Riveting stories of turmoil

REVIEWED BY MATT BOWLER

The Vagrants by Yiyun Li. HarperCollins, 337pp, $29.99. Solo by Rana Dasgupta. HarperCollins, 352pp, $29.99.

Two recent releases from publisher HarperCollins use as their fertile soils the turbulent 20th century, particularly the violence and depravations associated with the rise and fall of communism in China and Eastern Europe.

Very different novels, they are nevertheless both profound and disturbing, yet brilliantly crafted works of literature.

The Vagrants is set in China in 1979. Chairman Mao is dead and the de-facto leadership of Deng Xiaoping was promising reform.

Life in heartland China was still rife with poverty, and dissent was not tolerated.

The novel orbits the incredibly brutal execution of Gu Shan, a 28-year-old woman and counter-revolutionary, and the ripple effect on the community.

Yiyun follows an eclectic collection of characters who connect in different degrees and different ways to Shan and her fate.

Teacher Gu and his wife are Shan's parents. The death of their daughter and their old age mean they no longer have anything to lose. The fear that has oppressed them is no longer as relevant.

Kai is a beautiful and successful young woman, the same age as Shan, and vividly recalls where their journeys through life diverged. She is beginning to question the system that has treated her so materially well.

Young Tong is moving from childhood into the adult world and exists in a ghostlike, in-between place, eavesdropping and spying on life and trying to patch together a sensible world.

Nini is crippled and unloved - she finds an ally and glimpses a way out for her in Bashi.

Bashi is rich and idle. Emotionally immature and universally despised, he finds a non-judgmental ear in Nini.

It is these characters who drive this gripping and disquieting novel.

Political oppression forms the backdrop for the characters to enact their very personal dramas.

Yiyun's strength is her ability to evoke and animate a disparate group of people and vividly portray their responses to pain, fear and deprivation.

Solo takes a broader sweep at its subject. It consists of the recollections and daydreams of a 100-year-old Bulgarian man, Urlich. He has seen his country go through wars and political and social upheaval, until he sits blind in his apartment, sifting through his memories.

The book is structured into two distinct movements, each of which makes up about half of the book.

Initially, this was a bit disconcerting. It felt like a novella followed by a collection of short stories. But as the book progresses, the allusions and echoes multiplied and resonated into a deafening crescendo of an ending.

Loosely, the first movement, Life, is the story of Urlich's life - his recollections.

The almost traditional narrative is full in equal parts of frustration, tragedy and richly detailed moments of human beauty.

The second movement, Daydreams, seems to follow the fortunes of Urlich's imaginary children. They live in the post-communist world. Eastern Europe is full of newly rich gangsters and opportunity. The pace is fast and sexy.

Together, the two parts make a surreal history of massive proportions. Numerous themes and images are explored in this brilliant and compelling novel.

Science, tradition, ambition, family, music, art and morality all get time under Dasgupta's piercing and poetic gaze.

Dasgupta's writing is a revelation. At times it seems to take on a life and momentum of its own, and the narrative thread is dragged into very strange places.

There is a sex scene inside a limousine that may well be one of the best pieces of writing I have ever read. I was left literally breathless.

One critic has tipped Solo for this year's Man Booker prize.

One thing I do know about the Booker is that it usually manages to confound all prediction, but I agree that Solo would have to be a strong contender.

The back cover lauds the book as "a devastating and rapturous novel". It is. I'm still shaking.

• Matt Bowler is a freelance writer and reviewer from Nelson.

 

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