• Title: China Mountain Zhang
• Author: Maureen F. McHugh
• Genre/Subject: Science Fiction
• Publisher: Orb
• Publication Date: 1992
• Start date: 6/16/24
• Finish date: 6/23/24

Review:

This was good. Well written and engaging. Good, but not great. I figure this was why it was described on the cover as a New York Times Notable Book rather than a New York Times bestseller.

The book is set in a future where the USA is a Socialist Republic after a civil war and Chinese communism seems to be the template from which they are operating. The protagonist is a Rafael Zhang, a self described ABC, which is American Born Chinese. He’s also gay, and looking for work.

Now, where it really gets going is… well that’s just the problem, it doesn’t get going. Oh sure he goes to Baffin Island and sees some seals, goes to China for engineering school, a few gay hookups, and ends up with a good job. But that’s it. I could have asked my Gaysian friends for a similar story.

Imagine reading the Lord of the Rings but the hobbits never leave the shire. You can spin the tales of glorious pints and excellent pipe smoking all you want, but you need something to happen sooner or later or people drift towards the exits.

Like I said, this was a good book and a nice rest after wading through Beckett, and I’ll leave it there.