The Noodle Maker

The Noodle Maker is a collection of stories about the poor, working people of a recently revolutionised China told through the eyes of a professional writer who has been tasked with writing propoganda, but can only get himself to recount stories to his friend, a professional blood donor.


The loosely conmected stories he tells are about people familiar to him and the tales he imagines for them are often very bleak, and graphic. The hypocrisies of the CCP are put in front of us and their control across society is made clear, but I never felt that the writers thoughts on this system were critical enough to explain away the brutal nature of most of the people in these stories and how they found themselves to be like this.


There were some standout moments. The story about the mother and son who own a crematorium was interesting, but for me, the stories didn't connect in any meaningful way and the way the women were written was truly awful. I'm not sure if it was meant to be a reflection of Chinese society at the time, the professional writers feelings or the Author's actual beliefs on how women think and act, but a lot of this book did not make for enjoyable reading.

„Meštar od rezanaca“ napisan je u duhu grotesknog, ciničnog humora čiji je mrak prožet tračcima nade koja se javlja u ljudskoj otpornosti, prijateljstvu i ljubavi. Radnja romana smeštena je neposredno posle masakra na Tijenanmenu. Počinje sa dva prijatelja – profesionalnim piscem i profesioanlnim davaocem krvi – koji svakog dana zajedno večeraju. Šeng, pisac, udaljen je za samo jedan propagandni roman od ulaska u Veliki leksikon kineskih pisaca. On žudi da napiše roman zasnovan na životima koje svakodnevno sreće ili lično poznaje, ali ga parališu posledice Partije koja može da mu potpuno unizi i cenzuriše karijeru. Kroz svoja razmišljanja on pretvara živote ljudi koji ga okružuju u umetnost, na isti način na koji jedan zanatlija od testa pravi ukusne rezance.
„Meštar od rezanaca“ je uznemirujuć roman koji je u navratima pomalo težak za čitanje, ali duboko pogađa u srca čitalaca, baš kao ogorčeni vapaj njegovih likova protiv nečovečnost u komunističkoj Kini. Nije potrebno da u pričama ovog romana čitamo između redova da bismo osetili gorki bes i jad koji je Ma Đijen smelo usadio u svoje reči.