Hospital

This story adopts some elements from Kafka -- a visit to an institution that suddenly extends into a hall of mirrors, with the narrator losing first the ability, then the desire to find any way out. Since the setting is a hospital, the story has some resemblance to China's Zero-Covid policy in which patients really *were* trapped in quarantine facilities for endless weeks and given weird instructions. This book was written in 2016, which makes it surprisingly prescient!The narrator has an original voice and is not a duplicate of Kafka's innocent, paranoid narrators. Instead, this narrator is an upright Chinese citizen, certain that there is a reason for everything and using 21st century Chinese nationalist narratives to justify what he sees around him. So there is a layer of political critique of living in a one-party state, which is also quite interesting, although it's *exceedingly* on-the-nose satire (e.g. a newspaper is introduced, "Medical News," which takes on the precise characteristics of a Party propaganda organ and is used in the same ways).All of this comes from the first few chapters. As the book continues, it becomes clear that it is overwritten. It's very easy to skim because there are long sections of dialogue or monologue that simply ramble on with no apparent benefit to anyone, e.g."Paracelsus’s explanation of the human body’s chemical processes, Leonardo da Vinci’s and Vesalius’s pioneering work on human anatomy, Santorio’s invention of clinical thermometers and pulse meters, Harvey’s discoveries about blood circulation—these developed into a massive body of knowledge that those without specialized training have no way of truly understanding, like a kind of magic. With the exception of rocket satellites and nuclear weapons, modern medicine was the most fashionable field and best captures the spirit of the times, and with the exception of a few isolated individuals from the countryside, the vast majority of citizens had experienced the fruits of these medical breakthroughs firsthand, although I have heard that the true model for Western medicine was not here in our country."There are so many overwritten passages like this and I am stuck trying to figure out their purpose, given the excellent worldbuilding that went into the book. This book was published in China, so are these passages meant to bore the censors enough that the explicit political critique seems less dangerous? Anyway, they are boring to me too.If translations excite you, you might like the innovative ideas in this story, but it does become kind of a chore to read at times.

If you haven't read Kafka, go do it. You'll see what this author is apparently trying to do and just how badly they fail at it. Just writing long sentences of drivel doesn't make something Kafkaesque (it is obviously easily mistaken for it given some of the reviews here, but simply putting something on the Internet doesn't make it true). There has to be a point that can be discerned somewhere, even if it's just a little seed of a point being made, it's there. You might have to look really super hard with a microscope, but you're going to find it.Whether it's a translation problem or a source problem, it's just not good. This is not a dystopian view of the medical system, government systems, hospitals, healthcare or really anything. It's gibberish. It's not creative science fiction -- to be science fiction requires there to be some sense, structure and consistency to things. This is like reading a Dr. Seuss book backwards, upside down and in a language you don't understand. But you find out it wasn't really one of Theo's books, it was something he wrote while tripping and crumpled up into his garbage can when he sobered up.What started out with a prologue that I thought was going to give me an interesting insight into science fiction written from a Buddhist/Eastern perspective and had a believable construct of near global destruction causing a rise in Eastern philosophy, descended into the most ridiculous, barely-stream-of-consciousness goop I've ever read. I kept expecting a twist, a hard right turn at Albequerque, ANYTHING, but nope, it just kept going with page-long sentences missing most appropriate forms of punctuation which described nothing. Pages and pages of supposed descriptions that didn't do anything to create a story, drive a story, define characters, create attachment, build tension, or anything else that a good novel will do. I've read many authors from non-Western countries, from other cultures, etc., and appreciate a good difference of perspective. I just wish there were some identifiable perspective here, other than we are all just apparently idiots trapped in this author's reality and unable to understand him. Maybe?I'm not a "read three pages and if you don't get me I quit" type of reader. I don't think you can really broaden your exposure and find what you TRULY like or dislike if you adhere too tightly to that maxim -- after all, it's just reading a book, not playing with drugs or other life-endangering, soul-damning sorts of things. You can always put the book down if it doesn't work for you. But this? Wow and geez, this is really bad. I'm trying to make my way all the way through, but for the first time in a couple of decades, I'm not sure I will be able to.If I could leave zero stars or even better a WARNING: DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME IT IS THE ONLY RESOURCE YOU CANNOT EVER GET BACK IN YOUR LIFE....... I'm sorry to say I would have. First reads has failed me pretty badly this time.

I’d give this book 3.5 stars. It is a dark, disturbing dystopian story about a man’s fight with himself, the Hospital, and his attempt to escape. It can be very wordy and a bit confusing at times. I’ve seen a lot of very negative reviews and I feel some of that comes from a difference between cultures and the way hospitals, politics, and ideas. Overall, an interesting take on several concepts.

I was a bit confused by the science fiction start of the novel. This is a translation from a Chinese author. As one reads this, keep in mind that the frame of reference of the author is the culture of modern Chinese communism and belief in Buddhism. It’s an interesting g read in a culture different from that of the west.

Superbly written science fiction novel that depicts a bleak and painful future. The Hospital seems to control everybody and everything. All the living beings are supposed to be diseased and the main character also suffers from chronic and severe pain with no relief in sight. To me it feels like the Hospital represents the suppressive Chinese regime and the physicians it's political branch. I am totally surprised that such a depiction did not incite wrath of the current Chinese regime.Kudos to the translator for keeping in touch with the original author and enabling his thoughts and flow of the story to be properly incorporated in this translation. All in all, it is a very thought provoking and indulging, yet at times painful to read, especially when nothing gets done to alleviate the suffering of the diseased. Feels eerie at times but still makes you to read on until the end.

This is a wonderful, deep, explorative kafkaesque exploration of the state and its mechanisms of control; of philosophy, and the popular adoption of simplified, easy explorations thereof; of pessimism, of failure, of the warping of love, of the shrill weakness, the inherent puppet-ness of the mundane person. It's beautiful.A lot of folks won't like this book. It takes time with you, explores concepts in depth where it feels you might not have the context - and as a book written from an entirely different cultural context, it can feel weirdly shallow where it should be deep and deep where it should be shallow. It's still beautiful for that, and if - unlike some reviewers here! - you can manage to research and stay open minded, it's a gorgeous, flowery rendition of legitimate medical and bureaucratic horror.Many folks keep saying it says a lot about China's response Covid. I think that's an oversimplified view, to the point I don't think it bares mentioning. This is a discussion of the cultural concepts that inform both this hospital and the real world hospital, but only at the basest, least-curious perspective. It's a more fundamental story - about a kind of reality of gothic horror, lovecraftian almost in its conception of culture.The writing starts lucid and becomes less so over the course of the book. I like it, some won't. It's enjoyably descriptive and vivid in the first arc, becomes wonderingly confused in the second, and approaches a kind of trance-state coast in the third. Whether it's the translator or the author, there's a lot of painstaking, flowery - frankly, gorgeous - description and care taken in some scenes, while others are glanced over. If you're a reader capable of embracing *why* that happens, you'll love this. If you like the same style repeated over and over and over, you'll be thrown about like an astronaut in the jiggler.Ignore the other reviewers. Listen to me and only me. Embrace the hospital - it's a damn beautiful book.

I love unusual books, adore ends left untied, and enjoy little more than writing that makes me work hard and is something above the run of the mill. I also have a great affection for the Chinese and Japanese way of writing, which is so spare and direct. And so I should have found Hospital a perfect read; I was excited to download it as my Amazon First Read for February 2023.It began badly, with a strange sci-fi chapter that was so unlike the blurb I wondered if Amazon had sent me the wrong book, but no, it is part of the story (though how I was never able to figure out). After some digging online I discovered it is supposedly an allegory, but it made no sense to me.I waded through this book like I was traversing thick treacle peppered with landmines. It was hard work, confusing, and disorientating. Much like the book's protagonist, I spent a lot of my time unsure what was happening, or why, and desperately trying to make any of it make sense. I tried to give myself up to it, to go with the flow and see where we went, but after getting 25 per cent through, I realised nothing would change. It remained incomprehensible and I didn't care about any of the characters, or the story, at all. I simply couldn't continue. I skipped to the last chapter, wondering if that would make something gel in my mind and I could go back and read the rest, but that last chapter was like reading the first, or indeed any of the others. It said nothing new, and was still utterly strange and baffling.I confess, I had no idea it was sci-fi and definitely would not have chosen it if I had. But I like a bit of dystopia and weirdness, and can handle some sci-fi if the story is good. I know this author is celebrated, and also a journalist so he knows how to write and generally I find journalists make great authors, but this one was not for me.I had read a few reviews that were bad, and then one which made the case for the book so hard, I was convinced it would be my kind of thing. Reader, it was not. I think this is a specialist type of read, and if you are in two minds about whether it is for you then I would respectfully suggest that it won't be.It's great to see more interesting books in First Reads again instead of endless crime, thrillers and rom coms, and I hope there will be more, but this was just too close to Confucious' famous curse for me - interesting times indeed.

Got this as a Kindle First read, and I'm glad I didn't pay for it. I'm afraid I didn't make it past the first few pages. I don't know if it's just the translation, but the writing comes across as very amateur. I don't need a lengthy exposition on Buddhist philosophy loosely dressed up in Sci-Fi clothing, I want to see some evidence of plot and character development, both features sadly lacking.Deleted before I got to the end of the first chapter.

Downloaded Hospital as my Amazon First Read for February 2023 and was excited to read. Unfortunately the book was repetitive, confusing and miserable, it was also very disparaging towards people suffering from chronic illness. Got to 40% in and decided life is too short to read a book I wasn't enjoying, so will never know if Yang Wei made it out if the hospital.

There might be the germ of an idea here but it’s very deeply hidden under some of the flattest writing I’ve ever read - schoolboy stuff. Don’t waste your time.