Shanghai Baby
by Wei Hui | Biographies & Memoirs | This book has not been rated.
ISBN: 0743421574 Global Overview for this book
ISBN: 0743421574 Global Overview for this book
2 journalers for this copy...
Dark and edgy, deliciously naughty, an intoxicating cocktail of sex and the search for love, Shanghai Baby has already risen to cult status in mainland China. The risque contents of the breakthrough novel by hip new author Wei Hui have so alarmed Beijing authorities that thousands of copies have been confiscated and burned.
Set in the centuries-old port city of Shanghai, the novel follows the days, and nights, of the irrepressibly carnal Coco, who waits tables in a café when she meets her first lover, a sensitive Chinese artist. Defying her parents, Coco moves in with her boyfriend and enters a frenzied, orgasmic world of drugs and hedonism. With an entourage of friends ranging from a streetwise madame to a rebellious filmmaker, Coco's forays into in the territory of love and lust cross the borders between two cultures -- awakening her guilt and fears of discovery, yet stimulating her emerging sexual self. Wei Hui's provocative portrayal of men, women, and cultural transition is an astonishing and brave exposure of the unacknowledged new China, breaking through official rhetoric to show the inroads of the West and a people determined to burst free.
Lending this to a friend who just joined BookCrossing.
Set in the centuries-old port city of Shanghai, the novel follows the days, and nights, of the irrepressibly carnal Coco, who waits tables in a café when she meets her first lover, a sensitive Chinese artist. Defying her parents, Coco moves in with her boyfriend and enters a frenzied, orgasmic world of drugs and hedonism. With an entourage of friends ranging from a streetwise madame to a rebellious filmmaker, Coco's forays into in the territory of love and lust cross the borders between two cultures -- awakening her guilt and fears of discovery, yet stimulating her emerging sexual self. Wei Hui's provocative portrayal of men, women, and cultural transition is an astonishing and brave exposure of the unacknowledged new China, breaking through official rhetoric to show the inroads of the West and a people determined to burst free.
Lending this to a friend who just joined BookCrossing.
My friend told me that she's read this already - in its original language.
I would say that the writing style of Wei Hui is better than I expected, or at least the translated version is, even if I don't particularly care for the world she described. A world where people hardly work but just party around in trendy imported clothes, where everybody is hip and beautiful, where cheating is acceptable. Throw in homosexual love, drugs, sex wherever and whenever... It may be "been there done that" and hardly shocking for the West, but it's easy to see how this "linglei" lifestyle captivates young Chinese readers coming out of the cocoon of a conservative and communistic society.
Sending off to the lucky winner of the Some Like It Hot lucky draw. Enjoy!!
I would say that the writing style of Wei Hui is better than I expected, or at least the translated version is, even if I don't particularly care for the world she described. A world where people hardly work but just party around in trendy imported clothes, where everybody is hip and beautiful, where cheating is acceptable. Throw in homosexual love, drugs, sex wherever and whenever... It may be "been there done that" and hardly shocking for the West, but it's easy to see how this "linglei" lifestyle captivates young Chinese readers coming out of the cocoon of a conservative and communistic society.
Sending off to the lucky winner of the Some Like It Hot lucky draw. Enjoy!!
This arrived in the mail today. Hurrah! Thanks so much for this wishlist book, azuki!
