The Incarnations by Susan Barker

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


A sprawling, fantastical foray into multiple periods of Chinese history, as told from the perspective of letters written to a Beijing taxi driver, who has lived through multiple incarnations over the course of history. Wang Jun is portrayed as a somewhat downbeat character, living through a tepid marriage, struggling to become a more reliable father to Echo and wife Yida.

The letters (the provenance of which is only revealed at the end of the book) take the reader through various eras of Chinese history, ranging from Tang Dynasty to the Maoist Cultural Revolution. The characters in these tales are utterly vicious or wretched, exposing some of the most despicable scenes of cruelty I've read in recent memory. The characters in these side 'incarnation' stories aren't super fully developed, but this isn't a shortcoming, as the emotional impact these stories have on readers feels quite real. The satirical and sensationalized language employed actually creates a fascinating rhetorical effect, whereby everyday and accessible prose plays against the seriousness of the character's actions or emotions.

There are other characters that populate the present-day portions of the novel, including a gay lover (who blackmails Wang by threatening (or actually) mailing photos of their liaison, and a Wang's stepmom who plots to take over control of Wang's family.

All the while, we feel the pathos of contemporary (here, post-Olympics 2008) Beijing, the underclass swallowed up in the midst of a China putting on a modern face to the world, the narrow streets and cramped living spaces a metaphor or the characters' equally claustrophobic lives, the sense of futility and listlessness bordering on despair and - as a number of characters do commit to mental institutions - crossing into actual madness.

A truly fantastic (in both senses of the term) - but not for the faint of heart.



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UK-based author - releasing for the UK / Ireland bookbox. Highly highly recommended. Enjoy!

Chosen from the Armchair Travels to UK/Ireland bookbox.

Left at LFL West Seneca Soccer Complex.