Yuhan

I am gobbledy smacked screaming crying throwing up, this book slaps you in all the unexpected ways that real life does.

Surprisingly this book is very different to the first in its series, but absolutely not in a bad way. It's grown organically to adapt to the new setting - given that the twist in the first book completely alters the fundamental environment that the book is set in, and yet somehow manages to slap in an equally mindbending revelation in this book. I've gushed loads in my review of the first book about how real the writing is, and I think that really excels in this book as well. I'm still marvelling at how well the sense of nothing you thought mattered matters anymore after 200 years of 'time travel', yet it's not even mentioned explicitly. Dude, like, I feel like I time travelled. also loved the not-so-subtle calls to classic Chinese sci-fi that I read growing up, very fun :)).

A note that I did read the original in Chinese, and while I thought the translation of the first book was kinda difficult to read, I had a quick peek at the tranlation of this second book, and actually thought it seemed pretty fab (and I don't often say that about translated works from Chinese ahaha. I know it's difficult to produce a translation that makes a native speaker happy!).

No frickin clue where the third book is going to go, from a quick look at the contents page, it appears to take on a completely different spin again and I'm all here for it. I guess that's part of the charm, and that is just how life goes.

This book manages to make a whole ass plague boring. Or maybe plagues are meant to be boring, and this is actually a stroke of genius done so flawlessly that I didn't appreciate it. Either way, I fell asleep.

(idk I usually enjoy philosophical discussions. I fear my experience of this book might be victim of translation (it's kinda difficult to follow what's going on at a lot of points), and maybe the concept of a documentation of a plague was novel when it was published, but after covid, all it gives is the faint familiarity of boredom.)

((at the reveal at the end that Rieux is supposed to be the narrator, umh, I always thought that they were the same anyway from the beginning???? so turns out I was reading the whole book wrong. Goes to show that I don't think I followed a thing through the whole ass book LOL))

man is realllyyy bad with dealing with heat. then prison teaches him how to have feelings. character development consists of this man learning how to say more than three sentences at a time.

not entirely sure what I read but it was vaguely entertaining i guess. second worst excuse for murder only after sorry officer I tripped and fell 😭

some very interesting ideas, and the best buy vs rent argument that I've heard. Tax efficiency is also something I haven't seen many other sources put as much of an emphasis on, so the details in this book were really valuable. The first half has very engaging story elements though the latter half starts to get a bit preachy. There are some arguments that just don't make sense, like 'inflation isn't real because they're local phenomena and you can just travel to cheaper places' - I get the sentiment but like..... you still will get priced out of places even if you have cheaper places to go?? Unless you can find somewhere with 0 or negative inflation to live for the rest of your life, prices do rise.

I also understand that 'communists are gonna kill my family' makes a good narrative, but as a first gen (ish, CN parents, GB -> CN -> GB) Chinese immigrant it does grate. I am tired and sick of misinformation that leeches into a negative cultural image surrounding my heritage. plsssssssssss the number of times I have people ask me about life and politics in China to then just not believe what I say because they read or watched some biased/outdated/very-much-watered-down content somewhere ((I gen love a discussion!! but why are people correcting me on my own culture and experiences 😭))

Buckle in these are my takes:

1. I appreciate that the China I grew up in is significantly different to the one that the author grew up in, given I am approx 15-20 years younger than her. However, presenting her experiences as current day fact - I know that this is probably where her impressions have still remained! - is while unintentional, harmful in many ways.

2. Given the young age at which she immigrated, her impressions are likely largely influenced by her parents experience. Since this seems mostly to refer to times like the cultural revolution (60s-70s) and the world was just a very different place back then (of course, famously, across the globe and especially in the western world, all people regardless of their background and political affiliation were treated with kindness, equality and respect). I don't think anyone looks back at those times and thinks it was a great experience at all, and criticisms and discussions happen fairly openly nowadays in China. But you would be insane to state that that's what China is now.

3. Again, given the young age she immigrated at, portions of her impressions that extend from her own personal experiences are unlikely to be the full picture. Having immigrated at the same age to her, and then later reconnecting with those regions, wow oh boy was I wrong. I thought British insurance could actually magically fix your car at the press of a button (thanks to that LV advert). I thought that African Giant Snails were really common pets (because my teacher had one). I once told someone in China with absolute certainty that 'fuck' was not a proper english word because I having lived in Britain had never heard of it. (though seriously, why do we shield swearing so much from kids, it's not that deep) I wasn't even aware of what racism was, and was later horrified to hear how my parents had been treated in workplace in Britain in the 90s and 00s, despite being highly skilled immigrants.

There is a corner of my brain that houses my seven year old impression of Britain, and it's a wonderful place filled with exclusively summer picnics, blackberries and dolls in your shoes - it's nice to visit sometimes but it is most definitely distinct from reality.

I even have to come to terms with the fact that the China in my twelve-year-old memories no longer exists - while I believe I was conscious and old enough to form a proper worldview by then(-ish), AND despite the fact that change and growth is nowhere near as explosive as it was back then, a lot has happened in ten years. Streets are safe and sparkling clean, kids these days don't get beat up in school (they'll never understand what we went through LOL), and my grandparents are no longer invincible. The entire citycenter/shopping district has also upped and moved literally right outside my door, so literally everywhere I loved to go as a kid no longer exists but at least life is horrifically convenient now.

Anyway, all I'm trying to say is contrary to what this book will have you believe about China, pensions exist, there is a state healthcare system, and fuck me it really boggles me that people believe this, but nobody wants to kill your family for no reason.

An interesting read, and certainly widely recommended! I was suprised to find that most of the ideas in this book were not super revolutionary - though a friend pointed out that this book was published some time ago, and the ideas were very new back then.

It's certianly a very motivating read. Even if certain points are repeated many times, and it can feel a tiny condescending at times, it makes convincing points, and importantly, actually gives a sense of optimism that things can actually be changed if you make the right changes. No book is without its imperfections, but I think if we could push the narritive of this book, rather than the shaming and blaming we are used in media, the world would be a much better place.