The Man from Beijing (2008)

Very interesting and different. The story is unusual and educational. ( )

This has to be the most schizophrenic book I’ve read all year.

On one side of the scale there is storytelling at a genius level. It kept me gripped from its hauntingly written opening sequences, in which a brutal massacre in a small Swedish town is discovered, through several dips into the history of pre-communist China and the construction of the US railways using slave labour, through to vignettes in modern China, Zimbabwe and London. I read the entire thing in two sittings and was totally absorbed for the duration primarily because I never, once, knew what would happen next.

There are also some truly compelling female characters. Swedish Judge Birgitta Roslin, a married woman in her 60’s who is grappling with a troubled marriage and the fact her life hasn’t panned out as she imagined it would when she was a radical student, discovers she is distantly connected to one of the couples murdered in the massacre. Becoming somewhat obsessed with the case and finding herself with time on her hands she travels to the scene of the crime, becomes a thorn in the side of local police and uncovers the lone piece evidence left by the killer (which the police conveniently ignore). Through a circuitous series of plot shenanigans Roslin meets up with an even more intriguing woman, Hong Qiu, who is something vague but high-up in Chinese officialdom. She is dealing with even bigger personal dilemmas than Roslin, not the least of which is what to do about her corrupt and probably criminal brother, and is undergoing something of a crisis of conscience of her own. The Swedish policewoman in charge of the murder investigation, Vivi Sundberg, is not drawn in quite as much depth and although she offers glimmers of interest I thought she ended up being a bit forgotten among the other powerful women in this story.

In several other senses though the book is the literary equivalent of a basket case.

The writing style, or perhaps the translation, is choppy and awkward at times. There are jarring changes of storytelling pace, unnecessary detail and repetition in parts and more clichés than I would expect. Or want. The historical portions in particular appear to have been crafted for their depressive instructiveness ahead of their narrative drive.

It’s difficult to discuss the plot problems without giving away things readers have the right to discover for themselves so I will simply say the main plot is entirely unbelievable. Seriously, there are holes you could drive a fleet of trucks through and coincidences abound in precisely the way that does not happen. Not to mention the boat load of unexplained loose ends and the fact that the men are all caricatures of real people.

Most annoyingly for me though is the didactic display of politics. At times the political overtones of the book do make for thought-provoking reading, such as when considering the implications of a relationship between China and impoverished African countries of the kind Manekll’s fictional (or not?) Chinese leadership proposes. But too often this is achieved via dull and inappropriate lecturing rather than as seamless parts of the narrative.

I am also, for the record, more than a little tired of hearing that all capitalists are evil in human form.

On balance though I’ve decided there is more to admire than disparage in The Man From Beijing. It is an ambitious project that doesn’t always succeed but it did keep me up for two nights running and it did make me think about the world in ways I hadn’t previously considered. Even more importantly, as someone who has whined at length about formulaic plots I applaud any effort to produce something different from the norm. In the end, I would rather read a novel that tries to do too much and fails partially than one which doesn’t try at all.

If you are looking for traditional crime fiction of the procedural or whodunnit style then this is not the book for you. But if you’re looking for something that explores small human issues such as the nature of obsession, the angst of ageing and the lengths a person will, and will not, go to for their family alongside broad issues of humanity like colonialism (past and present) the decay of the modern justice system and the future of the global economy then I’d suggest you suspend your disbelief and give the book a go. At the very least it’ll make you think. ( )

I Have enjoyed this book very much. Somehow this writer seems to be able to catch my attention and keep me reading untill I finish his book.
With this book it was no different. I read the backside of the cover, of course, but still had no idea how to link a Swedish judge to the title.

I was pleased very much with the book, the way it was written. I like the combination of history, personal history, a horrible event and a character that is looking for the story behind the events, who's trying to unty the knot of the events. To me it is not important if that is a policeman or, like in this book, a private person. ( )

I'm hoping part of my struggle with this was the translation, but I'm not sure how much of slow pacing, dull villain and tedious characters I can blame on language issues. But the spare prose didn't help. I just didn't feel for any of the characters or even plot. And it didn't help all the dead in the village were treated as irrelevant. It was a frustrating read, but I'll look at other reviews to see if others can persuade me it was worth it. ( )

I liked this, although it was very uneven. It starts out as extremely interesting (if a bit gruesome) with the very different strands in Sweden, China, and Nevada being explored and then coming together. However, once you figure out the mystery, the character of the book really changes and the disparate elements don't really hang together that well. It tries to turn into an international thriller, but doesn't quite succeed. Since the mystery is solved early on, the book sort of peters out since there is no big reveal at the end. But I did like the main characters and a lot of the historical elements, especially the development of the West. ( )