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Overview
From Shanghai before and during the Second World War to U.S.?occupied Tokyo, and, finally, to the Middle East in the early 1970s, Ian Buruma?s masterful new novel about the intoxicating power of collective fantasy follows three star-struck men driven to extraordinary acts by their devotion to the same legendary woman. A beautiful Japanese girl born in Manchuria, Yamaguchi Yoshiko is known as Ri Koran in Japan, Li Xianglan in China, and Shirley Yamaguchi in the U.S.?and her past is a closely guarded secret. In Buruma?s reimagining of the life of Yamaguchi Yoshiko, a Japanese girl torn between patriotism for her parents? homeland, worldly ambition, and sympathy for the Chinese, she will reflect almost exactly the twists and turns in the history of modern Japan. The China Lover is both luminously written and imbued with the insights and erudition that have made Ian Buruma one of the most respected writers on modern Asia.
Synopsis
From Shanghai before and during the Second World War to U.S.-occupied Tokyo, and, finally, to the Middle East in the early 1970s, Ian Buruma's masterful new novel about the intoxicating power of collective fantasy follows three star-struck men driven to extraordinary acts by their devotion to the same legendary woman. A beautiful Japanese girl born in Manchuria, Yamaguchi Yoshiko is known as Ri Koran in Japan, Li Xianglan in China, and Shirley Yamaguchi in the U.S.-and her past is a closely guarded secret. In Buruma's reimagining of the life of Yamaguchi Yoshiko, a Japanese girl torn between patriotism for her parents' homeland, worldly ambition, and sympathy for the Chinese, she will reflect almost exactly the twists and turns in the history of modern Japan. The China Lover is both luminously written and imbued with the insights and erudition that have made Ian Buruma one of the most respected writers on modern Asia.
The Washington Post - Wendy Law-Yone
In a rare departure from his books and critical essays on film, politics, culture and current events, Buruma, a distinguished journalist-scholar and Japanophile, has crafted in The China Lover a fascinating fictional biography—not only of an iconic film star, but of film as an expression of a nation's culture and psyche. How fitting that he has put into practice at least two of the techniques of Japanese movie-making he mentions: "keeping a distance even in scenes of great emotion" and leaving things "open-ended, like life."
Editorials
Wendy Law-Yone
In a rare departure from his books and critical essays on film, politics, culture and current events, Buruma, a distinguished journalist-scholar and Japanophile, has crafted in The China Lover a fascinating fictional biography—not only of an iconic film star, but of film as an expression of a nation's culture and psyche. How fitting that he has put into practice at least two of the techniques of Japanese movie-making he mentions: "keeping a distance even in scenes of great emotion" and leaving things "open-ended, like life."—The Washington Post
Library Journal
Award-winning journalist Buruma (God's Dust) here turns to fiction, tracing the career of starlet Yamaguchi Yoshiko, a Japanese citizen born in the Chinese province of Manchuria, then occupied by Japan. Keeping her identity a secret, she plays a Chinese actress, goes to the United States after the war to make films, and eventually becomes a TV journalist in the Middle East. Part 1 is narrated by an American homosexual who befriends Yoshiko, Part 2 by an adoptive Japanese uncle, and Part 3 by a Japanese who follows her to Beirut. This story, grounded in the history of the various eras, is like a stew into which the chef has thrown so many ingredients we lose track of how it's meant to taste. Because so much is told to us-only occasionally do we overhear the characters interacting-the book reads less like a novel than a memoir or other nonfiction account, with often too much detail to absorb. Recommended for fiction collections where interest in the Far East and Middle East is strong. [See Prepub Alert, LJ6/15/08.]
—Edward Cone