Ghost Cities

 Ghost Cities

Reviewed By  Nan van Dissel       October 9, 2024

 

Author  Siang Lu

Distributor:      UQP
ISBN:                 9780702268496
Publisher:         University of Queensland Press
Release Date:   May 2024  

   Website:   https://www.uqp.com.au/books/ghost-cities

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Siang Lu has taken an experimental approach to his second novel ‘Ghost Cities’ to create a unique, completely original but slightly chaotic novel in which he relates the parallel modern-day storyline of #BadChinese with that of a fictional, ancient, deranged Chinese emperor’s drama. 

Xiang Lu is dismissed from his job as an interpreter at the Chinese consulate in Sydney when his secret is uncovered; he may look Chinese however he actually isn’t a Chinese speaker but just a proficient user of ‘Google Translate’ resulting in his label #BadChinese!

 At a movie premier, he meets Baby Boa, a self-proclaimed number one Chinese film director, who has transformed one of China’s ghost cities into a movie set; this forms the first thread of the narrative. As a result, Xiang Lu relocates to the fictional ghost city named Port Man Tou.

A series of fable-like tales about an unhinged, suspicious emperor, who is preoccupied with control and influence and will do anything to remain all powerful, even if it means killing all the chickens in the land, forms the second thread of the story, which takes place many centuries earlier.

As a result of the flipping between the two time lines, some readers will feel confused, however others will be intrigued and interested in both time periods, as they delve into China’s political follies and the bizarreness of Xiang Lu and a city in China, which has been taken over and run by the pompous billionaire Baby Boa. 

Fiction, General, Humour