Although right-minded people aren’t feeling particularly Sino-friendly just now, Wolf Totem seems poised to bring East and West a bit closer. The novel by Jiang Rong (a pseudonym for Lu Jiamin, a former political prisoner) is finally being released in the U.S. after selling more than 2 million copies in China — with millions more bootlegs distributed via the black market.
The prize-winning book, based loosely on the author’s life, tells the story of Chen Zhen, a student in 1960s Beijing who abandons the city to live among the nomadic farmers in the Mongolian countryside. When the Maoist regime orders a revered and feared wolf destroyed to make way for collective farming, Chen becomes an unlikely hero.
While Wolf Totem could be enjoyed as just a simple, beautifully told tale, you might also finish it with fresh, singular insight into the complexities and subtleties of a country and culture that most of us don’t — but had better begin to — understand.
Wolf Totem (the Penguin Press; hardcover; 526 pages)
Ask.com for more information on Wolf Totem
This post is from Observer Short List—an email of three favorite things from people you want to know. Sign up to receive OSL here.
