A MEMOIR OF MISFORTUNE

The English title of this book, which was first published in China, may put off readers unwilling to voluntarily subject themselves to 300-plus pages of someone else's suffering. That would be tragic, because they'd be missing out on a startling and remarkable odyssey, one that's both literary and personal. Su, a prominent journalist in China, was smuggled out of the country after making the government's "most wanted" list after the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. Two years later, his wife, Fu Li, and son joined him in the United States. Misfortune—in the form of a devastating 1993 car accident that left Fu Li paralyzed and brain injured—is at the core of Su's story. But in working through his guilt about the accident, he spirals outward and beyond it to explore differences between China and the U.S., political movements, love and spirituality. The latter discussion is especially enlightening. Su's reflections are a clear look at the way people without faith in God can find meaning in life through unimaginable tragedy and suffering. There are also some wonderfully pithy observations, particularly Su's discovery, when trying to buy a home, that "in the United States to clear your credit history is just as arduous as it is to remove a counterrevolutionary stigma in mainland China." Su makes regular references to Chinese literary and historical figures, but also provides lucid footnotes for the benefit of his Western readers. The translation is awkward at times, but because it heightens many of the points Su makes about differences in Western and Chinese culture, that awkwardness works to strengthen the overall effect of this powerful story. (Apr. 25)

Forecast: This extraordinary memoir of both personal and national tragedy should find a large audience if it is widely reviewed, as it should be.