Customer Reviews

The Dissident: A Novel

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Inspired by Chinese experimental art of the early nineties, Freudenberger builds a story broadly based on some of the members of the Beijing "East Village" experimental artistic community. Primarily told from the perspective of a fictitious member, Yuan Zhao, the narrative moves between the group in China and life in Los Angeles where "Mr. Yuan" experiences a different world as a resident artist, hosted by a wealthy Beverly Hills family.

Interleafed with Zhao's narrative is the story of his host family, the Travers. They are depicted as a rather dysfunctional family of four, living parallel lives with little more than superficial interaction. They appear to have little interest in the "Dissident". Cece, the Travers family's "mother hen", attempts to maintain the facade of a harmonious family. She is Mr. Yuan's main interlocutor, yet, her mind is not focused on her guest but rather on her own emotional hang-ups involving her brother-in-law. Father, son and daughter, while present physically, are mentally elsewhere. Revealing only the bare minimum facts about them, the author doesn't make them come alive as characters and they remain two-dimensional stereotypes. The sister-in-law, an aspiring author, has her own reasons for approaching the "Dissident". She may be closer to discovering some truths about him that escaped the others.

Despite the lack of depth of character development, much space is given to describing the trials and tribulations of the members of the Travers household. The narrative flows quite easily as each short chapter zooms in on one of the main characters. Seeing them all together at a Thanksgiving dinner reveals a plastered over façade. Yuan Zhao appears to be quite disconnected from this reality and retreats increasingly into his own world. From the outset, he has raises questions about his own identity, his background and the quality of his art. Why was he chosen for the prestigious art fellowship? Why, for example, does he, as a modern artist spend his time copying a famous classical Chinese scroll of the 13th century instead of preparing for his grand exhibition? Is he a dissident at all? He feels that he doesn't belong in the role he plays in L.A. Between the flashbacks to Zhao's youth with his participation in the experimental performance scene around his courageous cousin X, and his observations of his American surroundings, it is left to the reader to slowly piece together who Yuan Zhao really is.

Freudenberger creates an animated and engaging picture of life among the artists of Beijing's the East Village. The group had developed a performance style of what could be called living art. The performers engaged in awkward or provocative poses, mostly naked or covered in some organic paste. The aim was to challenge traditional art forms. Audiences were invited, foreign journalists and art scholars were especially interested. So were the police who often arrested the artists right after the show. A performance was itself the artistic piece and with its dismantling the artwork disappeared. Could it be recreated at another time and in another environment? Probably not, unless, of course, a photographer captured the scene. As he did, his own artistic vision of the living sculpture superimposed itself on the original art. This invites the question of who in the end is the artist?

A popular performance was called "Something that is not art". Yuan Zhao introduces this theme in a competition to his art class at a prestigious girls' high school where he volunteers as the guest teacher. The adolescent girls are not easy to deal with and a series of damaging events potentially undermines the teacher. The result of the competition is not what is expected, demonstrating the limitation of imagination of the school authorities as well as most of students.

With "Dissident" Freudenberger has created an intriguing portrait of a representative of the Chinese artist community starting with the early nineties. Here, her characters are alive and realistic. Yuan Zhao, while surprisingly candid in his self analysis, is a captivating complex character. By way of his account of his past the reader is introduced to a fascinating aspect of Chinese society that would normally be out of reach. On the other hand, unfortunately, Freudenberger is not as successful in the characterization of the Travers and the Beverly Hills environment. While her style is easygoing and direct, the reader would have liked more cohesion and integration of loose ends. [Friederike Knabe]

There are writers who claim to be more comfortable (and readable) when working in a specific format. Raymond Carver was championed for his quick and dirty yet immensely powerful short stories, while a writer like Orhan Pamuk is known for his captivating and expansive full-length fiction. Then there are those who try their hand at both and find that they are just as adept at creating one as they are at creating the other. With a highly acclaimed collection of short stories (LUCKY GIRLS) under her belt, and this slightly longer than average novel recently published to mostly rave reviews, Nell Freudenberger seems to be one of those versatile authors who can shine in either realm.

THE DISSIDENT is both a multilayered story meant to entertain its audience and a meandering exposé on the very nature of art, truth and perception. As expertly noted by one of its central narrators, Yuan Zhao, while it "might seem to be a story about politics and art and even death, it will touch on those topics in only the most superficial ways." Instead, it is "a story about counterfeiting, and also about the one thing you cannot counterfeit." Right from the beginning, Freudenberger establishes (through Zhao's words) that not everything is what it seems to be and that readers should be aware of this before embarking on their journey.

The novel opens as the man who refers to himself as Yuan Zhao (the "dissident" of the book's title) has just moved to Los Angeles from China to perfect his craft and integrate himself into American culture. He has accepted a teaching position at the exclusive St. Anselm School for Girls in Beverly Hills, where he hopes to instruct fledgling artists on the intricacies of traditionalist Chinese painting. According to a Taipei Times article (and much to the excitement of the school and his host family), Yuan had been a member of an ultra-radical group of artists in the East Village of Beijing, and was twice imprisoned for his avant-garde approach to digesting and reinterpreting both Western and Eastern artistic practices and for advocating a revolutionary style of artistic expression. In America, he hoped to distance himself from his volatile reputation and Chinese censorship in order to create a new and impressive body of work. Or so it might seem...

Yuan's upper-middle-class host family is a collection of ruddy characters who, like the dissident, each hold secrets of their own. Cece is perhaps the book's most developed character, with a depth and deep sincerity that is both generous and heartbreaking to behold. She is a doting mother to her two teenage children --- the girlishly popular Olivia who attends St. Anselm and the typically sullen Max --- and a good wife to her stiff and sexless psychiatrist husband, Gordon. Good, aside from the clandestine affair she's been having on-again, off-again with Gordon's feeble-minded brother, Phil, who can't seem to make heads or tails of his own life, despite a deceptively healthy relationship with Aubrey --- his girlfriend back in New York --- and a screenwriting deal he just closed on a play he wrote based on his indiscretions with Cece.

Other minor characters include Joan, Gordon's supposedly successful but somewhat ingratiating younger sister whose writing career never seems to please her and who consequently is always on the lookout for the next lead (translation: Yuan's "real" story); June, Yuan's most talented student and the only character in the book who seems to possess true inner strength, vision and self-awareness; and X, Yuan's mysterious cousin back in China who was a forerunner in the East Village movement and an implacable influence on Yuan in more ways than one.

Most of the plot is a back-and-forth saga between the characters as they fumble to communicate and understand each other's intentions. Gordon and Cece's marriage is a sham and ultimately crumbles, despite their best efforts to stay together for the kids. Cece and Phil dance madly (and pathetically) around their affection for each other, leaving Aubrey to finally ditch Phil in a fit of desperation and long-needed self-preservation. Joan putters doggedly yet emptily after her story on Yuan. And Yuan --- well, that mystery is finally revealed.

Freudenberger is a true master at depicting the fragility and complexity of relationships. In both LUCKY GIRLS and THE DISSIDENT, her characters push and pull at each other in hopes of finding communion, understanding and acceptance. Although THE DISSIDENT tackles broader themes when examining the political and artistic differences inherent in Chinese and American culture, the bulk of its impact lies in its exploration of its characters' interactions. Some readers might wish that Freudenberger would have delved a bit further into Yuan's past (the descriptions never quite take hold) and that his future (the ending) wasn't so easily and neatly resolved. (How could it be, after such thorough deception?) But nonetheless they will be left pondering the fate of the book's vivid characters long after the story has been told.

--- Reviewed by Alexis Burling

"The Dissident" is a very well written account of the time a Chinese artist spends in the US on a cultural grant, the back story, and an epilog. The back story focuses on a period in his college life when he and his girlfriend were involved with a small community of avant garde artists in a run down section of Beijing. I infer from the author's acknowledgments that this artistic community is based on fact. What I am calling the epilog is intended to make the reader feel good about how things end up, and it does succeed in this. The story is interesting, benefiting from the historical dimension and the discussions about art.

Unfortunately, there is a parallel story in the novel, of the family with which the artist stays. While written well enough, dialogue, pacing and so forth, the story is not very compelling. The mother is a well drawn character, but she is the exception in this parallel story. Much time is spent on her brother-in-law, a self absorbed, dull character who is of little interest, and the lesser characters are even less developed. Had more time been spent on her husband, and why he had become so cold, "The Dissident" might have been a better novel.

This book tells the story of a mysterious Chinese artist who travels to America with an arts fellowship and is hosted by a wealthy Californian family, the matriarch of which is a brooding blonde with her own secrets to hide. Things don't go exactly as planned...or do they? The characters each have their own uniquely tinged identity crises and the reader's challenge is to find out who is who beneath the patina of first impressions. I liked the book, although the portions of the narrative set in China featuring the "the dissident" and his band of situationists seemed contrived and awkward. The author tries to capture a specific moment in time in China of great inspiration and creation, but the picture lacks genuine sensorial depth and consistency. I never really believed the "dissident" character's narration was genuine, not only because of his allusions to chameleon behavior, but because his experience is so far removed from the author's. The author seems most comfortable delineating urban, domestic America, and perhaps the novel would have had more momentum had it focused - perhaps more succintly - on that world. Toward the end, I found myself skipping over the China-based chapters out of sheer tedium and the fact that much of the expository writing about the Chinese dissident community didn't really seem to forward the narrative or capture my interest. The book also features many different plot lines, and as a reader I never got that feeling of relief when everything feels like it's finally coming together, rather it just seemed to peter out.

I wanted to like this book, but by page 89, I gave up trying. I didn't connect with any of the characters and the plot wasn't compelling enough for me to continue.

Got this as a review copy and could barely make it through. Even more static than her short stories.

This novel is a first person account by a Chinese artist of his year spent in LA on a culteral grant.
There is also his retelling of his rise in the Chinese underground art scene. I found this depiction fascinating, with several good characters.
In LA, there is the main character's interaction with the American family he is living with. There is some of the expected culture clash here. There is also the interactions within this slighlty dysfunctional family.
Finally, there is even a bit of a plot twist at the end. If you are intereseted in a good story about the Chinese avant garde art scene and about a family dissolving, then check out The Dissident.

"The Dissident" is a readable and often funny book as long as the author stays with the complications of the LA family who are hosts to the protagonist, the Beijing dissident, but she spends too many pages on the past of Mr. Yuan, the artist from abroad. The accounts of the Chinese performance artists read like digressions and are less entertaining than the deceptions of the locals. Freudenberger knows the American social scene; she should stick to that.
One scene recounting the experience of flying across country with a pet in coach is a gem. And the intrigue is deftly revealed at last.

The first time I visited Beijing's Dashanzi art district several years ago, I wandered into a crowded gallery only to find a guy lying in the middle of the floor, wrapped in a flag, while some people were dripping candle wax onto him and others were shooting video. A few steps outside and I was introduced to another artist whose specialty was painting himself to blend into various walls. Nell Freudenberger's first novel evokes well the performance art milieu of Beijing, at least from the perspective of an outsider looking in. From having lived ten years or so in West Los Angeles, I'd also say she manages a good satire of life there (though that's a much easier target).

While some reviewers prefer either the Chinese narrative or the L.A. one, I thought they complemented each other well. Even if the American characters aren't always as engaging as the title character, the author has a great ear and warm imagination for their dialogue. E.g., a spoiled private high school student who's spent time in France, impressed that her classmate's brother went to a party at his Latina girlfriend's home in the Echo Park neighborhood: "'Wow,' said Emily, 'ça c'est vraiment le barrio.'" And the characters who need to be likable, are.

The story sometimes has a typical first-novelish, self-reflective preoccupation with the theme of 'what is art?,' but it manages to be interesting on that topic. NF's treatments of identity and "dissidence" are also nicely structured, with many interesting parallels and contrasts among the characters; better yet, she doesn't hit you over the head with these by having her characters call attention to them. This is a very satisfying novel -- I'm definitely looking forward to reading the next one from this author.

I found The Dissident to be a great read. It has a lively pace, interesting characters, and a satisfying arc.