them arguing over who would control the radio station on which day for the sixth time. I get that the confusion, chaos and constant bickering between student protesters is an overlooked dynamic in the history of the Tiananmen Square protests, but reading the book, I got so tired of hearing about it, that I wanted to fast-forward through the hundred-odd argument scenes. It’s the authors job to relate important themes to me without making me want to snooze. Ma Jian may have forgotten that.
Speaking of the author forgetting things, I wouldn’t have minded seeing chapters in this 600 page book. It’s a bit fatiguing to slog through that much content without easily identifiable stopping points.
But like I said at the start of this review, four stars. The uniquely good parts of this book combined with its novelty for me were so overwhelming that I urge anyone who reads this review (hello, Divia) to check out the book and ignore my whining. I enjoyed it.