Synopsis
An English translation of Wang Shuo's novel describing the aimless, rebellious youths of late 1980s China. Derided by party officials as hooligans, Shuo's characters spurn the heroic models of self-sacrifice and duty offered to them by Communism and try to assert their individuality through rebellion and nihilism.
| Details | | Publication Date: | 1997-03-01 |
| Size | | Length: | 325 pages | | Height: | 8.8 in | | Width: | 6.0 in | | Thickness: | 1.2 in | | Weight: | 17.6 oz |
Publisher's Note
A tripped-out, sarcastic novel of urban alienation, Playing for Thrills follows the investigation of a mysterious murder of a possibly imaginary character that took place more than ten years before. The chief suspect is the narrator of the novel who may or may not have committed the crime - even he isn't sure. As our charismatic antihero careens around Beijing drinking beer, having sex, and questioning a bunch of people who speak like characters in a gangster movie, he tries to find someone who can remind him which girl he was with and what he was doing at the time of the murder. Suddenly, the narrative explodes, and the reader is thrust into a countdown leading up to the crime itself. The result is a sometimes frightening, sometimes hilarious, always astonishing novel that is totally unlike anything ever published from China.
Industry Reviews
"Taken seriously, the book seems a wonderful pastiche of Chinese history, or revisionist history in general, all gaps and altered official stories. And the solution to the crime, when it comes, adds still more mystery. But the hip insistence of the rhythms, the cacophony of love interrupted and undermined, and the sly playfulness of the storytelling make it seem like any interpretive system is vulnerable to mockery. This is a world without loyalties, resistant to spirit, where no one seems at home anywhere. Still, the satire is smart, the action relentless, the pleasures distinct and notable."
Washington Post Book World - Paul Skenazy (03/16/1997)
"Prolific Wang Shuo's first English translation, modishly hip, is an obvious poke in the eye of his authoritarian regime."
Kenney
"Wang Shuo romanticizes young, alienated rebels in much the same way that Jack Kerouac did...he explores the paradoxes and absurdities of society, as Joseph Heller and Kurt Vonnegut do. Instead of criticizing the Communists for being autocratic, he does what is far more devastating: He mocks them for being uncool."
Kramer
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