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Candy Paperback – August 1, 2003

by Mian Mian (Author), Andrea Lingenfelter (Translator)
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 35 ratings
See all formats and editions
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An international literary phenomenon -- now available for the first time in English translation -- Candy is a hip, harrowing tale of risk and desire, the story of a young Chinese woman forging a life for herself in a world seemingly devoid of guidelines.

Hong, who narrates the novel, and whose life in many ways parallels the author's own, drops out of high school and runs away at age 17 to the frontier city of Shenzen. As Hong navigates the temptations of the city, she quickly falls in love with a young musician and together they dive into a cruel netherworld of alcohol, drugs, and excess, a life that fails to satisfy Hong's craving for an authentic self, and for a love that will define her. This startling and subversive novel is a blast of sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll that opens up to us a modern China we've never seen before.

Banned in China -- with Mian Mian labeled the 'poster child for spiritual pollution' -- Candy still managed to sell 60,000 copies, as well as countless additional copies in pirated editions. Candy has been published in eight countries to date and has become a bestseller in France.
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Previous page
  1. Print length
    306 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publication date
    August 1, 2003
  4. Dimensions
    5.5 x 0.77 x 8.5 inches
  5. ISBN-10
    0316563560
  6. ISBN-13
    978-0316563567
  7. See all details
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The Amazon Book Review
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Chinese novelist Mian Mian's American debut offers readers a vicarious journey to a place and time shrouded in mystery: gritty, underground China of the late 1980s through mid-1990s. The story begins in Shanghai, when a classmate's suicide prompts narrator Hong to drop out of high school. Fearing she'll never get a job without an education, Hong heads south to the Special Economic Zone, where the government has lifted restrictions so business can flourish. Among the most successful enterprises are nightclubs, gambling, drugs and prostitution. Hong falls in love with a musician and quickly succumbs to an endless nightlife of sex and drugs and all the problems that tend to accompany such fun. Mian doesn't shy away from the ugliness of this world-alcoholism, drug addiction and AIDS cases abound-but her perceptive, compassionate writing turns Hong's raw experiences into something beautiful. Hong's frequent self-analysis feels honest, unpretentious and believably adolescent; Mian never lets us forget that for all her grim, worldly experience, Hong is still touchingly young and exuberant: "My mood was like my lover's hair. Love, for me, was partly a mood, just like that ultradopey bullshit music that I sometimes liked to listen to. That kind of music made me jumpy, but when I felt tense, I felt happy." Though the prose is uneven, sometimes straining awkwardly for lyrical effect, readers will find Hong a compelling personality.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"Mian Mian's realm is one of wretched love affairs, hard drugs, promiscuous sex, and suicide. Her work is revolutionary for the People's Republic, and her own tale is one of personal liberation, excess, and redemption."

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Back Bay Books; First Edition (August 1, 2003)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 306 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0316563560
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0316563567
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 12.8 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.77 x 8.5 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 35 ratings

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Mian Mian

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Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
35 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Alyssa
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent
Reviewed in the United States on November 11, 2012
Verified Purchase
I needed this book for a women's studies course and it was in great condition and was a great read overall. I had finished the book before it was even assigned!
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.
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on February 9, 2015
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I love this book! Had to purchase a copy for a friend. Excellent condition! wonderful purchase experiance!
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Anonymous2
4.0 out of 5 stars The Chinese woman Jack Kerouac
Reviewed in the United States on August 18, 2016
Verified Purchase
Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg reincarnated as a Chinese woman. The similarities are astounding. If you are interested in modern Chinese "underground" life, this is worth reading. I'm not sure how much of the book is fiction and how much is real life. I think it's both.
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Eric Manolito
5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic book!
Reviewed in the United States on December 20, 2013
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Wow what a ready. The book itself is in good condition and one that I have been wishing to get
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george n
3.0 out of 5 stars Sex, drugs and rock and roll... from Shenzen to Beijing with a stop in Shanghai
Reviewed in the United States on April 1, 2020
Verified Purchase
If you don't like sex, drugs or rock and rock, and their graffic depiction, then this isn't the book for you. But if you don't mind, then this is a well-written and well- felt look into a young woman"s voyage into the underworld of early ninties urban China; as young people try to find themselves in a new and changing world. There's no heroes here, just people struglling with love and addiction. And the crazy path it takes to get to adulthood. Very reminiscent of NYC in the late seventies and early eighties. Stay strong, stay sober...
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bfox
5.0 out of 5 stars I would read her grocery list if she published it!!!
Reviewed in the United States on October 4, 2008
That bizarre time between realizing your childhood slipped out the back door and adulthood just sucker punched you. Mian takes the reader through this transitional period and sometimes left me wondering if she would live to tell the ending. Im still wondering how one takes such realities as love, death, music, suicide, depression, rehab, mental institutions, addiction, AIDS, prostitution, and forgiveness and makes you feel as if you have experienced them all first hand at that very moment. Painfully honest, euphoric, and absolutely breathtaking. This isnt just a "look at modern Chinese culture", Mian allows a front row seat to her soul.
5 people found this helpful
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Treen
5.0 out of 5 stars A worthy read.
Reviewed in the United States on October 19, 2003
I picked this book up on an impulse a few weeks ago, and found it to be an interesting read. The style is about as easy to follow as, say, a Hemingway novel. It's hard to tell whether or not it's the translator who created that style, or if it's ported over somehow from the original Chinese text, but it's very interesting either way.
The story is either amazingly well-written or completely flubbed, I really can't tell. You follow the main character, a chinese girl named Hong (although her name comes up very little), through her life from the age of 18 to her mid 20's. It's full of frequent explanations of recent events, almost as if she's writing a sporadic diary. The constant backtracking, I found, is oddly unnoticable, and the style is quite possibly brilliant. As you follow the story, the character deveolpment is extremely real. So real that you don't necessarilly notice it happening. It's either really well-written, or she did it all by accident (which seems unlikely. :) ). Definetely something that the reader has to decide for themselves, though.
5 people found this helpful
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Metriz
4.0 out of 5 stars come on guy, this a loose memoir
Reviewed in the United States on March 8, 2013
im buying this book for the second time.
read it 3 times, lost it at a train station.
her story is extremely raw and emotional.
i can relate to it in a way ... definatley a good book to add to yur collection ..!
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