The Laughing Sutra

By Mark Salzman

Vintage Books

$10.00

The Laughing Sutra, Mark Salzman's new adventure novel about life in communist China, is a perfect book for light reading, whether one is interested in China or not. Although the book does not give great insight into Chinese culture, it does raise thought-provoking issues about the lives and hopes of the citizens of China.

Hsun-ching, the book's main character, was born in "the seventh year of the People's Republic of China (1956)" with "extraordinarily well developed ear-lobes." With this opening line, Salzman sets the subtly humorous tone that pervades this book.

The story begins in 1960, during a great famine. When a mysterious man saves Hsun-ching after he falls down a waterfall, Hsun-ching comes under the guidance of a Buddhist monk.

The monk teaches Hsun-ching many things, including written Chinese, English and the mysterious adventures of the Monkey King. He also passes on to Hsun-ching the quest to find a lost Buddhist scroll--the Laughing Sutra--which an American had stolen years earlier.

In 1966, when the Cultural Revolution gripped China, a group of "Chairman Mao's True Soldiers" force Hsun-ching to join the Maoist movement and work in a commune. Ten years later, Hsun-Ching gains his freedom and returns home. Finding his mentor almost dead, Hsun-Ching embarks for America to complete the quest for the Laughing Sutra.

To escape from China, Hsun-ching must find Colonel Sun, the man who had saved his life at the waterfall. Colonel Sun turns out to be the perfect companion/bodyguard, considering the fact that he is immortal and has never lost a battle since he was born "seven centuries before the birth of Christ."

After many unconventional adventures--such as riding to Hong Kong in a train full of pigs and trading Sun's talents as a dwarf tosser for passage to America--the two adventures finally steal the sutra from a Buddhist library in the United States and return to China.

Besides a spirited adventure story, the novel also conveys many of the cultural observations that the author witnessed while living in china. He touches on all phases of a changing Chinese society from the 1960s through the early 1980s.

Salzman also effectively deals with the cultural differences between city and country life in China, the clash between Chinese and American life and the changing moral values of the Chinese people.

The problem with The Laughing Sutra arises not from the story, but from the writing. Salzman writes with a juvenile style but discusses adult topics. While this style attracts a younger, Adventure-hungry audience, the book's message demands a more sophisticated reading. This tension will keep the novel from finding an audience that can fully appreciate it.

In addition, the history at times is forced and only serves as a setting presented before the event, instead of becoming an integral part of the action.

The Laughing Sutra does not give novel insight into Chinese culture, nor does it show high literary value. However, the fast paced plot does provide a satisfying read as either an adventure story or cultural survey.