The Cook, the Crook, and the Real Estate Tycoon

June 29, 2015
This intricate, dark-hearted crime tale from bestselling Chinese novelist Zhenyun (I Did Not Kill My Husband) won the 2011 Mao Dun Literature Prize and has now been translated into English. Forty-two-year-old Liu Yuejin is a construction-site cook in Beijing with a drinking problem. Liu has custody of his spoiled high school–age son, Pengjiu, after divorcing his wife, Huang Xiaoqing, whom he caught in an adulterous affair with the whiskey distiller Li Gengsheng. Liu agreed to leave the couple alone if Li signed an IOU paying Liu 60,000 Yuan at the end of six years. However, the IOU is stolen from Liu, and he launches his desperate search for the thief to recover it. Of course, the IOU’s thief, Yang Zhi, is dealing with his own problems when several thugs rip him off. To accentuate the story’s noir dynamics, the author adds in the billionaire real estate tycoon Yan Ge, who is hemorrhaging money. Yan’s blackmail scheme to raise funds goes awry when his USB drive, which is filled with incriminating videos, is also pilfered. The web of deceptions, double crosses, and betrayals Zhenyun builds into his ambitious, complex novel result in a rich depiction of the criminal underworld.

June 1, 2015
Capitalism in contemporary China is the background to a nonstop hunt by migrant workers, a billionaire, and government officials-for a purse. "He'd lost a pack and found a purse" is the recurring theme of Chinese author Liu's new novel. Such a simple thing lost but so complex the machinations to get it back. The pack contains an IOU for 60,000 yuan, and Liu Yeujin, a resourceful cook at a major construction project in Beijing, is on the trail of the thief who took it. Incessant plot twists take on a comic, Keystone Kops-like chase with enemies becoming partners and friends turning on each other. The cook, trying to support his university-enrolled son, needs the money for tuition and his future dreams. The IOU is from his ex-wife's new husband, who cuckolded him and promised to pay in settlement. Enter the real estate tycoon Yan Ge. Yan has video of a government official taking bribes and whoring during his nights in the city. That may be the ticket to building back the fortune he lost through bad investments directed by the official. The USB drive containing the video was copied by Yan's wife for her own shady purposes and is hidden in her purse, which is stolen from their home by the same thief who stole Liu's pack. He drops it while fleeing Yan's house, and Liu finds it, not suspecting the treasure he's picked up. Suddenly everyone is looking for the purse, offering increasingly large amounts of money for it, and in the ensuing pandemonium, we find that most everyone in this Chinese version of urban capitalism is a crook; the humble cook the most wily of them all. The author uses this social commentary to craft a dark comedy out of the angst of survival. There are no real friends here, no heroes, just everyone on the hustle. Liu's fiction is a romp through modern Beijing that pits migrant workers from the provinces against billionaires and officials, making a wry statement about modern China and a thoroughly entertaining book.

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September 15, 2015

Winner of the Mao Dun Literature Prize in 2011, Liu follows up 2014's I Did Not Kill My Husband with a work originally published in China in 2007. Liu Yuejin, a construction-site cook and small-time thief, ironically has his fanny pack stolen and seeks to recover it. In the process, he encounters a host of unsavory characters and gets caught up in more trouble (including acts of violence and the kidnapping of his son and the son's girlfriend) than he would have faced had he simply accepted his losses. The novel starts rough, as it contains numerous short chapters and characters whose names are sometimes difficult to follow. Once the character introductions subside, one can appreciate the story line and take note of the satire found in Liu's writing, which can be reminiscent of a Coen Brothers movie plot. VERDICT Not for casual readers looking for an easy read, but those who enjoy Chinese literature will appreciate how the novel openly provides commentary on the disparity between the economic social classes and unscrupulous corruption found in almost any society.--Shirley Quan, Orange Cty. P.L., Santa Ana, CA

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