The Incarnations

Starred review from May 18, 2015
With her latest, Barker (Sayonara Bar) produces a page-turning reincarnation fantasy. In modern-day Beijing, Driver Wang receives anonymous letters from a source claiming to have known him in five previous lifetimes over the past 1,000 years. The letters narrate these lifetimes—set in the Tang Dynasty, 632 C.E.; the Jin Dynasty, 1213; the Ming Dynasty, 1542; the Qing Dynasty, 1836; and the People’s Republic of China, 1966—and paint them in lush historical detail, exhibiting Barker’s extensive research. These two “souls” have inhabited many rich characters (eunuch, prostitute, slave, concubine, pirate, Red Guard) and have been friends, enemies, parents, and lovers. Every new incarnation reverses their power dynamic, giving one the opportunity to betray the other. Not for the squeamish, these historical narratives contain graphic torture and sexual violence. Meanwhile, Wang’s current incarnation also includes a series of radical shifts and identities within a lifetime: born to a wealthy government official father and a mentally unstable mother, he has been a promising student, an asylum inmate, a closeted homosexual, a husband, a father, and a taxi driver. Driving the narrative is the suspense over the identity of Wang’s stalker and whether the stories are indeed true. A very memorable read.

May 15, 2015

Originally published in Britain in 2014, this new work by British author Barker (Sayonara Bar) brings to readers an engrossing tale of a taxi driver in Beijing and his hauntingly mysterious stalker during the 2008 Olympics. Wang Jun, estranged son of a wealthy government official, devoted husband, and father of a young daughter, begins to find a series of letters in his taxi describing incidents of reincarnation and destiny. The initial letter reveals that Wang Jun is being watched by an old friend and soul mate. What follows are tales from Wang Jun's stalker of incarnations from a past beginning with the Tang dynasty in 632 CE and ranging up to 1966. Interspersed throughout are chapters revealing the details of Wang Jun's history, including a stay in a mental hospital and a same-sex love affair. VERDICT Barker's writing is fluid, and the plotlines and characterizations found in her historical tales, while dark and sinister, are nonetheless intriguing. Misunderstandings abound throughout the novel to unravel the past that collides intensely with the present, ultimately leading to a disquieting finale.--Shirley Quan, Orange Cty. P.L., Santa Ana, CA

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from July 1, 2015
British author Barker (The Orientalist and the Ghost, 2008) brings both impressive research and imaginative flair to this epic story set in 2008 Beijing during the preparation for the Olympics. Taxi driver Wang Jun has been receiving a series of strange letters informing him that he is an incarnate with a host of previous lives; furthermore, the letter writer claims that they have a shared history going back 1,000 years and describes each life and relationship in glorious detail. Sometimes the two are lovers, at other times, parent and child, but their sweeping story reflects the tumult and class divisions of China's history. Wang Jun has been many people in his previous lives and even in his present one, including mental patient and favored son. The lushly detailed passages recounting his previous lives encompass very graphic sexual and physical violence and depict people in their most brutalized and despondent states, and yet Barker's fluid prose makes of their tragic stories irresistible reading. Whether he is eunuch, prostitute, or slave, and whether the setting is the Tang dynasty in 632 CE or the Red Guard in 1966, the stories come alive via a veritable catalog of dark and desperate details. This ambitious novel traffics in intrigue and betrayal yet never loses its hypnotic grip.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)