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A review by grayjay
China Mountain Zhang by Maureen F. McHugh
4.0
Writing in the early 90s, McHugh imagines a future where China has become the global superpower, and America has become a communist country. Zhang, half Chinese, half Latino, is a construction tech who wants to stay in New York City where it's safer to be openly gay, but too expensive to live. His search for stability and a place in the world takes him to a labour job on Baffin Island, and then an Engineering school in Shanghai, where being gay can still earn you a bullet in the head. He learns to prefer happiness over wealth and the value of building community.
I thought the novel was well-deserving of both the Nebula and Hugo nominations it received. The structure, however, may have been the main weakness. She seperates the point of view characters into their own chapters, but doesn't give all of them the treatment they deserved-having been given their own chapters but not their own endings, it felt as if McHugh was just trying to make use of all her ideas in one novel. I wanted to know what happened to poor San-xiang and Alexi.
I thought the novel was well-deserving of both the Nebula and Hugo nominations it received. The structure, however, may have been the main weakness. She seperates the point of view characters into their own chapters, but doesn't give all of them the treatment they deserved-having been given their own chapters but not their own endings, it felt as if McHugh was just trying to make use of all her ideas in one novel. I wanted to know what happened to poor San-xiang and Alexi.