Beijing Doll [Paperback]

Chun Sue (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 3, 2004

Banned in China for its candid exploration of a young girl's sexual awakening yet widely acclaimed as being "the first novel of 'tough youth' in China" (Beijing Today), Beijing Doll cuts a daring path through China's rock-and-roll subculture. This cutting edge novel -- drawn from the diaries the author kept throughout her teenage years -- takes readers to the streets of Beijing where a disaffected generation spurns tradition for lives of self expression, passion, and rock-and-roll. Chun Sue's explicit sensuality, unflinching attitude towards sex, and raw, lyrical style break new ground in contemporary Chinese literature.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

What matters about this semi-autobiographical coming-of-age "novel," cobbled together from the journal entries of a teenage scribbler who grew up in Beijing in the 1990s, is that it was banned in mainland China, ostensibly for its too-frank portrayal of the sex-drenched, drug-addled and music-obsessed world of that country's materialistic middle-class youngsters. The ban places it alongside two other "cruel youth" Chinese novels, Mian Mian's Candy and Wei Hui's Shanghai Baby, both of which rode their notoriety (and little else) to decent sales in the West. Chun's tale begins near the end of her third year in middle school as she fails her high school entrance exams and promptly embarks on an aimless and relentlessly solipsistic odyssey of love, sex, rock shows and academic disappointments—all part of a fight for some hazily defined freedom—punctuated here and there with suicide fantasies. There is no sense of either growth or dissolution in any of this, despite the novel's constant claims to both. Chun shows some promise as a writer, as evidenced by bits of refreshing literary experimentation and a surprising command of irony; she has also wooed the respected Goldblatt as translator. Whether she realizes her potential, however, may depend largely on how well she shuts out the dubious praise she has won, in China and abroad, with this book.
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Review

"Reveals the cruel youth of a new generation...reflects upon the fast changing society of Mainland China." —Asian Weekly

"This original...important book reveals with brutal frankness that the cruelties and frustrations of youth are not lost in translation. —Teen Vogue

"Reading about her adventures is like living vicariously through the most uninhibited girl you know." —YM

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Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Riverhead Trade (August 3, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1594480206
• ISBN-13: 978-1594480201
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.7 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #325,030 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Cruel "Doll", September 20, 2004

By 

E. A Solinas "ea_solinas" (MD USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Beijing Doll (Paperback)

Chun Sue makes a memorable debut with "Beijing Doll," a blistering roman a clef set during Sue's mid-to-late teens. While Sue herself can come across as naive and sometimes unlikable, her raw emotions and confusion make this feel a bit like a real-life Chinese "Catcher in the Rye."

She is a disaffected fifteen-year-old, from a middle-class family in Beijing. Loves punk-rock bands, writes poetry, longs to drop out of school, and struggles with her own feelings of nihilistic despair and pessimism. Soon after the book opens, she loses her virginity to Li Qi, only to find that he has a girlfriend and doesn't love her.

She immerses herself in the rock scene again, and gets involved with a rising indie-rock god/poet, then a Finnish tourist, while going to a shrink, getting magazine jobs and dropping in and out of school -- a merry-go-round of sex, rock, love, and a neverending search for a vague freedom.

"Beijing Doll" was famously banned in China. And it's not surprising -- this isn't exactly a complimentary look at Chinese youth. Chun Sue's story isn't too different from that of many other disaffected teens, but she does bring a lot of unbridled dark energy to it. Her alter ego is a girl who has seen enough to be jaded, but is naive enough to still not know quite how it all works.

Her writing is spare and sharp, with the occasional lapses into poetry. At times the story can get a bit monotonous -- the parade of brief boyfriends tend to blur together, as do Sue's semi-suicidal fantasies. And many older readers will find her angst and complaints annoying. However, Chun Sue does do a good job of capturing the confusion, the contradictions, and the depression of being a teenager.

Chun Sue's alter ego, Jiafu, only grows much at the end; readers might be annoyed with her repeated lapses into relationships with men who use her or have serious issues. However, those who remember the darker moments of teenagerhood will probably identify with her struggles. Maybe not with the vast number of boyfriends, or the pessimism about finding happiness. But the confusion on the inside is striking.

A unique coming-of-age tale, "Beijing Doll" is a peculiar roman a clef, with a mixture of the annoying and the sublime. Dark, wild and weird, but thoroughly unforgettable.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing, September 13, 2004

By 

AMAX (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beijing Doll (Paperback)

This was a disappointingly unoriginal account of "teenage angst"...another memoir of a privileged youth with no parental guidance and too much free time to sulk around.

I'm all for this genre, but this book was totally cliche.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Decent debut and coming of age book, October 14, 2004

By 

Obio Ntia (New York) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Beijing Doll (Paperback)

"Beijing Doll" reads like the diary of an indecisively boy-crazy teenage girl . Unlike the average youth diarist, however, Chun Sue wrote for music magazines early in her high school career in order to pursue a personal passion and to draw her away from her oppressively strict high school environs. A rock music addict who embraced and wrote about the Beijing punk rock scene, Chun Sue depicts much teenage angst and moodiness in "Beijing Doll," but seemingly fails to grow out of it. Her voice is fickle in the book, but supported with spurts of vague determination and personal strength. Overall, a decent debut and coming-of-age book by a young writer; any later efforts should be more substantial.