The Dark Road: A Novel
The wordrebelis bandied around fairly lightly in literary circles, but Ma qualifies. He has been in open confrontation with the Chinese establishment since well before the suppression of his first short-story collection in 1987. Ma's critics have long complained that his unremittingly negative view of China lacks nuance, andThe Dark Roadwill do little to change their minds. At times the prose becomes strained as it traces the political causes of the social and environmental disasters it depicts.  At others one hears the lonely voice of the political exile, who needs to shout to be heard over the enforced silence.The Dark Roadis immoderate, excessive, strident. It is also deeply compelling, and in passages of extraordinary descriptive prose, it achieves a kind of sickening beauty. As China rolls on into its triumphant future as a great power, this angry novel will haunt it, a narrative ghost at its cruel feast.    --Hari Kunzru