Lost in Translation
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4.0 • 1 Rating
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
Emotionally charged and erotic, this widely translated novel from the bestselling author of THE LAST CHINESE CHEF and A CUP OF LIGHT has been universally praised for its authoritative portrayal of a China rarely captured in contemporary fiction.
At dawn in Beijing, Alice Mannegan pedals a bicycle through the deserted streets. An American by birth, she spends her nights in Beijing's smoke-filled bars, and the Chinese men she so desires never misunderstand her intentions. It is a world in which, each night as she slips from her hotel, she hopes to lose herself forever. then Alice takes a phone call from an American archaeologist seeking a translator. And begins an intoxicating journey of the heart - one that draws her into a perilous search for archaeological treasure, plunges her into the vast, uncharted terrain of northwest China, and brings a man named Lin Shiyang into her life. As their expedition twists perilously through the violent history of China, as Alice and Lin slowly seek shelter in each other, an extraordinary series of events begins to unfold in this haunting, utterly unforgettable novel. LOST IN TRANSLATION is a rich exploration of love in all its forms - human, sexual, divine, between a nation and its history, a man and his past, a father and his daughter.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
An attention-grabbing opening chapter in which the protagonist, translator/interpreter Alice Mannegan, rides off on her bicycle to a sexual tryst in Beijing, hints that this debut suspense novel will be a racy read. But Alice's sensuality is just one factor in Mones's complex portrait of a woman in search of herself, played out against the exotic background of some of China's remotest regions, a story that reveals as much about character and cultural difference as it does about a search for priceless, long-lost fossils. China is Alice's spiritual home, where she feels far removed from her loving but racist father, a U.S congressman whose political opinions she deplores. But despite her desire to belong there, she is still considered an "outside woman." She signs on as interpreter for archeologist Adam Spencer, who believes that the remains of Peking Man were hidden in the Mongolian desert during WWII by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. Joined by two Chinese scientists, they venture into remote regions where the urgency of the search is paralleled by Alice's increasing attraction to Dr. Lin Shiyang, whose wife vanished from a labor camp in that region 20 years ago, and by the unfolding story of the relationship of Teilhard and an American woman who loved him. The authenticity of Mones's background detail--from the rituals of ancestor worship to the workings of the PLA police and the food at a Mongolian banquet--brings fresh insight into the nuances of Chinese culture. Though the narrative tension is more intellectual than visceral, and some pivotal events of the plot seem too convenient, Mones succeeds in integrating archeological history, spiritual philosophy and cultural dislocation into a tale of identity on many levels. Author tour.
