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Stick Out Your Tongue: Stories Hardcover – May 16, 2006

by Ma Jian (Author), Flora Drew (Translator)
3.9 out of 5 stars 10 customer reviews
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Product Details

  • Hardcover: 93 pages
  • Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux; 1st edition (May 16, 2006)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0374269882
  • ISBN-13: 978-0374269883
  • Product Dimensions: 5.4 x 0.6 x 7.8 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
  • Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,775,220 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 starsDark, Lurid, and Engrossing
By Spyral on April 15, 2007
Format: Hardcover
Ma Jian's "Stick Out Your Tongue" is a collection of short stories that center around a couple central themes; the harshness of life in rural Tibet, and often times "non-traditional" sexual practices. I doubt the stories in the book are meant to be at all expository, or shed much real knowledge about what life is like for real Tibetans, but it does provide a picture of Tibet that is very alive, and very hostile. I'm still not certain what the original intent of the work was. In some ways it merely seems to offer another stereotype of Tibetan society (an anti-romanticized one), and in other ways it seems simply like an attempt to bring the reader into a world that is just surreal, with Tibet being presented simply as a vehicle for that vision.

The Afterword confused me as well. In it, Ma Jian briefly outlines the controversy surrounding the work, and also comments on his sadness in regard to the plight of Tibetans as outsiders in their own homeland. The last commentary is the most confusing, since it seems to suggest that this is somehow tied into the work. In actuality it is quite absent. There are no politics in this work, unless you draw the conclusion that the darker side that you witness in the book is there due to Chinese influence. This is a loose connection however, since there are no cues that point in that direction. Only the narrator is Han Chinese, and is mostly a peripheral character. The stories themselves center wholly on Tibetans engaging in relationships with other Tibetans.

I think some other reviewers had it spot-on when they said these stories do more to humanize Tibetans than anything else. The idea that a monk would have to hire a guard to keep lusty monks away from his wife, or that a Tibetan would beat his cheating wife and steal the monestery's gold won't find much place in most Western visions of Tibet. Those are typically the actions of Chinese intruders, with Tibetans almost always playing the role of passive, saintly protagonist.
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4.0 out of 5 starsRead "Red Dust" first to sift that fact from this fiction
By John L Murphy TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE VOICE on May 21, 2011
Format: Paperback
After "Red Dust," immediately I read this. I found that the section "The Woman and the Blue Sky" shows up nearly verbatim, if with subtle shifts of emphasis or description, as the first story with the same title in this short collection of five disturbing, detached tales from Tibet, "Stick Out Your Tongue." (The title refers to the natives' traditional greeting!)

His afterword to that follow-up to "Red Dust" (also reviewed by me) in this 1998 edition (written in 1987, in English 2006 also via another seamless translation far as I can tell by Flora Drew) admits this small volume of stories roused tremendous controversy in China. It can be existential and it can be hopeful, in the Beat spirit. The religious temperament pervades as God and man, myth and legend tangle: in an eerie tale of initiation, the narrator confides: "I am writing down this story in the hope that I can start to forget it." (66) Revelation does not descend for Ma Jian either in his travelogue or his storytelling from Tibet. Monks live amidst Maoist slogans; Ma Jian himself gains pocket money by "painting propaganda murals outside the local radio station." (86) He does not comment on this apparent irony.

Graphic as these spare stories can be, if for me rather than the PRC censors they seemed far from "pornographic," a demystified and deromanticized version of life on the plateau. They may benefit from a prior reading of "Red Dust," at least the Tibetan chapter; without some grounding in dharma Tibetan-style, the concentrated allusions and contexts may elude readers.

"Stick" dismantles the natives as "gentle, godly people untainted by base desires and greed." Ma Jian notes that "in my experience, Tibetans can be as corrupt and brutal as the rest of us. To idealise them is to deny them their humanity.Read more ›
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1.0 out of 5 starsThis book was dark and tragic. It was a ...
By Rissa on September 5, 2014
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
This book was dark and tragic. It was a collection of short stories dealing with incest, pedophilia and other tragic horrors for people living in Tibet. Every story was sexually related, grim, and I truly didn't get the point. I didn't find any of the stories poignant nor did I find anything about this work to be important. I had pre-ordered his latest book prior to reading this one. I cancelled the order.
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5.0 out of 5 starsShort and Sweet; Amazingly Honest
By Christopher Barrett TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE VOICE on November 10, 2010
Format: Paperback
Ma Jian traveled to Tibet to escape the Chinese authorities who were attempting to apprehend him based on some rather blunt writings he published (you can read a snippet of his travel at the end of this collection).

The book contains 5 short stories ~ when I say short, I mean short! The entire book covers about 70 pages. But what the stories lack in length, they make up for in content.

As many reviewers have stated: this is not the censored, idealistic picture of Tibet that Westerners imagine. Like any country, Tibet has its share of problems (beyond the oppression and censorship of China). What the reader sees here is the human side of Tibet and Tibetan Buddhism.

A warning: these stories are not for the faint of heart. There are tales of incest, rape, beatings, dismemberment, and more. Approach with caution if you have a weak stomach for reality. But if you are in search of a book touching on the Tibet that Westerners rarely see, then you must read this. Again, take with a grain of salt; as I am sure that not everyone in Tibet is engaged in rape and incest. This book has been banned in China ~ be happy we live in a country where we have access to uncensored literature!

The first story focuses on a Buddhist death ritual and is very blunt and graphically depicted, though beautiful in a surreal way. The second is about a young man on the vast plains and his dream. Another focuses on the story of a monk and his wife from 400 years before as told by another monk (who claimed to be the man the wife had an affair with); queue adultery and the wrath of the heavens. Another story involved a case of incest and a long lost child of the incest. Finally the stories concluded with the tale of a chosen 'living Buddha' who undergoes harsh training and rituals only to meet death in an icy river.

As I said, very good works but very eye opening! I recommend reading at once!
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