Glass World

Little Chinese girl Zhou Wei lives with her mother, Chen Xianglan, in a grey concrete high-rise. Her father disappeared soon after her birth, and burdened by hopelessness, Chen Xianglan shifts the blame onto her daughter, retreating into her own grief and suffering. Zhou Wei grows up silent, withdrawn, and impeccably obedient, moving from one “mentor” to another—numerous relatives, classmates, and more experienced girlfriends—until, almost inevitably, she draws closer to repeating her mother’s fate.

This novel is tragic, sensual, and brutally frank—it captivates with the vividness of its language and the generosity of metaphors that flow smoothly from one to the next. In China, readers highly praised Kun Kun’s prose, noting in particular its rich style and the expressiveness of its characters. Now it’s time for us to hear a new powerful voice of contemporary Chinese literature.