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A review by paperavatar
I Am China by Xiaolu Guo
3.0
I wasn't entirely certain I liked this book until I got to the last 50 pages. The metaphorical connections between individuals and their homelands was brilliantly illustrated in the last few chapters, and the power of the novel's conclusion makes me think I wasn't taking the narrative seriously enough when I began the book. I should go back and reread it before rating it, honestly.*
I loved the way the poetry and music interwoven throughout the narrative sent me down the rabbit hole of the internet, where I discovered Cui Jian, Beijing rocker and political dissident. (Check this out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OspWXXBEo4A) Mu's tribute to Allen Ginsberg--"China I've given you all and now I'm nothing./China two dollars and twenty-seven cents./I can't stand my own mind."--was deeply touching in a way I can't quite describe.**
This book's premise is rare--there aren't many well-written novels that focus on post-Tiananmen Chinese artists and revolutionaries. I hope we will see more in the near future.
*(At first, I was a little turned off by Iona's futile drive to satisfy her emptiness through a series of one-night stands. I'm weary of the woman-seeks-identity-in-man-but-later-discovers-herself theme.)
**(Also, in Cui Jian's song "Greenhouse Girl," there are these lines: "你問我要去向何方: You asked me where I was heading/我指著大海的方向 I pointed to the direction of the sea." I'm probably reading into this way too much, but this can't be coincidence, right?!)
I loved the way the poetry and music interwoven throughout the narrative sent me down the rabbit hole of the internet, where I discovered Cui Jian, Beijing rocker and political dissident. (Check this out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OspWXXBEo4A) Mu's tribute to Allen Ginsberg--"China I've given you all and now I'm nothing./China two dollars and twenty-seven cents./I can't stand my own mind."--was deeply touching in a way I can't quite describe.**
This book's premise is rare--there aren't many well-written novels that focus on post-Tiananmen Chinese artists and revolutionaries. I hope we will see more in the near future.
*(At first, I was a little turned off by Iona's futile drive to satisfy her emptiness through a series of one-night stands. I'm weary of the woman-seeks-identity-in-man-but-later-discovers-herself theme.)
**(Also, in Cui Jian's song "Greenhouse Girl," there are these lines: "你問我要去向何方: You asked me where I was heading/我指著大海的方向 I pointed to the direction of the sea." I'm probably reading into this way too much, but this can't be coincidence, right?!)