The Poons, according to gossip in post-war Hong Kong, have plenty of money. But when Wallace Nolasco marries May Ling, daughter of the house of Poon, he finds he has been sold short. Wallace is relegated to the bottom of the household pecking order. By the author of "Sour Sweet".
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Blisteringly funny look at Chinese family life,
By
This review is from: Monkey King (Hardcover)
Timothy Mo's first novel is a blisteringly funny account of the misadventures of Wallace Nolasco, a Macau native who marries into a wickedly dysfunctional Cantonese merchant's family. Set in an evocatively depicted 1950s Hong Kong, this book is a devastatingly funny account of Chinese culture and family life. In many ways it remains acccurate even today.The Monkey King contains many many wonderful insights into colonialism, Confucianism and family politics. This is a humane, arch and beautifully-written piece of social and human analysis blended with touches of whimsy and magical realism. Like Sun Wu Kong the famous Monkey King of "Journey to the West", Wallace uses his brains, sleight of hand and force of imagination to eventually pull success from the jaws of failure. However, the disturbing ending of the book points to deeper and darker forces at work within this sunny and good-humored tale. Some people may have a problem with the "dialect" that Mo has his Cantonese-speaking characters use when they are speaking "Chinglish", personally I think it's a marvellous use of an artistic convention to confront speakers of standard English with the fact that local dialect adaptations of English (not elite-sanctioned text-book varieties) are the standard method of communication in many different places. Despite the official pronouncements, this book is actually alive and well and available through the UK Amazon site. It is published by Mo's own Paddleless Press which he set up in 1995 after he sacked Random House as his publisher.
13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I loved this book.,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Monkey King (Hardcover)
This story of a Cantonese family in Hong Kong is filled with warmth and humor. It tracks the relationship between Wallace, a clever young man of Portuguese-Cantonese descent, and the family's shrewd, miserly, tyrannical patriarch. Perhaps it's a bit of a fairy tale that works out too smoothly in the end. But Mo writes so well about families - and is so good at capturing the magic of people finding somewhat unexpectedly that they love each other - that it doesn't matter. The scenes between Wallace and his surprisingly resourceful wife May Ling -- and between Wallace and his beloved nephews -- are simply a joy to read.
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Poignant, ironic Hong Kong novel relevant today - Excellent!,
By A Customer
This review is from: The monkey king (Hardcover)
I first read this novel, set in 1950's Hong Kong, while living in Hong Kong in the nineteen nineties - a cracking good read.An eccentric Chinese family living in a crumbling, atmospheric town house (of the kind that has, alas, been utterly swept away by remorseless development) is slowly revealed to the reader in absorbing, fascinating detail. I was amazed, as a Hong Kong resident, at how many of the actions and attitudes of Mr Mo's fictional family were still to be encountered in nineteen nineties Hong Kong (and no doubt today). I felt I met these people, or observed them, many times while living there. A sad, funny, ironic book that gains in strength by not becoming sentimental about Hong Kong, nor pulling any punches. Like other accurate reads about Hong Kong (such as Paul Theroux's Kowloon Tong - read it if you like this one), Monkey King tended to put a bee in the bonnet of some readers, chiefly those types so well-described by Mr Mo herein, and may be a painful read for some. But the detached reader has in store for him an excellent story, great characters and (an added plus) a book that is very informative about the Hong Kong of reality.
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