This collection was rated as one of the best short stories of 2021 (i.e. Barrack Obama/ The Washington Post / New York times / Asian Review of Books) , plus the fact that the title hinted that it may carry some insight into China, made me want to read the book. Along with Afterparties, which I read prior to this, the two books really justify the praise that the two collections have been receiving. Here's a brief insight to the ten short stories which make up this collection.
Lulu: The smart twin sister of our narrator phases out of the promise she held has a brilliant math student, to a life dedicated to exposing the excesses of the government of her country. The way that it is made apparent that, once on the path of seeking justice, it operates like a cancer within you, for which you try to find a remedy, only for the disease to affect you in an even bigger way. Lulu, in essence cannot help her actions, and possibly it is only her lover who understood her best, loving her as long as he could - until he could no longer do so. The unattached, unemotional, almost mechanical tone that the the author has adopted is well suited to the story. By the end, the not so smart twin brother, has a relatively more successful life, doing what he always did - which didn't require him to fight real enemies, but only virtual ones - while the promise that Lulu held becomes a distant memory. The subtlety with which the difficulties that Lulu faced while imprisoned, hints of a narration which is non-exaggerating, and a well oiled mechanism of governance which carries our precise punishments to curtail rising opposition from the general public.
Hotline Girl:
"Master of puppets, I'm pulling your stringsA creation that leaves a bad taste in your mouth, a sense of hopelessness. Neither is Bayi's controlled freedom the life she wanted, nor does future hold much for the rejected Keju.
Twisting your mind and smashing your dreams
Blinded by me, you can't see a thing"
( Master of Puppets - Metallica)
"Doesn't it matter that you are one of a billion plus ? an announcer was saying, and advertisement of some kind. It doesn't matter - you are one of us"As an ominous cloud, a totalitarian state's strings on all billion plus of its citizenry remind me of the album cover of Metallica's metal masterpiece, "Master of puppets".
New Fruit: Te-Ping crosses the border of realism, with such subtlety that it takes a moment to wonder if her premises could be possible. Then when one tries to see her tale in the context of a government which decides most things for their people, a feeling of a limited freedom, of a script that the others have to adhere to, with scope for modifications when things fail ( again carried out by the self same government ), hint of the bigger picture she had been talking of. Here, the magical fruit qiguo, a hybrid, is introduced by the state, and it affects the mood of the people. If the mood that it brings on is bad, all you have to do is be patient, until the government fixes things for you. Mind you, am writing this from a country where successive governments have mismanaged the economy, and the current lot made sure that bankruptcy is inevitable - yet we have scope for voicing of opinions still, amidst some police brutality - likely to be somewhat backed by the State. I think, that suffering is still bearable to some degree, when you know that the people can still call shots, however far they may be.
Field Notes on a Marriage: This must be the most disturbing short story in this collection. We find, Gao, of Chinese origin, now in the US, trying to get over an incident, in which he has made a considerable contribution to a poor student's downfall, early in life. We find his wife, trying to understand the calamity of Gao's life - in order to understand what she's got herself into, by visiting his parents in China, and her first hand experience of the cultural distance as well as a detectable stance of unforgiving that Gao's mother carries with her.
Flying Machine: Here we come across, old Li, who calls himself an Inventor and Grassroots Engineer, trying to win favour with the party secretary of his village, through his various primitive inventions. Li, wants to leave his farmer background and re-invent himself as an inventor as his nation, in its new path development needs. From another angle, one can see a blind veneration to the political authority which over rules everything about their lives.
On the street where you live: Not everyone who makes it to the land of the free from China has a success story to say. Our protagonist of this story finds himself in prison, for a murder that he's entangled in, in a freakish manner. Our protagonist, an educated man, who has worked in several countries, faces this sad situation due to a woman he was involved with, and mainly due to her ex-lover, who he encounters.
Shanghai Murmur: Competition to succeed in China, most of all in Shanghai, is very high. Sometimes, girls in particular find an easy way out for success. Xiaolei, thinks that she may have found a short cut of that sort, but it goes awfully wrong as her battle of sorts with the man's wife take an unexpected turn.
Land of Big Numbers: Zhu feng influenced by his rich friend Li, takes risks and invests in the stock market, where after an initial success, he makes losses, which makes him unable recover his debts. Zhu, all of a sudden finds himself friendless, and no one to turn to. In parallel he finds that his father, whom he has always seen as one who had taken meekly his lot in life, to have been a political activist, who had faced a life changing event.
Beautiful Country:
"But his parents are the kind of sixty-year-olds who plan hikes on Machu Picchu with other energetic retirees, and dance the rumba at their friends' vow-renewal ceremonies. Mine are the kind who worked in the fields the first thirty years of their lives, and then in a semiconductor factory, fitting tiny parts inside of other tiny parts, until their fingers and backs were crooked. If it weren't for my uncle, who worked for the government, I never would've had the chance to study abroad"
One of the most rewarding aspects of this book is little side stories within the main story, which reveal the political and social reality of the "land of big numbers". In this story, our protagonist of Chinese origin tries to make things work with her handsome boy friend, hoping that their relationship in marriage, soon. It is clear that the man is of a controlling nature, but she sure hopes that things will work out in this beautiful country. We are revealed the nature of the relationship, over a trip that the couple take to Grand Canyon.
Gubeikou Spirit: This is possibly the most political of the stories here. It is presented in a mini-dystopian world - a rail station as it were, where the people stuck in the station are expected to adhere to the dictates of the authorities. The rule of the railway is that a passenger who had entered a certain station can't leave the same station - so if there is a train delay - even extending to months - the people are expected to abide to the rules. Across the months long delay, we are shown how the people adopt to the new life, how they are provided for, and they settle to the new life. Finally when the train arrives too, most are quite content to let it go, for there is no solid enough to leave the life of the "station".
I have no hesitation in recommending this book, to lovers of modern literature, those who dig short stories, as well as those who fancy literature with strong political overtones. Although this is Te-Peng's debut collection of stories, she shows a finesse, telling just enough, uses no exaggeration anywhere in her political accounts, and not once inflicts damage on to her tales by political tangents. She is a Wall Street Journal correspondent in Philadelphia who was previously based in Beijing and Hong Kong.
Rating: ****1/2
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