The Noodle Maker

by Sally Peck

In Ma Jian's satirical novel, The Noodle Maker, two men, a professional writer and a professional blood donor, meet weekly for alcohol-fueled dinners. In their efforts to seek spiritual and moral fulfillment while still struggling with the fallout from the turmoil of the late 1960s and 1970s, the two men represent extreme oppositions in dealing with life in modern China; one man sells his body, the other his mind. The blood donor exploits the system with incredible financial success; the professional writer works for the governmental propaganda system but harbors dreams of true literary achievement. Both, Ma Jian tells us, are spiritually starved.

The writer dreams of authoring a novel about everyday heroes that he draws from real life, such as the young man who buys an old kiln from an art school and opens a crematorium, or the heartbroken actress who stages her own public suicide. These characters serve as the subjects of each chapter, as the writer explains to his spiritually hollow dinner companion who the true heroes of China are. All of these characters are somewhat absurd and suffer from various degrees of corruption, but in their desperation Ma's characters illustrate the feeling of being lost in a rapidly modernizing society; sentiments common in modern international literature.

Ma Jian convincingly evokes the sights, scents and scenes of life in modern urban China. In a convincing detail evocative of quotidian life in modern China, Ma repeatedly uses the public toilet as a venue for social interactions. Once he embarks on his career of giving blood, the donor sets up a high-commission donation referral agency in a men's public toilet that is positioned, conveniently, directly opposite a hospital.

At times, though, Ma is explicit to a fault, leaving the reader longing for more opportunities to draw their own conclusions about the sometimes one-dimensional characters.

Ma Jian seeks to evaluate how much China's past continues to play upon the psyches of the post-opening population. While the subject matter has been visited by many authors, Ma's sardonic tale adds a fresh energy, nicely complimented by Flora Drew's smoothly translated prose, making The Noodle Maker a pleasant read.

The Noodle Maker

Ma Jian

Chatto and Windus, 2004 (translation)

Tiandi Publishing Company, 1991

Available online

Last updated: May 8, 2005