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China Mountain Zhang Maureen F McHugh 9780312860981 Books

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China Mountain Zhang Maureen F McHugh 9780312860981 Books

I was fascinated by the various futures in this novel, and- though somewhat less- the interactions between the characters.

The various social systems seemed to me to be more well-drawn than the individual characters. That's not a bad thing! in general, authors focus more on their protags than on the worlds in which they live, so something that changes that us is great; I would have appreciated more about the political/social climate, in fact.

Lots of loose ends, here; that's realistic, but somewhat unsatisfying in fiction. Still, it was a well-thought-out potential future, and an intriguing one.


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China Mountain Zhang Maureen F McHugh 9780312860981 Books Reviews

There are a number of things about this book that bother me that other reviewers have covered - poorly developed and distant characters, lack of plot, disjointed chapters. But the main thing that is bothering me and is tempting me to just give up on this book is the ATROCIOUS Chinese in it.

You'd think if you were going to write a book based on the premise of Chinese world domination, with lots of Chinese language in it, and you don't know Chinese, you'd at least get a Chinese speaker to check it over for you. But apparently not. There are more than just a few mistakes, and they are more than just typos that might be the fault of the publisher (though there are lots of those, including the word "putonghua" which means "Chinese language" being consistently misspelled). Almost EVERY SINGLE instance of Chinese in this book - and there are a lot of them - is flat out wrong. I mean, words with wrong meanings, sentences with wrong grammar, mistakes so basic and jarring that not even a student with one semester of Chinese under their belt would make them. Heck, even Google Translate wouldn't make these mistakes (I know it came out pre-Google). And she apparently lived in China for a year?? It is completely incomprehensible to me, and shows a lack of attention to detail, or a lack of respect for the reader, that is frustrating and irritating. It makes me doubt the integrity of her whole fictional world, which is the kiss of death in science fiction.

Also, when she tries to explain the Chinese puns and literal translations for her reader, it is awkward and heavy-handed, and reveals an even deeper misunderstanding of Chinese than misspellings. She says the word for happy or rowdy is "renao" which means "hot-noisy". NO. The two syllables, if you broke them apart, would mean "hot" and "noisy", but together they just mean "rowdy". A Chinese speaker (as Zhang is supposed to be) would never think of the word that way, as made up of its constituent syllables. Even the title of the whole book is an awkward translation of the name Zhongshan, which if broken apart would mean "China" and "mountain" but which in Chinese is just the name Zhongshan; once again a Chinese speaker would never think to translate it that way (and yes I know it's Peter, the waiguoren, who comes up with it, but still).

I seriously don't understand the praise this book has gotten. Besides the Chinese mistakes, it would be an okay book, but just not one I would recommend so highly.
I enjoye the book overall. The structure of several interlocking stories with different protagonists was interesting. I felt a bit let down by the ending though. There was no real conclusion that satisfied my need for a wrappng up of the story. The author simply decided to stop writing I guess.
this book depends more on its exquisite characterizations and fascinating vision of a future where china dominates as the global superpower than on plot, and it totally works. it presents a "slice of life" of zhang, a gay half-chinese american, as he navigates a world in which his sexuality and americanness make him not the ideal. along the way, it also gives glimpses into the worlds of a cyber-kite flyer, martain settlers, and an "ugly" chinese expatriate trying to make her way as a young adult in america. interesting technologies and cultures. beautifully written and imagined.
Fantastically creative and historically sound. A compelling vision of a plausible future. It avoids cliches and invites you into a less grim future where the US is no longer relevant.
I finished this book thinking "THAT's why I read science fiction." Such an excellent story, McHugh does a really great job envisioning the entire world setting/circumstances. I loved the parts on Mars and just wished there was one more chapter there - I was left hanging, wondering how it turned out on the farm. But that's MM for you, she leaves you thinking about the story and envisioning how things worked out later. You either like her style or you don't with her open endings, I for one like her very much.
This is a wonderful and beautifully written character study with a fairly superficial SF gloss. That isn't a criticism - I read a lot of SF but found this novel far more engrossing than most plot-driven stories. The main character, Zhang, is complex and faces many difficult situations. Read this book for an excellent portrayal of a sympathetic man finding his way. If Ms. McHugh ever gets the urge, it would be interesting to see what happens to Zhang following the conclusion of this novel.
One of the most thoughtful and beautiful books I ever read in sci fi, this is the kind of near future character driven sci fi I adore, as a thirty something asperger from the third world struggling to make a life I feel compelled by a protagonist that feels so alienated like myself, love it for the subtle way of handle complicated themes, love it for the fluid and charm prose, if you like Theodore Sturgeon and OPhilip Dick, this is for you.
Such a rarity in genre fiction. /China Mountain Zhang/ is not a story about apocalypses, revolutions, wars, disasters or other great events, it's simply a novel, about men and women living their lives in a future socialist America, in a world-dominating China, in Mars colonies and elsewhere. Nothing world-changing happens, except to the lives of the characters, but it's so far from boring. If you've ever enjoyed the world building of an author, but felt the novel hasn't really explored what it would be like to *live* there, then this is the book for you.
I was fascinated by the various futures in this novel, and- though somewhat less- the interactions between the characters.

The various social systems seemed to me to be more well-drawn than the individual characters. That's not a bad thing! in general, authors focus more on their protags than on the worlds in which they live, so something that changes that us is great; I would have appreciated more about the political/social climate, in fact.

Lots of loose ends, here; that's realistic, but somewhat unsatisfying in fiction. Still, it was a well-thought-out potential future, and an intriguing one.