Subject: China Mountain Zhang

From: [email-masked] (Dani Zweig)
Date: Tue, 20 Apr 1993 05:20:08 GMT

Now that Maureen McHugh's "China Mountain Zhang" is out in paperback --
and I've read it -- I'll join the chorus praising it.

It deserves its Hugo nomination.  This story of a Chinese American
in a future dominated by a socialist China is interesting, plausible,
and well-crafted.

I agree with the poster (I think it was Evelyn) who thought the Mars
chapter and the Gargoyle chapter unnecessary:  Both convey information
which is needed at the end, but which could have been conveyed in
other ways, without ringing in viewpoint changes for relatively minor
digressions.  For that matter, those details of the ending could
have been changed without seriously affecting the rest of the story,
in which case the chapters would have been completely redundant.
I'm also not sure how necessary the rape scene was.  It should be
stressed, though, that these are not major weaknesses.  At most,
they represent instances where the book could have used some
organic engineering to tighten it up.

If you've been put off from reading the book because it doesn't
sound like the sort of book you'd like (a gay Hispanic-Chinese
pretending to be pure Chinese, making his way in a socialist
future...), you may want to reconsider:  The book is a triumph
of good writing over unpromising plot elements.

-----
Dani Zweig
[email-masked]

   'T is with our judgements as our watches, none
   Go alike, yet each believes his own
		--Alexander Pope