Beijing Coma
Ma Jian
Beijing Coma
May 1989. Tens of thousands of students are camped out in Beijing's Tiananmen Square. But what started as a united protest at the slow pace of their government's political reform has begun to lose direction: people from all over China are coming to join the demonstration, but the students at its heart are confused by the influence they suddenly wield, and riven by petty in-fighting. One of them, Dai Wei, argues with about everything from democracy to the distribution of food to protestors, little knowing that, on 4 June, a soldier will shoot a bullet into his head, sending him into a deep coma.As Dai Wei lies immobile in his mother's Beijing flat: his body has become his prison, but his memories offer a means of escape. We watch him fall in love, drop out of school, arrive at university - and become increasingly politicized. From his coma, Dai Wei can't see or move but he can hear what's happening in the world beyond: his mother's struggle to keep him alive; the government's attempt to suppress all memory of the Tiananmen massacre; his friends' involvement in China's frenetic capitalism.
4.7 out of 5 based on 7 reviews
|
Omniscore:
|
| Classification |
Fiction |
| Genre |
General Fiction |
| Format |
Hardback |
| Pages |
592 |
| RRP |
£17.99 |
| Date of Publication |
May 2008 |
| ISBN |
978-0701178079 |
| Publisher |
Chatto & Windus |
| |
May 1989. Tens of thousands of students are camped out in Beijing's Tiananmen Square. But what started as a united protest at the slow pace of their government's political reform has begun to lose direction: people from all over China are coming to join the demonstration, but the students at its heart are confused by the influence they suddenly wield, and riven by petty in-fighting. One of them, Dai Wei, argues with about everything from democracy to the distribution of food to protestors, little knowing that, on 4 June, a soldier will shoot a bullet into his head, sending him into a deep coma.As Dai Wei lies immobile in his mother's Beijing flat: his body has become his prison, but his memories offer a means of escape. We watch him fall in love, drop out of school, arrive at university - and become increasingly politicized. From his coma, Dai Wei can't see or move but he can hear what's happening in the world beyond: his mother's struggle to keep him alive; the government's attempt to suppress all memory of the Tiananmen massacre; his friends' involvement in China's frenetic capitalism.
Reviews
The Observer
Chandrahas Choudhury
“Even when his characters speak of oppression, there is plenty of humour and pathos. Indeed, one of the pleasures of Beijing Coma is the author's skill with dialogue. Wheedling citizens, sloganeering students, peremptory officials, whispering lovers, even the protagonist's silent conversation with himself - all these are expertly rendered. The great achievement is the way we are made to experience Dai Wei's extreme debilitation almost viscerally... ”
24/04/2009
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The Scotsman
Marc Lambert
“A monumental and magisterial act of historical memory, Beijing Coma recreates the events of the June 1989 massacre and the background leading up to it in minute detail, while managing to place it within a larger picture of the generational change that energised and propelled the young protestors... Given that Jian was an eyewitness to the occupation of Tiananmen Square... one might have expected a heroic tale. Instead Jian brings to these events the same exact and remorseless eye which distinguished his other books... established an aesthetic which was both unsparing and unsentimental, Beijing Coma takes this to yet another level of realism in speaking of human nature and state power... If anything, Jian's account of the aftermath is even more darkly bitter and ironically humorous... Wei becomes the mirror image of the new China, a state with a vigorous body, and a fatally comatose mind.”
07/06/2008
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The Daily Telegraph
Tash Aw
“In the course of this breathtaking novel... Ma Jian probes the mentality of a country with a long-established history of inflicting tragedy on itself... Part of the genius of this novel lies in Ma Jian's ability to place moments of almost slapstick comedy in scenes of true gravity... These touches of hilarity are symptomatic of a novel that is richly textured and finely balanced: despite its unflinching depiction of atrocities... a steadfast depiction of a country and a people at odds with themselves. Once in a while - perhaps every ten years, or even a generation - a novel comes along that profoundly questions the way we look at the world, and at ourselves. Beijing Coma is a poetic examination not just of a country at a defining moment in its history, but of the universal right to remember and to hope. It is, in every sense, a landmark work of fiction.”
26/04/2008
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The Sunday Times
Tom Deveson
“Beijing Coma sometimes sounds as up to date as next month's news, but it's much more than fictionalised documentary. Epic in scope but intimate in feeling, it uses one man's life to tell the story of China in the latter part of the 20th century. The author keeps several tones of voice in equilibrium - roomy down-to-earth narrative, thoughtful ironic commentary and concise poetic aphorism. He speaks with powerful persuasive eloquence for a “generation of orphans”... There are episodes that will seem strange to British readers... Dai Wei says that he and his friends, despite their courage, “had little understanding of Chinese history”. This magnificent novel generously invites us to improve our understanding in many ways.”
27/04/2008
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The Guardian
James Lasdun
“...splendidly translated by Flora Drew... in 2006 Google agreed to censor all information about the Tiananmen massacre from its China website. This vivid, pungent, often blackly funny book is a mighty gesture of remembrance against the encroaching forces of silence.”
03/05/2008
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The New Yorker
Pankaj Mishra
“Ma Jian writes about China with the obsessiveness of a writer in exile who cares about only one society. There is no doubting his passion and sense of urgency... it mixes gritty realism with absurdist satire.”
30/06/2008
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The New York Times
Jess Row
“...an extraordinarily effective novel but also an important political statement, appearing as it does immediately before the 2008 Olympics and a year before the 20th anniversary of the June 4 massacre. In a preface included in the Chinese edition, Ma makes his intentions explicit, arguing that it is the Chinese people who are truly comatose: “Inside Dai Wei,” he writes, “there is a strong, resilient person who remembers, and only memory can help people regain the brightness of freedom.” In this sense, for all its savagery, “Beijing Coma” is one of the most optimistic novels I’ve encountered in a long time.”
13/07/2008
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