Synopsis
This novel by a Tibetan writing in Chinese takes place in early 20th-century Tibet, when a young man widely believed to be either retarded or brilliant is coming of age. Called Second Young Master, he manages to surprise his parents, more conventional older brother, and townspeople with his exploits. First published in 1998 in China, RED POPPIES was a bestseller.
| Details | | Publication Date: | 2002-02-01 |
| Size | | Length: | 433 pages | | Height: | 9.0 in | | Width: | 6.3 in | | Thickness: | 1.5 in | | Weight: | 27.2 oz |
Publisher's Note
Ambitious, sensuous, filled with intriguing characters, panoramic settings, and high drama, Red Poppies opens a window on pre-occupation Tibet, dispelling many of the popular myths of a pacifistic society peopled by devout worshipers.
Red Poppies is the story of the wealthy Maiqi family: its powerful chieftain, his Han Chinese wife, his first son and heir, and his second, "idiot" son, the novel's narrator and unlikely hero. The time is the 1930s, the setting a stone fortress overlooking all that the family rules on the arid plains of inner Tibet, with its scattered populace of peasant farmers, merchants, and comical local lamas. A feud breaks out with a neighboring chieftain; an emissary of the Chinese Nationalists comes to the Maiqis' aid with the tools of modern warfare. In exchange, fields of poppies, valuable in the Nationalist-backed heroin trade, are to be planted instead of grain in a deal that enriches the Maiqis' lavish lifestyle and earns them dangerous enmity.
This sweeping, cinematic story does for Tibet what the works of García Márquez have done for Colombia and of Faulkner have done for the American South.
Industry Reviews
"A compelling portrait of an unfamiliar place on the cusp of modernity: a promising new writer."
Kirkus Reviews (01/01/2002)
"Although RED POPPIES would have benefited enormously from some tough editing that might have removed some of the narrative's longueurs and repetitions, Alai has succeeded in creating a persuasive fictional world and populating it with brightly drawn men and women. He has...created a historical novel that's panoramic and intimate at the same time."
New York Times - Michiko Kakutani (04/19/2002)
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