Black Snow: A Novel of the Beijing Demimonde

Despite some fine, unnerving descriptions of violence in contemporary Bei jing, this gritty second novel by the author of Ju Dou ultimately disappoints. Recently released after a three-year detention in a labor camp, 25-year-old Li Huiquan struggles for survival and self-awareness. His peddler's cart, his painful memories and his profoundly misanthropic outlook accompany him as he mulls over his past and tries to find a future in the seedy bars near his house on Spirit Run Street. Simultaneously detesting and yearning for human contact, he becomes obsessed with Zhao Yaqiu, a lounge singer he sets up as his virtuous ideal in a dark world peopled with slippery friends and supposed enemies. However, a relationship with any human being, especially a woman, proves almost impossibly difficult for the intensely bitter Li. While his acerbic misogyny remains largely unexamined, existential questions--about the meaning of life, the definition of happiness, etc.--are endlessly and repetitively discussed, usually in cliches. Heng tends to pontificate--regrettably, since the novel's more engaging sections feature imaginative, telling details and a skillful intermingling of action and dialogue. At its best, Black Snow is a disturbing, richly alive portrait of a disillusioned young man trying to gain control over a chaotic society; at its worst, the narrative is preachy and static. ( Apr. )