Lili: A Novel of Tiananmen [Hardcover]

Annie Wang (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 29, 2001

A remarkable first novel that chronicles the emotional and psychological awakening of a tragically disaffected Chinese girl during the turbulent years that led up to the Tiananmen Uprising. As a teenager growing up during the Cultural Revolution, Lili is forced to leave Beijing when her parents, music professors, are relocated to a peasant village to be re-educated. Raped by one of the Communist party leaders in the village, Lili flees to Beijing. Seeking comfort and a sense of community, she becomes a gang member only to be branded by society as a petty criminal and a street hooligan. Whatever youthful enthusiasm Lili may have had is thwarted by the arbitrary oppression of daily life, and she is paralyzed by cynicism, indifference, and, above all, self-loathing. But when she meets an American journalist named Roy and is given the opportunity to see China through his eyes, Lili gradually relinquishes her indifference and self-loathing. She is eventually able to comprehend the magnitude of the changes that are sweeping across her country and to appreciate being a part of something greater than herself. And as the decades of smoldering anger and resentment borne by ordinary people ignite to culminate in a powerful movement, Lili comes startlingly awake to a political and personal understanding she might never have been able to attain otherwise. Written with a bracing rawness and immediacy, Lili is a book of undeniable authenticity. It is both a sharp-eyed witness to historical events and a story whose psychological and emotional veracity is not only irrefutable, but also utterly compelling.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

"The only difference between feudal times and our own is that back then `bad women' were seen as amoral fox spirits, whereas now they are labeled corrupt bourgeois," muses bad girl Lili Lin, in the wake of the Chinese Cultural Revolution. The antiheroine of this debut English-language novel by Chinese-American writer Wang struggles through life in Communist China, finding her way toward the tragedy of Tiananmen Square. Busted for "hooliganism" in her early 20s, Lili is sentenced to three months of rehabilitation through labor. Returning home to her music teaching parents, who teeter on the edge of official disgrace, she has a hard time finding work and enjoys confusing the "Confucians" to whom she is a "fox spirit." Lili decides to embrace unemployment as a Taoist "Great Void" spiritual experience, but the direction of her life changes when she meets Roy Goldstein, an American journalist and friend of her childhood friend Yuan. Through Roy's appreciation of classical Chinese culture, Lili experiences a reawakening of faith in her heritage, while remaining clear-sighted about the present political horrors. In a schizophrenic social atmosphere in which she is at once an emerging cosmopolitan artist and the concubine of a white devil, she arrives, along with others, to witness the revolt of students in Tiananmen in Beijing. Like Thornton Wilder in The Bridge of San Luis Rey, Wang develops an engaging novel of fate exploring what draws an individual toward large happenings on a social stage. Her version, set in a China at once convincing and utterly foreign, both attracts and terrifies. (June)Forecast: Wang was a prodigy in China, beginning her career as writer and radio host in her teens. She now works for the Washington Post in Beijing; this is her first book in English, and she will embark on a five-city author tour. Her background and her sharp, unsparing perspective should attract attention and translate into solid sales.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

A published author in China and an affiliate with the Washington Post's Beijing bureau, Wang presents her first work in English, a political, historical, and lightly romantic novel. Set in China just prior to the Tiananmen uprising, the book introduces 24-year-old Lili Lin, just released from prison after being sentenced for hooliganism. Unable to find steady employment, she accepts a friend's offer to work as a musician and plays the erhu for foreign tourists while on a trip to inner Mongolia. While there, Lili meets and falls in love with U.S. journalist Roy Goldstein, eventually moving in with him and risking possible imprisonment for illegal cohabitation. Told in the first person, this multilayered work reveals the inequities that result from class differences, gender differences, political affiliation, and poverty in China. Like author Hong Ying (Daughter of the River, LJ 1/99), Wang brings a woman's perspective to her storytelling, as she describes the oppression of free-spirited and free-thinking women in China. Wang's writing is clear, full of imagery, and easy to follow; recommended for most general fiction collections and especially for Asian fiction collections.
- Shirley N. Quan, Orange Cty. P.L., Santa Ana, CA
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Pantheon (May 29, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0375420851
• ISBN-13: 978-0375420856
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (45 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,646,371 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Moving, insightful, gripping, real. It made me weep., July 6, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Lili: A Novel of Tiananmen (Hardcover)

Lili is forceful and rich in ethnographic insight. I couldn't put it down. Vivid and intense, this novel convincingly delves into rarely seen areas of contemporary China. To give but a few examples, we encounter a reform through labor camp for 'hooligan girls', the eclectic milieu of the Beijing art scene, the hidden counter-culture of youth street gangs, and the emergence of a distinct new voice, manifest in many ways, including the 1989 Student Movement. A scene I will not soon forget: a nauseating 'interview' by members of public security. I marveled at the writer's talent for capturing the incredibly complex situations of rural and urban China with economy and verve. This novel made me weep. It made me wish too that I could return to China immediately and witness more of its amazing, ongoing transformation. Bravo. Highly recommended for people who think about China seriously, and for people who love literature.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a compelling view of China's recent past, May 30, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Lili: A Novel of Tiananmen (Hardcover)

This novel is recommended for anyone interested in China's recent past. Though the storyline is different, it has the same poignancy of Joan Chen's film Xiu Xiu the Sent-Down Girl. Lili is caught in the turmoil of China in the 1980s-- still reeling from the impact of the Cultural Revolution, and still undergoing the "growing pains" of transformation from a communist to free market society. Lili, the title character, is shorn of hope, someone who is utterly rejected by her society. Yet, somehow, she survives and manages to find new meaning in life. Lili is told from an insider's point of view-that is, someone who is intimately acquainted with Chinese society and culture. It is a window to an eastern culture that is at once fascinating and compelling. Highly recommended for anyone who is interested in China or Asia

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Lili" Captivates!, July 26, 2001

By 

Michael C. (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lili: A Novel of Tiananmen (Hardcover)

As an American who has lived and traveled extensively in China, I am always interested in works focusing on the modern Chinese experience. "Lili" does not disappoint, with author Annie Wang showing remarkable insight and experience that reaches far beyond her 29 years. Ms. Wang's portrayal of rural and city life in China during the years leading up to the tragedy in Tiananmen offers us a fresh look at some of the underlying reasons behind the students, and ultimately ordinary citizens, push for democracy. She also takes us beyond the beauty, tranquility and myth of the Chinese countryside and reveals some of the desperate conditions that actually exist there. Startling when one realizes that 80 percent of the population of China is rural. "Lili" is a great read and is difficult to put down. And with a love story navigating the cultural and philosophical contrasts between the idealistic American Roy and the harsh realism of Lili's existence, it will not be long before Hollywood takes notice.