Subject: CHINA MOUNTAIN ZHANG by Maureen F. McHugh

From: [email-masked]
Date: Fri, 2 Apr 1993 15:27:57 GMT

[Cross-posted to rec.arts.books. --AW]

                 CHINA MOUNTAIN ZHANG by Maureen F. McHugh
                     A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper
		      Copyright 1993 Evelyn C. Leeper

     The premise of this novel may be unlikely--a 21st Century proletariat
revolution in the United States, followed by a civil war which results in a
de facto Chinese takeover--but then many good books are based on equally
unlikely premises.  The question is whether the follow-through is both
well-developed and true to the premise, and in this McHugh gets full marks.

     Undoubtedly the time McHugh spent living in China helped her to draw a
believable Chinese, especially since it needn't be precisely the same as the
present: time and events will effect changes in China, and outside of China
her societies are blends of the Chinese influence with existing cultures.
Even the main character, Zhang Zhong Shan, a.k.a. Raphael Luis, is a blend
-- half-Chinese, half-Hispanic.  Though he "passes" as Chinese, he lives in
fear that his Hispanic background will be discovered and his status lowered
as a result.  And he has other secrets, yet more dangerous.

     Interleaved with Zhang's story are those of Angel, the kite flyer;
Martine, the Martian colonist; and Qian San-xiang, the ugly daughter of
Zhang's foreman.  The inclusion of the Martian story strikes me as trying to
put too much in one novel; though I can see some of what McHugh is doing
with it, it often seems to be just stuck in, as if the printer had
accidentally stuck pages from another book in here.  There is some
interaction between Zhang and the colonists, but it seems unnecessary
overall.

     But the main story of Zhang's development keeps the reader interested.
He doesn't undergo the epiphany so many protagonists do.  His change is more
gradual, and more realistic.  (San-xiang's transformation is more sudden in
some ways, yet here the suddenness both makes sense and serves to make a
point about change.)

     McHugh's short fiction shows her knowledge of China and this, her first
novel, shows that she can project this into a future that has complexities
which are to us at the same time both strange and familiar.  I recommend
this compelling story of a society and the people withing it.  (By the way,
CHINA MOUNTAIN ZHANG won the James Tiptree, Jr. Award, given to works which
expand and explore gender roles in science fiction and fantasy.)

%T      China Mountain Zhang
%A      Maureen F. McHugh
%C      New York
%D      January 1993
%I      Tor
%O      paperback, US$3.99 [1992]
%G      ISBN 0-812-50892-0
%P      312pp

Evelyn C. Leeper   |   +1 908 957 2070   |   [email-masked]  <========
Note new address: [email-masked] will work only until April 30.