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Maggie Shen King

Excess Male, An: A Novel Paperback – September 12, 2017

by Maggie Shen King (Author)

4.1 597 ratings

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One of the Washington Posts' "The 5 best science fiction and fantasy novels of 2017"!

James Tiptree, Jr Literary Award Honor List

A B&N Sci-Fi and Fantasy Blog "Best SFF of 2017" pick!

A Kirkus "Best of the Best!" of 2017 Honorable Mention

From debut author Maggie Shen King, An Excess Male is the chilling dystopian tale of politics, inequality, marriage, love, and rebellion, set in a near-future China, that further explores the themes of the classics The Handmaid's Tale and When She Woke.

Under the One Child Policy, everyone plotted to have a son.

Now 40 million of them can't find wives.none

noneChina’s One Child Policy and its cultural preference for male heirs have created a society overrun by 40 million unmarriageable men. By the year 2030, more than twenty-five percent of men in their late thirties will not have a family of their own. An Excess Male is one such leftover man’s quest for love and family under a State that seeks to glorify its past mistakes and impose order through authoritarian measures, reinvigorated Communist ideals, and social engineering.

Wei-guo holds fast to the belief that as long as he continues to improve himself, his small business, and in turn, his country, his chance at love will come. He finally saves up the dowry required to enter matchmaking talks at the lowest rung as a third husband—the maximum allowed by law. Only a single family—one harboring an illegal spouse—shows interest, yet with May-ling and her two husbands, Wei-guo feels seen, heard, and connected to like never before. But everyone and everything—walls, streetlights, garbage cans—are listening, and men, excess or not, are dispensable to the State. Wei-guo must reach a new understanding of patriotism and test the limits of his love and his resolve in order to save himself and this family he has come to hold dear.

In Maggie Shen King’s startling and beautiful debut, An Excess Male looks to explore the intersection of marriage, family, gender, and state in an all-too-plausible future.

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Print length

416 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Harper Voyager
Publication date

September 12, 2017
Dimensions

5.31 x 0.94 x 8 inches
ISBN-10

0062662554
ISBN-13

978-0062662552
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Excess Male, An: A Novel

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597 global ratings

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Customers find the book thought-provoking and interesting. They describe it as an entertaining read with believable characters. The writing style is well-crafted and detailed.

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Thought provoking Readability Character development Writing style

45 customers mention "Thought provoking"45 positive0 negative

Customers find the book thought-provoking and engaging. They appreciate the well-crafted plot and interesting concepts. The story is described as mesmerizing from start to finish with moments of conflicting secret agendas and food for thought on larger social issues.

"...Although it is set to take place in the future, it felt very relevant and easy to imagine taking place in the near future, especially in China where..." Read more

"The premise of the book is quite interesting — Lee Wei-Guo is a 40 year old bachelor, one of the ~40 million extra males born during China's One..." Read more

"...It is a human and humane story of appealing people doing their very best to create the lives they need. I recommend it to all adults." Read more

"...In the end, this was a very moving read." Read more

39 customers mention "Readability"39 positive0 negative

Customers enjoy the book's premise and characters. They find it insightful, entertaining, and satisfying. The story is described as a genuine page-turner with a rapidly evolving plot.

"...The author has created characters that feel very real and complex, each struggling to find a balance between a harmonious family life and also..." Read more

"...some licenses taken in the name of creating a deeper dystopia, but a good read." Read more

"...I enjoyed the book's premise and characters. The resurgent communism, official homophobia, and other aspects of the state ring true...." Read more

"...The action, and the love story, were very enjoyable, but the (realistic, I guess) non-happy ever after ending was not...." Read more

25 customers mention "Character development"25 positive0 negative

Customers enjoy the well-developed and believable characters. They feel compassion for them and enjoy hearing the various voices of each character. The author explores the characters' desires, frustrations, and fears intimately. The emotional dynamics between the characters are heartbreaking, raw, loving, and very real. Overall, customers describe the story as humane and relatable.

"...I felt such heartbreak and compassion for the characters, each sacrificing, in their own way, for the greater good of their family unit...." Read more

"...I enjoyed the book's premise and characters. The resurgent communism, official homophobia, and other aspects of the state ring true...." Read more

"...Her characters are absolutely credible and still completely appealing...." Read more

"...Caught in the distant suffocation of the state, King's characters remain resolutely human. In the end, this was a very moving read." Read more

15 customers mention "Writing style"15 positive0 negative

Customers find the writing style engaging and well-crafted. They appreciate the lyrical narrative and complex plot. The story is easy to imagine and has well-defined characters.

"...it is set to take place in the future, it felt very relevant and easy to imagine taking place in the near future, especially in China where the..." Read more

"...Beautifully crafted and lyrical, this is Maggie Shen Kings first novel. I hope to read many more of this talented author's work in the future." Read more

"...The plot is full of twists and action. It is a well-written novel and a very enjoyable read." Read more

"...She does it through the eyes and experiences of four very interesting, complex, imperfect, yet sympathetic characters...." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

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Connie
Excellent Book Club Choice!
Reviewed in the United States on September 12, 2017
Verified Purchase
I thoroughly enjoyed Maggie Shen-King’s An Excess Male! This futuristic story gives a glimpse into a world where marital relationships require very different norms than we are used to in our current society. The author has created characters that feel very real and complex, each struggling to find a balance between a harmonious family life and also satisfying their own personal desires. I felt such heartbreak and compassion for the characters, each sacrificing, in their own way, for the greater good of their family unit. I enjoyed hearing the various voices of each character, they are written with such detail and unique emotions that ring true. The complex relationships in An Excess Male were both foreign and yet very similar to those in traditional marriages where the struggle for control also exists. Although it is set to take place in the future, it felt very relevant and easy to imagine taking place in the near future, especially in China where the shortage of women is a well known disturbing fact.

I highly recommend this book to anyone in a book club. It has numerous thought provoking discussion topics and is sure to satisfy a wide audience of readers. I look forward to reading more books by this author!

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5 people found this helpful

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David
The sheer lack of resources and low level of wealth depicted seem more like the China of twenty years past
Reviewed in the United States on March 8, 2018
Verified Purchase
As a story, quite engaging; as a look at a possible future for China, less so.

Certain aspects of the society shown in the novel ring true; the insertion of the Party into every aspect of life and commerce, the near-omnipresent electronic surveillance, and the rampant corruption hiding in plain sight.

Others, however, seem less realistic. The sheer lack of resources and low level of wealth depicted seem more like the China of twenty years past, not twenty years from now. There seems to be no reason why a 19-story building in Beijing would ever lack an elevator no matter how low-end, for example. The medical establishment, while characterized by long lines and waits, is entirely up to the task of delivering 40 million physicals a year as well. I also find the attitudes of the government towards homosexuality and feminism puzzling, at best, as even modern-day China has in many ways moved beyond the attitudes shown in the book.

One thing which was thought-provoking were the numerous references to the government and Party extensively legislating morality, from requiring married women to visit their homes each year to holding aldulterers legally responsible. To some extent this is true already; in a country with few unwritten rules and a frayed social fabric, a government trying to constrain people’s behavior finds itself obliged to create written ones instead, for virtually everything.

All in all, there were some licenses taken in the name of creating a deeper dystopia, but a good read.

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Laura Werner
Futuristic Chinese soap opera
Reviewed in the United States on November 21, 2017
Verified Purchase
The premise of the book is quite interesting — Lee Wei-Guo is a 40 year old bachelor, one of the ~40 million extra males born during China's One Child Policy. Parents aborted females because they wanted boys who could support them in their old age.

With the help of a matchmaker, Wei-Guo finds a family willing to let him marry in as their third husband. (Yes, China has state-sanctioned polyandry in this book's future.) However the family has some flaws, and most of the book chronicles the attempts of Wei-Guo and his prospective new family to deal with the problems that come up.

I enjoyed the book's premise and characters. The resurgent communism, official homophobia, and other aspects of the state ring true. For a while, a found the travails of the family interesting. But eventually it started to feel like a soap opera (or maybe the late 70's sit-com "Soap"), and I knew there had to be another catastrophe just around the corner. For the last third or so if the book, I just wanted it to end.

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7 people found this helpful

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Ellkay Kay
A Very Human and Humane Story
Reviewed in the United States on May 21, 2018
Verified Purchase
I enjoyed this book a great deal. I found it loving and hateful, sad and heart-warming.

Set in a China of the near-future, this novel extrapolates on current conditions in China. Two factors have already had a huge effect on Chinese childbirth. First: While a segment of the Chinese population is very well to do, the large majority works desperately hard to survive and feed their families. Most pray for sons in order to have someone to feed them when they are no longer able to work themselves. Then to combat over-population, China passed a one-child per family policy. The large fines assessed for a second pregnancy are completely affordable for the well-to-do and utterly ruinous for the majority. So prayers for sons became more desperate. Second, modern science made possible the determination of gender in a fetus. Allowed only one child and needing sons, thousands upon thousands of female fetuses have been aborted. This novel looks to the near-future when men enormously outnumber women in the population. Despite the legalization of polyandry, one quarter of the men in China have no hope for wife or family.

King explores this issue by focusing on one family, a family that is already living on the edge and relying on secrecy just to survive, and one man's hopes for marrying into it. Along the way she also takes on China's views about homosexuality and those who are mentally different from the only acceptable norm. Her characters are absolutely credible and still completely appealing. And I found the entire working out of the plot almost inevitable given just who these people are.

Please don't mistake me, however. This book is much more than a treatise on Chinese policies. It is a human and humane story of appealing people doing their very best to create the lives they need. I recommend it to all adults.

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16 people found this helpful

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Kindle Customer
Compelling and human
Reviewed in the United States on October 15, 2018
Verified Purchase
This is my second foray into Chinese sf. The setting is thoroughly detailed, the characters deeply explored. Caught in the distant suffocation of the state, King's characters remain resolutely human. In the end, this was a very moving read.

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Top reviews from other countries

Amazon Customer
This book made me late for work. TWICE.
Reviewed in Canada on March 2, 2020
Verified Purchase
This book was so engaging, twice I sat down to read just a little, and resurfaced hours later -- late for work.

I legitimately cared for and about the characters, and cringed with them as things played out. I absolutely loved this book and cannot recommend it highly enough.

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Anjelica Rose
A great book club read - a year's discussion in one book - brilliant
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 8, 2017
Verified Purchase
Books set in the future are usually off-limits for me but this one was different - it had me captivated and I couldn't wait for my bed time read. The characters were warm and alive and the ideas challenging and uplifting. The notion of state control of thought word and deed is horrific, but this book captured the indomitable human spirit of its characters and the triumph of each person using his or her talents to beat the nasty system. I loved all of the characters but the autistic and endearing XX melted my heart and made me laugh as well as cry. Please write a sequel and include XX and the charismatic W-G.

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One person found this helpful
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Amazon Customer
Somewhat enjoyed it
Reviewed in Canada on May 3, 2021
Verified Purchase
I was completely fascinated by this book in the beginning but the characters were somewhat flat and I did not like some of the later parts.

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mortyoh
Interesting read
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 16, 2019
Verified Purchase
Wouldn't say this is 'a Handmaid's Tale for a new generation', but it's a remarkable book in its own right. Pays more emphasis on how men are affected than the women, but the stories of XX and Hann are important ones to tell as well. Just wish the book had been able to do more in sharing May-Ling's experience. Worth the read, if done with a critical eye. Still enjoyable from a reading perspective, and significant to the literary world nevertheless.

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One person found this helpful
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Zarathustra
Good concept
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 23, 2018
Verified Purchase
A book that attempts a great deal. Good concept that largely works. Raises interesting questions about family and what constitutes it.

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One person found this helpful
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