<< 1 >>
Rating: 
Summary: A gay travel adventure where West meets East.
Review: David Masiello's trip to Beijing is the stuff made from heaven. This remarkable novel is structured around the four seasons, and we see the David's journey through the perspective of each changing season. Each section gives us just a little more insight into David's journey, as he gains confidence and gradually adjusts to living in a foreign culture. His story is fictional, but it could almost read as a non-fiction travelogue, and I suspect that much of what is written was gleaned from Gambone's own experiences traveling through China and living in Beijing. Living in Boston, stuck is a rut, pining for his dead boyfriend; David takes the initiative and applies for a job at a Western medical clinic in Beijing. Then his life changes forever as he confronts parts of himself, and goes on an exciting journey of self-discovery to become "whole again."Gambone masterfully takes us on David's journey from the nervous, worrying pre-flight preparation to the anxiousness and excitement of his first night and weeks in China. All the sights, sounds and smells of Beijing are seen through the prism of David's eyes - the eyes of an inexperienced and somewhat hesitant traveler. The trash on the streets, the drab colours of the University dorm that David is forced to sleep in, the food, the endless smog, the crowds of people cycling to work, the market stalls, the militaristic boy soldiers, the warmth of the people, and the furtiveness of Chinese gay life are all bought vividly to life. As David becomes more comfortable with the city, he also searches out the closeted gay life, which he knows must exist in the city. At night he cruises the local park in the hope of making contact with men; he finds the Ta Ta Club, a local watering hole for gay men, and he goes to a bathhouse, where gays are reported to furtively meet. During his year in Beijing he meets many interesting people and makes many good friends. And he also finds time for love with Bo, a handsome young Chinese artist, who makes him understand the limitless possibilities for love again. Anyone, gay or straight who has picked up and left familiarity, particularly anyone who had lived in another culture for an extended length of time, will find a lot to admire in this novel. The East/West divide is ever present, particularly the East's cultural attitudes to homosexuality. Traditional "family values" are ever present in this society: Auntie Chen, David's work mate constantly asks why he is not married and many of the young gay men David meets confess to him that they are under pressure from their parents to find a girl and marry. But the book also presents the the boarder theme of the new China - a China that's rapidly opening its borders to the West, and stumbling towards open markets and capitalism with differing degrees of success. In one important scene David looks out over his apartment building and stares with a mixture of wonder and shame at "nothing but tall bland buildings, as far as the eye can see, pillars of reinforced concrete, heaps of steel. This is the new China - wondrous and shameful." Beijing is an insightful, thought provoking book on loneliness, longing, cultural dislocation and a country that is undergoing rapid change. Michael
Rating:
Summary: A Very Good Story!
Review: I enjoyed this story very much. Mr. Gambone is an excellent story teller. Fan Shen, Rochester, MN
Rating: 
Summary: disappointing and trite
Review: this book, despite the book blurb, will be of NO interest to anyone who isnt interested in the whiney angst of a 50 year old gay man who's favourite word is "cupcake." It is a tedious read, that fails to capture Beijing and is basically an old queen in search of pretty chinese boys with pretentious references to opera and fortune cookie type words of wisdom that reinterpet Dao and Buddha into being justifications for gay sex. It is full of one dimensional characters with cliched writing that reads like a formula from "How to write a first novel." Not worth reading.
Rating: 
Summary: TONGZHI
Review: Tongzhi means "friend" or "comrade" in the westernized version of the Chinese language known as Pinyin. Tongzhi might also be the subtitle for Philip Gambone's new novel Beijing, which chronicles his year working for a small health agency in the Chinese capital city and trying to overcome the loss of former friends and lovers while looking for new ones. Beijing is the latest in a growing genre of travel-focused books penned by popular American gay writers. But unlike David Leavitt, Edmund White, and Michael Cunningham, whose novels on Florence, Paris, and Provincetown seem more like prose poem praises to their selected destinations, Gambone's look at Beijing is grittier, sweeter, ... Now don't get me wrong, I enjoyed my leisurely strolls through Florence, Paris, and Provincetown with Levitt, White, and Cunningham. I just liked my hike through Beijing better.
I've visited Beijing only once. For five days only. And from my limited perspective, I think Gambone does a good job portraying the big crowded city and its friendly people, ugly housing developments, air pollution, boy soldiers, bicycles, and wonderful little tea houses. I found myself saying, "yes, that's just the way I remembered it" or "I wish I'd experienced that." I liked that he didn't fill the book with flowery recollections of the Forbidden City or the Great Wall. I also appreciated his honesty and frankness, especially with regards to his loneliness, horniness, and gradual and growing attraction to Chinese men. Gambone's novel isn't perfect. There are a few sections I found boring, and the main protagonist gets a bit whiny at times. But, all in all, it's an informative, friendly read, especially if you're interested in China and gay life in China. Check it out.
Rating:
Summary: TONGZHI
Review: Tongzhi means "friend" or "comrade" in the westernized version of the Chinese language known as Pinyin. Tongzhi might also be the subtitle for Philip Gambone's new novel Beijing, which chronicles his year working for a small health agency in the Chinese capital city and trying to overcome the loss of former friends and lovers while looking for new ones. Beijing is the latest in a growing genre of travel-focused books penned by popular American gay writers. But unlike David Leavitt, Edmund White, and Michael Cunningham, whose novels on Florence, Paris, and Provincetown seem more like prose poem praises to their selected destinations, Gambone's look at Beijing is grittier, sweeter, ... Now don't get me wrong, I enjoyed my leisurely strolls through Florence, Paris, and Provincetown with Levitt, White, and Cunningham. I just liked my hike through Beijing better.
I've visited Beijing only once. For five days only. And from my limited perspective, I think Gambone does a good job portraying the big crowded city and its friendly people, ugly housing developments, air pollution, boy soldiers, bicycles, and wonderful little tea houses. I found myself saying, "yes, that's just the way I remembered it" or "I wish I'd experienced that." I liked that he didn't fill the book with flowery recollections of the Forbidden City or the Great Wall. I also appreciated his honesty and frankness, especially with regards to his loneliness, horniness, and gradual and growing attraction to Chinese men. Gambone's novel isn't perfect. There are a few sections I found boring, and the main protagonist gets a bit whiny at times. But, all in all, it's an informative, friendly read, especially if you're interested in China and gay life in China. Check it out.
<< 1 >>
|
