Book

Teenage angst

Controversial book gets lost in translation

 By Nuttaporn Srisirirungsimakul

 Did you Know: The Chinese government also banned Wei Hui�s novel Shanghai Baby because of its portrayal of teen sexuality.

Title: Beijing Doll
Author: Chun Sue
Translated from Chinese by Howard Goldblatt
Price: 395 baht
Distributor: Asia Books

Within weeks of publication, thousands of copies of Beijing Doll were flying off China�s bookstore shelves. A semi-autobiographical novel based on the diary the author, Chun Sue, kept during her teenage years, the book immediately caused a huge controversy.

The Chinese government was upset by the book�s look at teenage sexual exploration and the way it portrayed �cruel youth,� and the book was banned. While the government wasn�t pleased, literary critics had nothing but praise. Chun Sue even found herself on the cover of the Asian edition of Time magazine.

With such a windfall of press, I was thrilled when Beijing Doll arrived on my desk for review. However, once I started reading the book, I was disappointed to find the book is overrated.

TYPICAL TEEN

Reading Beijing Doll is like being stuck in the same room with a self-centered girl who takes everything too seriously. The story chronicles the turbulent life of Chun, a 14-year-old girl oppressed by school rules and the limitations she faces in life. She is so upset that she often considers suicide.

Though claiming to be an individual with a punk spirit, Chun is really just another confused, lonely and pessimistic girl � in other words, a typical teen.

Determined to find her own way, Chun drops in and out of her school on her aimless search for freedom. Always yearning for love, she ends up having sex with almost every guy who comes along. All seem to be losers.

By the end of the book, Chun doesn�t show any sign of growing up and seems to have hardly learned anything from all she�s gone through.

Despite its annoying characters and sometimes monotonous plot, I still have to give Chun Sue credit � after all, she wrote the book when she was only 14. Considering her age, she�s done quite an impressive job portraying the way her generation thinks.

Because of this, teenagers worldwide should be able to relate to Chun Sue�s experiences.

While it may be over-hyped, this book is still worthy of a read. If anything, it shows how similar teens across the world really are.

Vocabulary

controversy (n): public discussion and argument about something that many people strongly disagree about, disapprove of or are shocked by
overrated (adj): when somebody or something is valued too highly
chronicle (v): to record events in the order in which they happened
aimless (adj): having no purpose or direction
monotonous (adj): never changing and therefore boring