Description
Through ten exquisitely constructed stories Te-Ping Chen illuminates the conflicts and paradoxes of modern China with quicksilver imagination and deep psychological insight.
A dazzling debut collection which, deftly and urgently, tells the stories of those living in the biggest and most complicated country on earth.
A brother competes for gaming glory while his twin sister exposes the dark side of the Communist government on her underground blog; a worker at a government call centre is alarmed one day to find herself speaking to a former lover; a delicious new fruit arrives at the neighbourhood market and the locals find it starts to affect their lives in ways they could never have imagined; and a young woman's dreams of making it big in Shanghai are stalled when she finds herself working as a florist.
These are just some of the myriad lives to be evoked in The Land of Big Numbers, a collection of stories which - sometimes playfully, sometimes darkly - draws back the curtain on the realities of modern China and unveils a cast of characters as rich and complicated as any in world literature. With virtuosic brilliance, Te-ping Chen sheds light on a country much talked about but little understood and announces the birth of a bright new star in the literary firmament.
Number of pages: 256
Dimensions: 216 x 135 x 22 mm
