I was listening to a well-known author speak when the subject of Alain Robbe-Grillet came up. The author dismissed Robbe-Grillet by saying something like when you’ve read that work you really feel like you’ve put in some effort. And I find that sentiment echoing in my head since I want to say that Lin’s story “Trio” reminds me of reading the French writer’s work.
In my mind, that is a compliment, but I fear it might turn off people who are more enamored with traditional literature than with Nouveau Roman. But what I mean is that Lin’s writing balances depictions of the complicated reality we live in and other possible realities. It is this deft handling which makes China Girl a compelling read.
Additionally, Lin translates narrative across cultures with a practiced hand. When he tells the story of a politico prince and a journalist in “National Holiday”, he delves into a wide range of political and social perceptions. He guides the reader with a sureness that could gratify all of the desire for safe capital-L literary fiction. Many of his stories cross boundaries: national, regional, cultural, class. His characters transverse these frontiers honestly and in unexpected ways.
However, his work moves beyond simple and beautiful traditional narratives when he puts on his filmic lens and begins to give us montage and jump-cuts. Stories likes “Trio” and “Floating World” do move like an Aristotelian narrative (so don’t worry if Robbe-Grillet is one of your literary bogey men) but much of Lin’s narrative power comes from unique juxtaposition.
Lin has the rare quality of being able to balance narrative experiment and creating well-rounded emotionally compelling characters.
China Girl
Ho Lin
Regent Press
ISBN: 978-1587903847