"The translation by Zhang and Sommer is excellent. It both expresses the meaning of the original and also catches the simple, colloquial, and direct language that is Wang Xiaobo's trademark . By translating Wang's work, they have provided a service to all of us who teach modern Chinese literature. Because the Chinese original is easy to read, and because the translators have captured this simple yet profound style, the book should be a welcome addition to modern literature courses in translation." -- Modern Chinese Language and Culture "Wang injects an unsavory history with irony, lifting the burden of the past and transforming it into hope for the future." -- World Books, PRI ".if Wang in Love and Bondage is the first translation into English of Wang's work, it is not likely to be solitary for long." -- PopMatters "Loved and revered by college students throughout China, Wang Xiaobo's black humor and licentious satires have finally been translated into English.
" -- Small Swords Magazine "The novellas move along at a good pace, and there's quite a bit of humour here." -- The Complete Revie "China has a history of heavy-handed prudishness that the sex in these three novellas flouts big time. They're wry social-realist exercises demonstrating that in a repressive society, sex affords the only excitement worth risking slander or prison for . Not sex but sensation, with the possibility, however slight, of transcendence, becomes the supreme value for these stories' characters--a predicament not unlike that of Jake Barnes and company in Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises." -- Booklist "Wang's deeply convincing novellas will certainly please the readers who have enjoyed recent Nobel Prize-winner Gao Xingjian's novel, Soul Mountain." -- Publishers Weekly "The late Wang Xiaobo is not known in the West. However, this fine collaborative translation of Wang's unconventional and engaging novellas will change that, and call into question any stereotypical views of contemporary Chinese fiction." -- Howard Goldblatt, University of Notre Dame "Hongling Zhang and Jason Sommer have done a remarkable job with their judicious choices, accurate renditions of the Chinese originals, and faithful preservation of the author's irreverent attitude toward everything in sight.
" -- Yunzhong Shu, author of Buglers on the Homefront: The Wartime Practice of the Qiyue School.