Candy

by Mian Mian

Book Overview

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...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0316563560
• ISBN13: 9780316563567
• Release Date: August 2003
• Publisher: Back Bay Books
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.74 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.5" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

I would read her grocery list if she published it!!!

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.

candid honesty and euphoric revelations

i think one reason people may be put off by this book is because it withholds nothing about a somewhat disturbing society. i fully believe it to be worth reading though, for it shows an earnest journey and stuggle with adulthood. the characters are honest and the revelations are telling

Insanely Real

This book was a slap in face in so many different ways. The story was so bittersweet, touching and completely real in a way most books aren't. The writing style was honest and strong. Candy is moving and a book you won't ever forget.

completely fresh

I just picked this book up on a whim one day, and as soon as i started reading it i knew it was different. mian mian's writing style is like nothing i've ever read before. this book takes the normal sex/drugs/rock n' roll novel to a new level.

A worthy read.

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.