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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A "Confucian thriller" and a great first novel, February 27, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: Invisible World (Hardcover)
Andy Mann, the son of a Chicago pipe-fitter, is awakened one night by a phone call that informs him his childhood friend, Clayton Smith, is dead. Suicide. Found on the floor of his Hong Kong apartment. The funeral is in three days, in Hong Kong. Sensible Andy decides to forego the funeral--until a package arrives from the deceased, with a plane ticket and an invitation. Such is the opening act in Stuart Cohen's inaugural work of fiction, Invisible World. When Andy lands in Hong Kong many hours later, he arrives not just in another continent, but another world, Clayton's world, one where legendary textiles weave the dreams of many, where the philosophy of Mencius is paramount, and where money printed with the face of Genghis Khan is the currency. Having received only sporadic correspondence from Clayton over the previous few years, Andy begins to meet the people mentioned in his friend's letters. There is Jeffrey Holt, the textile merchant, whose own world straddles Asia and South America; Silvia, the sultry Argentinian with a checkered past; and Chang, the Hong Kong businessman with a head for Confucian philosophy. Perhaps most importantly, Andy learns more about his distant friend Clayton, the dreamer whose intricate paper sculptures both enriched and ruined his life. In his wake, Clayton leaves a series of clues and instructions, which lead first to Shanghai, then Beijing, and then to Inner Mongolia, in search of a fabled map of the Mongol empire, a gift for the Pope that never reached the Vatican. The search for the map leads the trio on a criss-cross through the Mongolian grasslands, complicated by shifting alliances and always haunted by Clayton's influence and memory. Invisible World could have been set anywhere outside of Europe or North America, and the fact that its story is not implicitly a China one is part of what makes it such a good read. Cohen described the book as a "Confucian thriller." Cohen has not forcefully grafted the story onto a China background, unlike recent novels such as Flower Net. It's a solid story first and foremost, and that's why it works. Cohen's turns of phrase, especially when we hear the voice of Clayton, help to make Invisible World far more than a first novel; it leaves the reader begging for a sequel, a prequel, just more.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Incredible! Drop everything and read it now!, September 20, 1998
By A Customer
This review is from: Invisible World (Hardcover)
A shockingly absorbing plot drawn with taut, muscular prose. I could see every bit of this exciting trek through Asia so vividly I felt as if I were there. It's like bobsledding along a wild, mysterious course: you never know what lies around the next curve. And to top it all off, there is SUBSTANCE! IDEAS! This guy makes John Le Carre pale by comparison. When is the next one coming out?
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A "Confucian thriller" and a great first novel, February 27, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: Invisible World (Hardcover)
Andy Mann, the son of a Chicago pipe-fitter, is awakened one night by a phone call that informs him his childhood friend, Clayton Smith, is dead. Suicide. Found on the floor of his Hong Kong apartment. The funeral is in three days, in Hong Kong. Sensible Andy decides to forego the funeral--until a package arrives from the deceased, with a plane ticket and an invitation. Such is the opening act in Stuart Cohen's inaugural work of fiction, Invisible World. When Andy lands in Hong Kong many hours later, he arrives not just in another continent, but another world, Clayton's world, one where legendary textiles weave the dreams of many, where the philosophy of Mencius is paramount, and where money printed with the face of Genghis Khan is the currency. Having received only sporadic correspondence from Clayton over the previous few years, Andy begins to meet the people mentioned in his friend's letters. There is Jeffrey Holt, the textile merchant, whose own world straddles Asia and South America; Silvia, the sultry Argentinian with a checkered past; and Chang, the Hong Kong businessman with a head for Confucian philosophy. Perhaps most importantly, Andy learns more about his distant friend Clayton, the dreamer whose intricate paper sculptures both enriched and ruined his life. In his wake, Clayton leaves a series of clues and instructions, which lead first to Shanghai, then Beijing, and then to Inner Mongolia, in search of a fabled map of the Mongol empire, a gift for the Pope that never reached the Vatican. The search for the map leads the trio on a criss-cross through the Mongolian grasslands, complicated by shifting alliances and always haunted by Clayton's influence and memory. Invisible World could have been set anywhere outside of Europe or North America, and the fact that its story is not implicitly a China one is part of what makes it such a good read. Cohen described the book as a "Confucian thriller." Cohen has not forcefully grafted the story onto a China background, unlike recent novels such as Flower Net. It's a solid story first and foremost, and that's why it works. Cohen's turns of phrase, especially when we hear the voice of Clayton, help to make Invisible World far more than a first novel; it leaves the reader begging for a sequel, a prequel, just more.
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