Beijing Coma - Softcover

Jian, Ma

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0307397211 ISBN 13: 9780307397218

Publisher: Random House of Canada Ltd, 2009

Synopsis

Knopf Canada is proud to welcome to the list one of the world’s most significant living writers. Spiked with dark wit, poetic beauty and deep rage,Beijing Coma is the epic new novel from prize-winning author Ma Jian. It is his masterpiece.

“One of the most important and courageous voices in Chinese literature.” Gao Xingjian, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature

Dai Wei is a medical student and a pro-democracy protestor in Tiananmen Square in June of 1989. Caught by a soldier’s bullet, he falls into a deep coma; as soon as the hospital authorities discover he is an activist, his mother is forced to take him home. She allows pharmacists access to Dai Wei’s body and sells his urine and his left kidney to fund special treatment from Master Yao, a member of the outlawed Falun Gong sect. But during a government crackdown, the Master is arrested and Dai Wei’s mother–who has fallen in love with him–loses her mind.
The millennium draws near and Dai Wei has been in a coma for almost a decade. A sparrow flies through the window and lands on his naked chest; it is a sign that Dai Wei must emerge from his dry cocoon. But China has also undergone a massive transformation in the time that he has been absent. As he prepares to take leave of his old metal bed, Dai Wei realizes that the rich, imaginative world afforded to him as a coma patient is a startling contrast with the death-in-life of the world outside.

“At the heart of Ma Jian’s stories there is both humanity and a piercing, if painful, literary truth.”The Guardian (UK)
From the Hardcover edition.

About this title

Review:

'Once in a while - perhaps every 10 years, or even every generation - a novel appears 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' - Tash Aw, "Daily Telegraph"
'Epic in scope but intimate in feeling ... magnificent' - Tom Deveson, "The Times"
'Simultaneously a large-scale portrait of citizens writing in the grip of the party and the state and a strikingly intimate study of the fragility of the body and the persistence of self and memory' - Chandrahas Choudhury, "Observer"

"From the Hardcover edition."

"Once in a while - perhaps every 10 years, or even every generation - a novel appears 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" -Tash Aw, "Daily Telegraph"
"Epic in scope but intimate in feeling ... magnificent" -Tom Deveson, "The Times"
"Simultaneously a large-scale portrait of citizens writing in the grip of the party and the state and a strikingly intimate study of the fragility of the body and the persistence of self and memory" -Chandrahas Choudhury, "Observer"
"[Beijing Coma] merits the term 'masterpiece'. . . . [T]he narrative strategy succeeds at creating suspense page after page and lends a poignant, inexorable flavour to the events after the massacre." -"The Vancouver Sun"
"A work of fiction so realistic that it can be read as a tragic memoir of a time of hope, turmoil and atrocity. . . . An immaculate lesson in history, it is a vivid reminder that all things change and all is swept away." -"The Owen Sound Sun Times
"
"Already notorious for writing novels banned in his homeland due to their criticism of China's policies on human rights and Tibet, the now London-based Ma Jian here launches his most sustained and intricate indictment of his former country. . . . As novelist, he painstakingly recreates the cycle of idealism, arrogance, confusion and despair that characterized the experience of demonstrators on the ground in [Tiananmen] square." -"Toronto Star
""[Beijing Coma] will make waves across the world. . . . Ma combinesa gift for densely detailed, panoramic fiction with a resonant prophetic voice. . . . Beijing Coma" "may have huge documentary value, but it grips and moves as epic fiction above all . . . Beijing Coma has the visceral physicality that stamps all of Ma Jian's work. He is a poet of the body in all its ecstasies, embarrassments and agonies." -"The Independant"
"A huge achievement . . . a landmark account through fiction of a country whose rise has amazed the world, but which remains cloaked in shadows. . . . finely written and translated." -"The Times
""This is an epic yet intimate work that deserves to be recognised and to endure as "the "great Tiananmen novel." -"Financial Times
""This timely yet dazzling piece of fiction will be seen simply for what it is: a modern literary masterpiece."-"Sunday Express
""This vivid, pungent, often blackly funny book is a mighty gesture of remembrance against the encroaching forces of silence." -"Guardian
""Astonishingly brave... the most important Chinese book since Wild Swans." -"London Lite"
"[A] bleak, wrenching generational saga . . . Ma Jian achieves startling effects through Dai Wei's dispassionate narration, making one man's felled body a symbol of lost possibility." -"Publishers Weekly"

"From the Hardcover edition."

"An extraordinarily effective novel . . . for all its savagery, it is one of the most optimistic novels I've encountered in a long time."--Jess Row, "The New York Times Book Review "

"An epic novel that reminds us of the capacity of fiction to stir the conscience and exhorts us to believe in the power of even one voice."--Tom Cooper, "St. Louis Post-Dispatch"

"So remarkable is it that we should suddenly receive this gift, an account of Tiananmen as breathless as John Reeds' gee-whiz account of the Russian Revolution, "Ten Days that Shook the World, "I've almost neglected to mention how carefully Ma Jian constructs his time capsule."--John Leonard, "Harper's "Magazine

A "NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW "NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR
A "WASHINGTON POST "BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR
A "SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE" BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR

"An extraordinarily effective novel . . . for all its savagery, it is one of the most optimistic novels I've encountered in a long time."--Jess Row, "The New York Times Book Review
"

"[A] masterful new novel . . . Ma Jian offers the Chinese people an avenue through which to retrieve their souls."--Belle Yang, "The Washington Post"

"There are passages of extraordinary power, which, in chronicling the horrors perpetrated by the Chinese government in the Mao era and after, belong in the pantheon of dissident literature."--Michiko Kakutani, "The New York Times"

"Evocative . . . Part of what gives ["Beijing Coma"] its highly energized, manic edge is the fierceness of Ma Jian's conviction that it might be possible for a work of literature to function as a lifeline to cast out into the world."--Francine Prose, "The New York Review of Books"

"A courageous and clarion writer."--Donna Seaman, "Booklist"

"An epic novel that reminds us of the capacity of fiction to stir the conscience and exhorts us to believe in the power of even one voice."--Tom Cooper, "St. Louis Post-Dispatch"

"So remarkable is it that we should suddenly receive this gift, an account of Tiananmen as breathless as John Reeds' gee-whiz account of the Russian Revolution, "Ten Days that Shook the World, "I've almost neglected to mention how carefully Ma Jian constructs his time capsule."--John Leonard, "Harper's "Magazine

An extraordinarily effective novel . . . for all its savagery, it is one of the most optimistic novels I've encountered in a long time. "Jess Row, The New York Times Book Review"

[A] masterful new novel . . . Ma Jian offers the Chinese people an avenue through which to retrieve their souls. "Belle Yang, The Washington Post"

There are passages of extraordinary power, which, in chronicling the horrors perpetrated by the Chinese government in the Mao era and after, belong in the pantheon of dissident literature. "Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times"

Evocative . . . Part of what gives ["Beijing Coma"] its highly energized, manic edge is the fierceness of Ma Jian's conviction that it might be possible for a work of literature to function as a lifeline to cast out into the world. "Francine Prose, The New York Review of Books"

A courageous and clarion writer. "Donna Seaman, Booklist"

An epic novel that reminds us of the capacity of fiction to stir the conscience and exhorts us to believe in the power of even one voice. "Tom Cooper, St. Louis Post-Dispatch"

So remarkable is it that we should suddenly receive this gift, an account of Tiananmen as breathless as John Reeds' gee-whiz account of the Russian Revolution, "Ten Days that Shook the World, "I've almost neglected to mention how carefully Ma Jian constructs his time capsule. "John Leonard, Harper's Magazine""

"An extraordinarily effective novel . . . for all its savagery, it is one of the most optimistic novels I've encountered in a long time." --Jess Row, The New York Times Book Review

"[A] masterful new novel . . . Ma Jian offers the Chinese people an avenue through which to retrieve their souls." --Belle Yang, The Washington Post

"There are passages of extraordinary power, which, in chronicling the horrors perpetrated by the Chinese government in the Mao era and after, belong in the pantheon of dissident literature." --Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times

"Evocative . . . Part of what gives [Beijing Coma] its highly energized, manic edge is the fierceness of Ma Jian's conviction that it might be possible for a work of literature to function as a lifeline to cast out into the world." --Francine Prose, The New York Review of Books

"A courageous and clarion writer." --Donna Seaman, Booklist

"An epic novel that reminds us of the capacity of fiction to stir the conscience and exhorts us to believe in the power of even one voice." --Tom Cooper, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

"So remarkable is it that we should suddenly receive this gift, an account of Tiananmen as breathless as John Reeds' gee-whiz account of the Russian Revolution, Ten Days that Shook the World, I've almost neglected to mention how carefully Ma Jian constructs his time capsule." --John Leonard, Harper's Magazine

Review:

'Like all the most powerful novels, Beijing Coma is deceptively simple... both profoundly poignant and unexpectedly uplifting'

About this edition

• Publisher: Random House of Canada Ltd
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0307397211
• ISBN 13: 9780307397218
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 586