McHugh, Maureen F.: China Mountain Zhang
China Mountain Zhang (1992)
Written by: Maureen F. McHugh
Genre: Science Fiction
Pages: 313 (Trade Paperback)
Why I Read It: Back when I was in grad school, writing an SF novel for my thesis, I was obsessed with reading as much SF by women as I could. As a result, I discovered Maureen F. McHugh. I read her Nekropolis, but was always interested in China Mountain Zhang and finally picked it up last year at Book Closeouts. As luck would have it, it was selected for the Women of Science Fiction book club, so I was happy to have an excuse to curl up with it.
The premise: ganked from BN.com: Winner of the James Tiptree, Jr. Memorial Award, the Lambda Literary Award, the Locus Award for Best First Novel, and a Hugo and Nebula Award nominee.
With this groundbreaking novel, Maureen F. McHugh established herself as one of the decade's best science fiction writers. In its pages, we enter a post-revolution America, moving from the hyper-urbanized eastern seaboard to the Arctic bleakness of Baffin Island; from the new Imperial City to an agricultural commune on Mars. The overlapping lives of cyberkite fliers, lonely colonists, illicit neural-pressball players, and organic engineers blend into a powerful, taut story of a young man's journey of discovery. This is a macroscopic world of microscopic intensity, one of the most brilliant visions of modern SF.
Spoilers, yay or nay?: Yay, though this is the kind of book you really can't spoil, that knowing the ending doesn't diminish the experience of reading, because this is one of those books where it's about the journey and not the ending. So if you want to avoid spoilers, just skip to "My Rating," and you'll be just fine. Everyone else, onward!
When it comes to book club selections, sometimes I make the mistake of reading the book but not reviewing it right away, so I had to take some time and refresh my memory a bit about what I thought about this book and what I wanted to say. I did some browsing through some Amazon reviews and noted a few things that should make for some great discussion topics, and after reviewing my own notes from reading, I find I'm more and more impressed with this little piece of SF literature.
In truth, I think every sub-genre of SF has its own unique challenge to accept/overcome in order to enjoy said sub-genre. Hard SF, for example, requires its readers to deal with a lot of scientific and technical jargon, often at the expense of well-developed characters. This is a stereotype of the genre, yes. Soft SF, on the flip-side, is the opposite. Often well-developed characters, but so light on SF that some readers lash out and claim such works aren't SF at all. Because social sciences aren't real science, or something lame like that.
I read that when McHugh wrote this novel, she was aiming to write the anti-SF novel, which fascinates me as much as it makes me laugh. Because she's definitely written an SF novel: it's just soft SF. You could also get away with Futuristic Fiction (because it's fiction that takes place in our future), or perhaps even mundane SF, though I hesitate with that last sub-genre, because I think mundane SF still needs to utilize some hard science, right?
So while to many card-carrying readers of the SF genre, China Mountain Zhang is definitely an anti-SF novel, McHugh's not completely outside of the genre. She certain has much in common with other writers of soft SF, such as Ursula K. Le Guin or Nicola Griffith or Kelley Eskridge. But McHugh, in this particular case, creeps me the hell out because for a book that was published in 1992 (and written who knows when before that), the author has foreseen events that are very stark and candid in our current economy.
Take this excerpt from Zhang's lecture on page 290:
"In the early twenty-first century the national debt and the trade deficit of the old United States precipitated the second depression. In effect, the country went backrupt, and as a result, so did the economy of every first-world nation at the time . . .
Science Fiction isn't supposed to predict the future. That's not its purpose. However, when it comes close? It's damn chilling. Damn frightening. And if this isn't futuristic fiction coming true, I'm not sure what is.
What further amazes me about this book is how utterly close the US could be to this future, which the US being a socialized Chinese colony (so to speak), than it was back when this book was written? Back in 1992, such a future might've been laughable, as we were coming off the so-called glory of the Reagan years, but now . . . how many billions of dollars do we owe China? Or have we cleared up that debt? Regardless, McHugh has certainly written a book that's coming a little too close to home.
What engaged me about this read had nothing to do with emotion. It was all intellectual engagement, with the occasional laugh and occasional heartbreak for various moments in the story. Easily, my hands-down favorite sections were Martine's and Alexi's on Mars, which was so awesome I wanted a whole book devoted to their lives and relationships and observations (like how goats did great in Mars gravity, but cows, not so much). My second-favorite section was Zhang's time spent on Baffin Island, and I really wish we could've spent more time there. I have a soft spot for stories that take place in the Arctic and Antarctic, so when we got to that setting, I was thrilled to pieces. And as logical as it is, Zhang's experience with winter depression, what the Eskimos call perlerorneq, had be thoroughly fascinated, I guess because while it makes sense that visitors to the Arctic would experience it, you wouldn't think that the natives, who had to deal with darkness all the time, would be similarly affected.
I also found myself moved by "Three Fragrances," which was San-xiang's section. I'm not sure if McHugh was trying to make a statement here about the nature of womens' beauty and the nature of men who're attracted to it, but my heart broke for the girl, because I knew what would happen but yet she was so inexperienced that she had no clue.
I saw one reviewer wonder if China Mountain Zhang was ever meant to have a sequel, because the book does just stop, and some arcs aren't really resolved (some arcs don't have any meaning, such as Angel's), and in San-xiang's case, I found myself a little robbed of resolution. It wasn't enough that she'd decided to go to Mars: I wanted her experience on Mars, though I must admit that I'm biased: the Mars sections were my favorites.
That said, Nekropolis didn't have much of a strong ending either, so endings may simply be the author's Achilles' Heel.
I haven't spoke much about the titular character, Zhang. Certainly, there was an arc to his story, and I enjoyed how he was able to force himself to improve his station in life, even though he was ultimately driven by apathy and wanted to stay low in order to keep the secret of his sexuality, which could very well get him killed if discovered. Some reviewers have complained that Zhang's homosexuality wasn't needed in the book, but if you're going to make that argument, then you might as well argue against any sexuality in any book. In soft SF, we get into the characters' lives, and whether or not we can relate, whether or not we empathize, all aspects of said characters' lives are up for grabs, especially if such aspects relate to an overall theme. And it works here. If you step back and consider that each chapter, each story, is an examination about the need and necessity of community, despite whatever marks you as isolated, then yes, Zhang's sexuality is very important. You'd have a better argument against this book being SF, but if you do that, you're playing right into McHugh's intentions, now aren't you?
Some quotes that stood out:
Page 6, where Zhang is making a general observation about the world and his place in it:
I don't believe in socialism but I don't believe in capitalism either. We are small, governments are large, we survive in the cracks. Cold comfort.
Page 29, during Zhang and San-xiang's conversation about whether or not Zhang is political:
"I'd like to continue to make my choices because they fit my life rather than out of some sense of ideology," I say. "In my experience ideology is a lot like religion; it's a belief system and most people cling to it long after it becomes clear that their ideology doesn't describe the real world."
Page 212, which has a little bit of SF gadgetry that just makes me happy (a little goes a long way, in terms of futuristic detail. At least, it does for me):
The idea that I pull the therm of coffee out of the cupboard, open it, and in a minute it's hot just amazes me. Sure I know all about the way the lining reacts with light to excite the water molecules. I'm just astounded that they would go to all that trouble.
The biggest complaint I have about reading this is that my particular copy was littered with typos. Maybe that got fixed with later printings, but I'm not sure there are later printings, and this book was published nearly 10 years ago! I can't believe the typos haven't been fixed yet . . . .
My Rating: Worth Reading, with Reservations
Reservation: despite this being billed as a novel, in many ways, it's a series of linked short stories that kind of form an arc for the titular character. Some of these stories work better than others, and some of the stories would be awesome even if the titular character had no relation to them whatsoever. Still, it's a fascinating book on an intellectual level (I really couldn't connect emotionally), especially given how eerily close we could potentially be to McHugh's imagined future. Some of the predictions she's made that have practically come true regarding the economy is frightening, but maybe I'm more sensitive to that due to my job. At any rate, there's some wonder moments in this book, but one must be warned that this is definitely soft, social SF, and apparently with this book, McHugh set out to write the anti-SF book anyway, so one's mileage may vary, unless you're just in love with this sub-genre. That said, this book is a must for readers who are dying for more homosexuality and characters of color in their speculative fiction. Whether or not the characters of color and their culture is accurately portrayed, I wouldn't know, but I was fascinated, so that's something.
Cover Commentary: I've always liked it. The bright red and the geometric shapes are very eye-catching, especially when you follow the lines right into the model's eye. Weird, but cool.
Next up: Ammonite by Nicola Griffith
If you're participating in the Women of Science Fiction book club, please join the discussion over at Word Press.