Chinese literature, from my
experience, is pretty weird. Maybe it’s just a cultural thing that I don’t get,
or history I don’t know, but there is something about it that is off kilter.
The books of Nobel Prize-winning author Mo Yan are a good example, and this
novel, Please Don’t Call Me Human by Wang Shuo. I can tell this is an angry
novel, detailing, through extended metaphor and brutal satire, how dehumanizing
it is to live in a Communist nation, where the individual is only recognized as
a cog in the country’s machine. The premise is unique and hilarious, but also
sad when you look at it more closely, showing human decency as a mere product
that the country’s officials must sell to the people. The book is uneven in the
middle taking a few detours that are bizarre enough to lose even the most eager
reader, but it is never boring. After losing a bid for the 2000 Olympics to
Sydney, Australia, the morale of the Chinese people is at it’s lowest. In a
desperate attempt to boost themselves up and make China a noticeable superpower
again, Zhao Hangyu, a Secretary- General of the Chinese Competition Committee,
enlists a few of his lackeys to find the legendary “Big Dream Boxer”, a man with
great metaphysical powers who was supposedly executed during the Boxer
Rebellion, to fight a strong man that is seemingly unbeatable. They find the
Boxer, whose son is a pedicab driver, and groom him to be the nation’s symbol
of hope. The novel is weak in the middle, including a ghostly Buddha and a sex
change that don’t make sense. But the opening and closing are strong and memorable,
ending with a completion where humiliation gets you the gold that is quite
insane, disturbing, and hilarious. An interesting book if you want something
new to read.
Rating: 4/5
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