A lightly surreal story of misfortune, menace, and high-end stereo
equipment in the cutthroat, capitalistic world of modern China.
An NYRB Classics Original
The hero of The Invisibility Cloak lives in contemporary
Beijing--where everyone is doing their best to hustle up the ladder of
success while shouldering an ever-growing burden of consumer goods--and
he's a loser. Well into his forties, he's divorced (and still doting on
his ex), childless, and living with his sister (her husband wants him
out) in an apartment at the edge of town with a crack in the wall the
wind from the north blows through while he gets by, just, by making
customized old-fashioned amplifiers for the occasional rich
audio-obsessive. He has contempt for his clients and contempt for
himself. The only things he really likes are Beethoven and vintage
speakers. Then an old friend tips him off about a special job--a little
risky but just don't ask too many questions--and can it really be that
this hopeless loser wins?
This provocative and seriously funny exercise in the social fantastic by
the brilliantly original Ge Fei, one of China's finest living writers,
is among the most original works of fiction to come out of China in
recent years. It is sure to appeal to readers of Haruki Murakami and
other fabulists of contemporary irreality.
