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OverviewPerfect for fans of Haruki Murakami, Ghost Cities is a profound and highly imaginative novel that cleverly draws on Chinese history to explore the absurdity of modern life and work. Ghost Cities - inspired by the vacant, uninhabited megacities of China - follows multiple narratives, including one in which a young man named Xiang is fired from his job as a translator at Sydney's Chinese Consulate after it is discovered he doesn't speak a word of Chinese and has been relying entirely on Google Translate for his work. How is his relocation to one such ghost city connected to a parallel odyssey in which an ancient Emperor creates a thousand doubles of Himself? Or where a horny mountain gains sentience? Where a chess-playing automaton hides a deadly secret? Or a tale in which every book in the known Empire is destroyed - then re-created, page by page and book by book, all in the name of love and art? Allegorical and imaginative, Ghost Cities will appeal to readers of Haruki Murakami and Italo Calvino. Full Product DetailsAuthor: Siang LuPublisher: University of Queensland Press Imprint: University of Queensland Press Dimensions: Width: 15.30cm , Height: 2.40cm , Length: 22.50cm Weight: 0.398kg ISBN: 9780702268496ISBN 10: 0702268496 Pages: 304 Publication Date: 30 April 2024 Audience: General/trade , General Format: Paperback Publisher's Status: Active Availability: In stock ![]() We have confirmation that this item is in stock with the supplier. It will be ordered in for you and dispatched immediately. Table of ContentsReviews'Ghost Cities is a labyrinth of a novel that delights, terrifies, thrills and amuses in the very best of ways. An inventive and philosophical exploration of power, automation, art and love where nothing is as it seems; a decadent feast fashioned from tofu, a lush orchard carved from stone. Siang Lu's brain at play is a thing of wonder.' Kate Mildenhall 'What a pleasure to follow Siang Lu into his labyrinthine Ghost Cities! An instant Australian classic that stands both on the shoulders of giants and yet is somehow completely and delightfully new. Lashings of myth, absurdity, humour and pathos come together in this paean to art in all its forms. I want to crumple this novel into a ball and swallow it, whole.' Hayley Scrivenor 'Ghost Cities is a stunning piece of writing. It's quite a feat to create one labyrinth in a book in a way that's intricate and convincing, but somehow Siang Lu creates two that are, places them centuries apart and makes them act as mirrors to each other. I don't know what would make an author even think that was possible, and yet here it is. Amazing. I hope it gets the recognition it deserves.' Nick Earls Author InformationSiang Lu is the author of Ghost Cities and The Whitewash, and the co-creator of The Beige Index. The Whitewash won the ABIA Audiobook of the Year in 2023 for its audio adaptation, which starred a large and diverse cast of fourteen actors. It also won the Glendower Award for an emerging writer in the Queensland Literary Awards and was shortlisted for a NSW Premier's Literary Award. In 2023 Siang was named one of the Top 40 Under 40 Asian-Australians at the Asian-Australian Leadership Awards. He holds a Master of Letters from the University of Sydney and has written for film and television for Singapore's Beach House Pictures and Malaysia's Astro network. He is based in Brisbane, Australia, and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. https-//www.siang-lu.com/ Tab Content 6Author Website:Countries AvailableAll regions |