A surreal compilation of tales about sex, love, and money in the Far East.
An American author takes on China in this story collection.
Cook (Massage and the Writer, 2014, etc.) offers a book of “tales,” which he distinguishes from short stories in that they occupy a space between fiction and fact. Each deals with modern China from a non-native perspective, and they range from a strange, sexual Taoist fable (“Injaculation”) to a miniature sci-fi play about sex robots (“Reset”). Even stories that focus on China’s native inhabitants are touched by the author’s status as an outsider, which he highlights throughout the collection. “Writings by and about the East are borrowed instruments of Western pathos, indictments in the name of political correctness, disposal units for our sexual garbage—anything but an honest engagement with the Other,” Cook writes in his introduction. For this reason, he begins with his own lived experience of China, which serves as the base on which he builds his book. The tales handle China and Chinese people very intimately—particularly Chinese women. Many of the protagonists are men engaging sexually with women or women engaging sexually with men (or with themselves). But although a consistent thread of eroticism runs through the book, there are exceptions—notably, the Kafkaesque and weirdly tender “A Little Accident.” Another constant is a Chinese society in flux between communism and capitalism; it seems to have replaced a modular part of itself so that the fanatical devotion to the party of an earlier generation has given way to girls who will gladly trade virginity for the latest iPhone. Cook has a clear affection for the country and manages, for the most part, to avoid the traps of Orientalism, into which many other Westerners writing about China have fallen. He seems particularly entranced by China’s precarious position in the modern world: “The fact things could go either way and no one has the slightest clue what will happen makes China, I believe, the most exciting place to live in and write about today.” Although the tales often feature characters’ sexual proclivities and neuroses, they don’t overshadow the book’s overall point—to tell a few good stories about the way China is now.
A surreal compilation of tales about sex, love, and money in the Far East.Pub Date: March 13, 2014
ISBN: 978-0988744530
Page Count: 220
Publisher: Magic Theater Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 5, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Not as thematically ambitious as Whitehead’s earlier work, but a whole lot of fun to read.
Another surprise from an author who never writes the same novel twice.
Though Whitehead has earned considerable critical acclaim for his earlier work—in particular his debut (The Intuitionist, 1999) and its successor (John Henry Days, 2001)—he’ll likely reach a wider readership with his warmest novel to date. Funniest as well, though there have been flashes of humor throughout his writing. The author blurs the line between fiction and memoir as he recounts the coming-of-age summer of 15-year-old Benji Cooper in the family’s summer retreat of New York’s Sag Harbor. “According to the world, we were the definition of paradox: black boys with beach houses,” writes Whitehead. Caucasians are only an occasional curiosity within this idyll, and parents are mostly absent as well. Each chapter is pretty much a self-contained entity, corresponding to a rite of passage: getting the first job, negotiating the mysteries of the opposite sex. There’s an accident with a BB gun and plenty of episodes of convincing someone older to buy beer, but not much really happens during this particular summer. Yet by the end of it, Benji is well on his way to becoming Ben, and he realizes that he is a different person than when the summer started. He also realizes that this time in his life will eventually live only in memory. There might be some distinctions between Benji and Whitehead, though the novelist also spent his youthful summers in Sag Harbor and was the same age as Benji in 1985, when the novel is set. Yet the first-person narrator has the novelist’s eye for detail, craft of character development and analytical instincts for sharp social commentary.
Not as thematically ambitious as Whitehead’s earlier work, but a whole lot of fun to read.Pub Date: April 28, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-385-52765-1
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2009
BOOK TO SCREEN
Anyone who believes in true love or is simply willing to accept it as the premise of a winding tale will find this debut an...
True love flares between two people, but they find that circumstances always impede it.
On a winter day in London, Laurie spots Jack from her bus home and he sparks a feeling in her so deep that she spends the next year searching for him. Her roommate and best friend, Sarah, is the perfect wing-woman but ultimately—and unknowingly—ends the search by finding Jack and falling for him herself. Laurie’s hasty decision not to tell Sarah is the second painful missed opportunity (after not getting off the bus), but Sarah’s happiness is so important to Laurie that she dedicates ample energy into retraining her heart not to love Jack. Laurie is misguided, but her effort and loyalty spring from a true heart, and she considers her project mostly successful. Perhaps she would have total success, but the fact of the matter is that Jack feels the same deep connection to Laurie. His reasons for not acting on them are less admirable: He likes Sarah and she’s the total package; why would he give that up just because every time he and Laurie have enough time together (and just enough alcohol) they nearly fall into each other’s arms? Laurie finally begins to move on, creating a mostly satisfying life for herself, whereas Jack’s inability to be genuine tortures him and turns him into an ever bigger jerk. Patriarchy—it hurts men, too! There’s no question where the book is going, but the pacing is just right, the tone warm, and the characters sympathetic, even when making dumb decisions.
Anyone who believes in true love or is simply willing to accept it as the premise of a winding tale will find this debut an emotional, satisfying read.Pub Date: Oct. 16, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-525-57468-2
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: July 30, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
