In this dazzling, earthy novel -- winner of the prestigious Pegasus
Prize for Literature -- Jia Pingwa presents an unforgettable chronicle
of rural China, a world at once utterly alien and uncannily familiar.
Called impressive and revealing (Kirkus Reviews), Turbulence follows the
lives of two peasants, Golden Dog and Water Girl, through the post-Mao
years and sets their star-crossed love for each other against the
political upheavals of China itself. Pitted against the bureaucracy that
hamstrings modern China, Golden Dog is an idealistic reporter not afraid
to lash out at the abuses and corruption of the rival Tian and Gong
clans. As he winds through a fascinating cast of revolutionary cadres,
bureaucrats, fortune-tellers, blacksmiths, farmers, and artisans, Golden
Dog, however, suffers a series of setbacks. Despite his love for the
saintly Water Girl, the two seem destined to be kept apart by the
vicissitudes of politics and culture -- she twice widowed and he
pressured into an engagement with the seductive Yingying and, racked by
guilt, turning at times to the lovely Shi Hua for solace. Part epic
story, part love story, part political parable, Turbulence places the
reader in a world where the I Ching exists alongside The Thoughts of
Chairman Mao. Yet the sheer humanity of the novel transcends both
cultural and political differences and makes it stunningly resonant to
our own culture. A rare, richly detailed, and insightful account of life
in a Chinese village ... With earthy language and bawdy humor. -- Ann
Scott Tyson, The Christian Science Monitor
