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A review by illustrated_librarian
Cinema Love by Jiaming Tang
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
I feel the word 'tender' is too liberally applied to books that treat anything emotional but here, truly, it fits. Jiaming Tang handles a cast of characters who have had hard, complicated lives with the utmost delicacy and nuance. These men and women are caught up in the grinding reality of surviving as immigrants to America while they also try to grapple with their pasts, forbidden and frustrating relationships, and unspoken desires, largely without the space to really process them.
The whole structure of the book reflects this. Central, traumatic events are alluded to but never fully described, as if the characters' minds glance off these dark memories at the last moment. Tang's impressionistic approach instead fills in the events before and after this rupture, leaving the centre a vaguely violent smear.
These pages are filled with grainy nostalgia, history, and memory. A knotty mess of connections and consequences link the characters back to the Workers' Cinema; Tang sweeps this dirt from under the rug not with glee but with grace. His characterisation is quiet, tinged with a deep melancholy, and yet vibrantly real as he explores how longing and belonging look across different lives.
There is no real relief or absolution for anyone, but there is hope. The tentative hope of a connection forming or a longing answered, as delicate as a hesitant brush of hands, asking to be understood.
The whole structure of the book reflects this. Central, traumatic events are alluded to but never fully described, as if the characters' minds glance off these dark memories at the last moment. Tang's impressionistic approach instead fills in the events before and after this rupture, leaving the centre a vaguely violent smear.
These pages are filled with grainy nostalgia, history, and memory. A knotty mess of connections and consequences link the characters back to the Workers' Cinema; Tang sweeps this dirt from under the rug not with glee but with grace. His characterisation is quiet, tinged with a deep melancholy, and yet vibrantly real as he explores how longing and belonging look across different lives.
There is no real relief or absolution for anyone, but there is hope. The tentative hope of a connection forming or a longing answered, as delicate as a hesitant brush of hands, asking to be understood.