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"What is it like to be part of something greater than oneself. I wonder."
A protected childhood is interrupted when Lili's intellectual parents are transported to a
remote town and given a "re-education" during her teenage years. She observes
her parents' calm acceptance of their predicament and rebels against them, government, and
idealism. When a Communist Party official abuses her, Lili flees the refuge of family and
joins a group of displaced youths. Survival is her only stimulant. Shame becomes a brand,
and she accepts the label with self-loathing. Branded as a hooligan, Lili Lin is released
from prison as a cynical, detached young woman.
The American Jewish journalist who enters her self-absorbed world changes her life
dramatically. Roy Goldstein has a thirst for learning the ways, heritage, and politics of
the Chinese people and yearns to write their stories. Lili accompanies him to a remote
village to observe peasant life in China. The residents treat the couple like anointed
royalty; Roy drinks in their hospitality like a child with his first Christmas gift, but
Lili longs to return to Beijing where nothing is expected of her except a stoic acceptance
of daily Communist routine.
Lili's slow transformation is heart wrenching. Her relationship with Roy meets with bumps
along the road she travels. When students take to the streets in Beijing and assemble at
Tiananmen Square, Lili joins them to rediscover thoughts long hidden in her wayward past.
Religious perseverance, personal dignity, individual intellectual pursuit, and the
political process are themes Wang presents in Lili's story; raw examination of Chinese
subservience to government entities after the Cultural Revolution is the meat of the
novel. Lili never questions her rights as an individual in a totalitarian society until
the passionate foreigner awakens her dormant emotions. For a bittersweet history lesson
about modern China, LILI is a must-read. Wang's first English novel is a fine piece
crafted by a talented writer.
--- Reviewed by Judy Gigstad (gigstadjudy@hotmail.com)
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