When reading a novel about historic events, especially one concerning the events in and around Tiananmen Square in May and June of 1989, it is often difficult to know when history stops and fiction starts.
When you consider this, as well as the gravity of what happened over 20 years ago in Beijing, it is clear that Ma Jian took on a huge project when he decided to write this book.
But has he succeeded?
On the whole, yes. Dai Wei, the key character, finds himself just on the periphery of the entire student movement in the square - never making the key decisions, nor respected enough to be truly influential, but equally never far away from the key events.
This sets a perfect tone for the novel as we see the major shifts in power within the movement in the square and its often chaotic organisation, as well as the more intimate moments that no doubt existed during the demonstrations.
I found that quite often I couldn't put the book down, but when I did, it was sometimes in frustration - especially in the first 40 pages or so. The early part of the novel was very slow and in some ways quite poorly written.
It felt as though Ma Jian was trying to hastily shoe-horn in as much history and background as possible in those first few pages, and most of it was told by just a few characters who arguably could never have known about all the horrific stories that they tell.
I felt that this brought into question the reality of the beginning of the novel to an extent. Had the author stuck to the later principle of an intimate setting - the characters slightly cut-off from everything that was going on around them - those first few pages would have been more effective.
I continued reading only because of my interest in the topic and because I had read some cracking reviews. But I am glad I did because the rest of the novel is worthy of the praise it has garnered.
It's dramatic, it's beautiful and it's harrowing. As you become more and more involved in the novel you find yourself swept away by the excitement and the fear that the many characters feel. You are sometimes outraged, and the tension is unbearable knowing with hindsight what ultimately transpires.
But the true strength of the novel is not in the passages based around the square in the late 1980s - that comes instead from the gentle blending of the past and present. Each episode that occurs after the demostrations, is not always done over in detail, or even comes to a conclusion. Ma Jian delicately melds together Dai Wei's thoughts and memories with the action that is happening around him.
In this way, Dai Wei came to life through his comatose state and became a truly believeable character. His boredom, anxiety and excitement give the novel its human feel and kept me glued to the page until the dramatic climax.
Be patient, it is worth it.
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