Lijia Zhang. (2017). Lotus: A Novel. Henry Holt and Co.

Lijia Zhang. 2017. Lotus: A Novel. Henry Holt and Co.

Lijia Zhang, Lotus: A Novel. Henry Holt and Co, 2017.

Lijia Zhang. Lotus: A Novel. Henry Holt and Co, 2017.

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1. • value: world literature
2. • value: literary fiction
3. • value: Communism
4. • value: sex trade
5. • value: women
6. • value: China
7. • value: Prostitution
8. • value: Women Authors
9. • value: gender
10. • value: Buddhism
11. • value: contemporary literature
12. • value: sex workers
13. • value: asian literature
14. • value: chinese fiction
15. • value: contemporary novels
16. • value: best fiction 2017
17. • value: asian authors
18. • value: chinese sex trade
19. • value: npr best books of the year

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1. • role: Author
   • fileAs: Zhang, Lijia
   • bioText: Lijia Zhang, a former rocket factory worker, is a journalist based in Beijing. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times and Newsweek, and she has been interviewed on CNN, NPR, and the BBC. Her book "Socialism Is Great!": A Worker's Memoir of the New China has been published in eight countries. She earned a master's degree from Goldsmiths, University of London, and a fellowship in the International Writer's Program at the University of Iowa. Lotus is her first novel.
   • name: Lijia Zhang

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Lotus

fullDescription

Named one of the best books of 2017 by NPR's Book Concierge
Inspired by the secret life of the author's grandmother, Lotus follows a young woman torn between past traditions and modern desires—as she carves out a life for herself in China's "City of Sins"
"Standing outside the Moonflower Massage Parlor with three other girls, Lotus flashed her red smile at every passing man. She leaned against the glass front of the parlor, one leg bent like a crane's. Luring in the clients with sweet and oily words consumed a surprising amount of energy"
Reserved, at times defiant, Lotus is different from the other streetwalkers. Her striking eyes glow under Shenzhen's neon lights, capturing the attention of Funny Eye, Family Treasure, and a slew of other demanding clients determined to make Lotus their property. Choosing between wealthy, powerful, and dangerous men is no easy feat, but it is a surprising offer from Binbing, a soft-spoken and humble photojournalist, that presents the biggest challenge. Is Lotus willing to fall in love? Is she capable of it?
Inspired by the deathbed revelation that the author's grandmother had been sold to a brothel in her youth,Lotus offers compelling insight into China's bustling underground world and reveals the surprising strength found in those confronted with impossible choices. Written with compassion and vivid prose, and packed with characters you won't soon forget, Lijia Zhang's Lotus examines what it means to be an individual in a society that praises restraint in and obedience from its women.

reviews

1. • premium: False
   • source: Da Chen, New York Times bestselling author of Colors of the Mountain, Brothers and My Last Empress
   • content: "Lijia Zhang's Lotus tells the life of a streetwalker working the beat in the thriving town of Shenzhen under a blazing hot sun, dealing with lusting men--good, bad, and ugly. One comes to love India because of Arundhati Roy's The God of Small Things, and one will surely love the hot and humid Southern China of Zhang's invention, through this brilliant novel. You will cry and in the end, laugh in celebration not just of the winning characters, but of Zhang's true gift as an essential novelist of this world."
2. • premium: False
   • source: Booklist
   • content: "With expert pacing and description, Zhang vividly draws Lotus' present and past, weaving together time lines, characters, and subplots that eventually reveal Lotus to be far more than the sweet, reserved girl she appears to be. At once immersive and delicate, Zhang's writing takes Lotus to unexpected places as she searches for--and perhaps finds--what true freedom means."
3. • premium: False
   • source: Riveter
   • content: "An engaging read with strong female characters, this novel also provides Western readers a picture of an "authentic China" (Yan Lianke) that is not always seen."
4. • premium: True
   • source:
   • content:

     October 3, 2016
     After the memoir Socialism Is Great!, Zhang returns to the landscape of a rapidly changing China in this debut novel, which explores the daily life and inner world of Lotus, a young prostitute living in the city of Shenzhen, who supports her family in their rural village. Along with three other ji (prostitutes) of varying ages, Lotus lives at the massage parlor where she works and soon befriends Bing, a kind, cultured photographer who is staying nearby while he compiles a series of portraits of ji, including some of Lotus. After Bing accompanies Lotus to visit her family, their friendship deepens and their attraction to each other grows. But once Bing’s photographs of Lotus are published in a national magazine and his engagement to her is exposed, their involvement threatens his standing in the Communist party. Although written in English, the book retains a distinctly Chinese vernacular, which, on one hand, helps to build the world of the novel, and yet, on the other, often reads like an awkward translation. Early on, during a night out with several wealthy clients, “the other men had taken their girls to different vehicles.... Lotus felt out of place in the luxurious setting.” An encounter between Lotus and Bing is described as follows: “Inside their snow-white mosquito net, their sweat-lubricated bodies entwined together like eels.” Though Lotus’s story is compelling, the stilted prose often proves distracting.

5. • premium: True
   • source:
   • content:

     A Chinese girl working in a Shenzhen brothel to support her family back home looks for a way out.Between the constant police harassment, the danger of disease, and the unremitting awfulness of the work itself, prostitution is not a profession Lotus hopes to pursue indefinitely. But now that her honor is indelibly soiled, the only obvious escape route is to become a paid concubine. Unfortunately, the man who would like her to be his mistress has a crappy apartment and offers a meager allowance. A more successful and attractive prospect keeps coming around but hasn't offered anything concrete. As she sits in a clinic studying a poster depicting the ravages of STDs and listening to a co-worker's cries during an abortion, she wonders about the future. "Would Mimi ever become a mother?...Could a ji ever return to a normal life? The cloud of doubt wrapped around Lotus as she sat opposite the gruesome poster." Fortunately, there is one bright spot: her friendship with a divorced photojournalist called Bing who is profiling her for an article on the sex industry. Their story unfolds in chapters with names that sound like fortune-cookie messages: "In Nature There Are Unexpected Storms, and in Life Unpredictable Vicissitudes," "Near to Rivers, We Recognize Fish, Near to Mountains, We Recognize the Songs of Birds," and "Past Experience, If Not Forgotten, Is a Guide for The Future." Zhang's debut novel follows a well-received memoir (Socialism is Great!, 2008); she lives in Beijing and wrote this novel in English. While the sex industry setting is nominally racy, there is a naive, simplistic quality to the story and the prose. A Book of Little Depth May Still Find Some Readers. COPYRIGHT(1) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

6. • premium: True
   • source:
   • content:

     December 15, 2016
     To everyone in her village, Lotus is a success: she wears glamorous clothes, has a lucrative job at a restaurant in Shenzhen, and sends all her earnings home to ensure her brother, Shadan, can attend university. What Lotus can't bear to reveal is that she's actually a ji, a working girl at the Moonflower Massage Parlor. When Lotus is arrested, she calls the first person who comes to mind: Bing, a quiet photographer whose artistic interest in prostitution has lead him to form a protective bond with some of the girls in the neighborhood. Zhang's debut novel follows Lotus and Bing's relationship as it unfolds, first as a friendship, then, slowly, as something more. Though the relationship is central to the novel, the story belongs fully to Lotus. With expert pacing and description, Zhang vividly draws Lotus' present and past, weaving together time lines, characters, and subplots that eventually reveal Lotus to be far more than the sweet, reserved girl she appears to be. At once immersive and delicate, Zhang's writing takes Lotus to unexpected places as she searches forand perhaps findswhat true freedom means.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)

7. • premium: True
   • source:
   • content:

     August 1, 2016
     

     Though this is Zhang's first novel, she's already made a name for herself with "Socialism Is Great!": A Worker's Memoir of the New China, published in eight countries. About a streetwalker in Shenzhen, it was inspired by Zhang's grandmother, who was sold into a brothel in her youth.

     Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

8. • premium: True
   • source:
   • content:

     November 15, 2016
     

     Author of the 2008 memoir Socialism Is Great, journalist Zhang was inspired by her grandmother's experiences to write this first novel, which takes a compelling look at the issue of prostitution in China. The chapters alternate between photojournalist Hu Bingbing (aka Bing) and his star subject, Lotus (aka ChouChou and Luo Xiangzhu). Lotus's desire for a better life and hope of assisting her family financially comes at a price when she leaves her village for Shenzhen, where she ends up working at the Moonflower Massage Parlor. As the novel progresses, readers find out more about the friendship forged between Bing and Lotus, which they eventually take to the next level. They become a solid couple and move in together, much to the dismay of Bing's ex-wife, Mei, and Lotus's former patron, Family Treasure. VERDICT Providing a different view of life for "working women" in China, the novel is somewhat reminiscent of the movie Pretty Woman but without all the glitz. Easy to read and containing fully drawn characters and story lines, Zhang's first foray into fiction does not disappoint. [See Prepub Alert, 7/11/16.]--Shirley Quan, Orange Cty. P.L., Santa Ana, CA

     Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

9. • premium: True
   • source:
   • content:

     September 1, 2016
     A Chinese girl working in a Shenzhen brothel to support her family back home looks for a way out.Between the constant police harassment, the danger of disease, and the unremitting awfulness of the work itself, prostitution is not a profession Lotus hopes to pursue indefinitely. But now that her honor is indelibly soiled, the only obvious escape route is to become a paid concubine. Unfortunately, the man who would like her to be his mistress has a crappy apartment and offers a meager allowance. A more successful and attractive prospect keeps coming around but hasn't offered anything concrete. As she sits in a clinic studying a poster depicting the ravages of STDs and listening to a co-worker's cries during an abortion, she wonders about the future. "Would Mimi ever become a mother?...Could a ji ever return to a normal life? The cloud of doubt wrapped around Lotus as she sat opposite the gruesome poster." Fortunately, there is one bright spot: her friendship with a divorced photojournalist called Bing who is profiling her for an article on the sex industry. Their story unfolds in chapters with names that sound like fortune-cookie messages: "In Nature There Are Unexpected Storms, and in Life Unpredictable Vicissitudes," "Near to Rivers, We Recognize Fish, Near to Mountains, We Recognize the Songs of Birds," and "Past Experience, If Not Forgotten, Is a Guide for The Future." Zhang's debut novel follows a well-received memoir (Socialism is Great!, 2008); she lives in Beijing and wrote this novel in English. While the sex industry setting is nominally racy, there is a naive, simplistic quality to the story and the prose. A Book of Little Depth May Still Find Some Readers.

     COPYRIGHT(2016) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

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Named one of the best books of 2017 by NPR's Book Concierge
Inspired by the secret life of the author's grandmother, Lotus follows a young woman torn between past traditions and modern desires—as she carves out a life for herself in China's "City of Sins"
"Standing outside the Moonflower Massage Parlor with three other girls, Lotus flashed her red smile at every passing man. She leaned against the glass front of the parlor, one leg bent like a crane's. Luring in the clients with sweet and oily words consumed a surprising amount of energy"
Reserved, at times defiant, Lotus is different from the other streetwalkers. Her striking eyes glow under Shenzhen's neon lights, capturing the attention of Funny Eye, Family Treasure, and a slew of other demanding clients determined to make Lotus their property. Choosing between wealthy, powerful, and dangerous men is no easy feat, but it is a surprising offer from Binbing, a soft-spoken and humble...

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   • description: Fiction / World Literature / China / 21st Century