Alison McCulloch of New York Times reviews The Fat Year
2012-02-20 15:26阅读：
Fiction
Chronicle
By ALISON
McCULLOCH
Published: February 17,
2012
Sunday
Book Review
THE FAT YEARS
By Chan Koonchung. Translated by Michael
S. Duke.
Nan
A. Talese/Doubleday,
$26.95.
China
has been enjoying its Golden Age of Ascendancy for two years when
this uncommon novel opens in 2013, with the nation in the grip of a
pervasive happiness. The protagonist, a journalist and writer named
Lao Chen, suspects that’s why he hasn’t been able to produce a
really good novel: “Perhaps my life was too peaceful.” But there
are exceptions. Chen’s old friend Little Xi is dissatisfied,
distrustful and increasingly disturbed by a strange amnesia that
seems to have gripped the population, while another acquaintance
insists an entire month has gone missing from the country’s
collective memory. This riddle unites Chen, Little Xi and a band of
“nonforgetters” determined to learn what happened in those lost
days. (Although Chen’s motivation may really be his smoldering love
for Little Xi.) A preface and translator’s note argue the book is a
window onto contemporary China, but at times “The Fat Years” is
larded with the kind of analysis more common to foreign policy
journals. With its offbeat puzzle and diverting characters,
however, Chan’s story is not only absorbing in its own right, it
also shines reflected light on the foibles of the West.
