Notes of a Crocodile
Author: Qiu Miaojin
Translated by: Bonnie Huie
Published by: New York Review Books
Pages: 245
Format: Paperback
My Rating: ★★★★
Translated by: Bonnie Huie
Published by: New York Review Books
Pages: 245
Format: Paperback
My Rating: ★★★★
Set in the post-martial-law era of late-1980s Taipei, Notes of a Crocodile is a coming-of-age story of queer misfits discovering love, friendship, and artistic affinity while hardly studying at Taiwan’s most prestigious university. Told through the eyes of an anonymous lesbian narrator nicknamed Lazi, this cult classic is a postmodern pastiche of diaries, vignettes, mash notes, aphorisms, exegesis, and satire by an incisive prose stylist and major countercultural figure.
Afflicted by her fatalistic attraction to Shui Ling, an older woman, Lazi turns for support to a circle of friends that includes a rich kid turned criminal and his troubled, self-destructive gay lover, as well as a bored, mischievous overachiever and her alluring slacker artist girlfriend.
Illustrating a process of liberation from the strictures of gender through radical self-inquiry, Notes of a Crocodile is a poignant masterpiece of social defiance by a singular voice in contemporary Chinese literature.
My thoughts:
Notes of a Crocodile by Qiu Miaojin, translated by Bonnie Huie, was a really enjoyable read for me. I sped through it in just two sittings, which says a lot about how readable and absorbing I found it.
At the centre of the novel is Lazi, an anonymous lesbian student navigating university life and a turbulent, often painful relationship with Shui Ling, an older student. Their relationship is complicated by Lazi’s own struggles with self-acceptance, as well as the wider pressures of living as a queer person in a society where homophobia is deeply ingrained. Qiu captures the intensity and confusion of young love particularly well: the desire, jealousy, loneliness and emotional dependence can all exist alongside genuine tenderness.
I also really enjoyed the wider cast of characters and the unconventional friendship group that surrounds Lazi. They’re a collection of misfits, each carrying their own complications and contradictions, and their relationships with one another give the novel a sense of community alongside all its loneliness. The characters feel well developed and distinct, and I liked how much of the novel’s emotional weight comes not just from romantic relationships but from friendship and the strange, formative period of young adulthood over four years of University.
There’s a lot to admire in Qiu’s writing. It feels literary and thoughtful without becoming inaccessible, and the fragmented, intimate style suits a novel like this that deals with memory, desire and identity. Despite some of the heavier themes, I found it really easy to get lost in.
One of my favourite elements was the recurring crocodile motif. The satirical sections featuring the mysterious crocodiles, along with the wonderfully random crocodile facts, provide an amusing break from the emotional intensity of the main story. They give the novel a playfulness that I really appreciated, while also creating another way of thinking about difference, identity and the experience of being an outsider.
I was also particularly delighted by the reference to François Truffaut’s The 400 Blows. I wrote about the film during my postgraduate studies in post-production and film, so spotting a reference to it here felt like a lovely little personal connection. It’s always satisfying when a book unexpectedly intersects with something you’ve studied or spent time thinking about!
Overall, I found Notes of a Crocodile to be a surprisingly thoughtful, touching and very original read. It explores queer identity, love, loneliness and belonging with plenty of emotional honesty, but it never feels entirely weighed down by its subject matter. The combination of such beautiful literary writing, memorable characters, satirical touches and that wonderfully strange crocodile motif made this a book I enjoyed very much.
A very solid four stars from me, and one that gave us plenty to talk about at book club.
Overall reaction:
Notes of a Crocodile by Qiu Miaojin, translated by Bonnie Huie, was a really enjoyable read for me. I sped through it in just two sittings, which says a lot about how readable and absorbing I found it.
At the centre of the novel is Lazi, an anonymous lesbian student navigating university life and a turbulent, often painful relationship with Shui Ling, an older student. Their relationship is complicated by Lazi’s own struggles with self-acceptance, as well as the wider pressures of living as a queer person in a society where homophobia is deeply ingrained. Qiu captures the intensity and confusion of young love particularly well: the desire, jealousy, loneliness and emotional dependence can all exist alongside genuine tenderness.
I also really enjoyed the wider cast of characters and the unconventional friendship group that surrounds Lazi. They’re a collection of misfits, each carrying their own complications and contradictions, and their relationships with one another give the novel a sense of community alongside all its loneliness. The characters feel well developed and distinct, and I liked how much of the novel’s emotional weight comes not just from romantic relationships but from friendship and the strange, formative period of young adulthood over four years of University.
There’s a lot to admire in Qiu’s writing. It feels literary and thoughtful without becoming inaccessible, and the fragmented, intimate style suits a novel like this that deals with memory, desire and identity. Despite some of the heavier themes, I found it really easy to get lost in.
One of my favourite elements was the recurring crocodile motif. The satirical sections featuring the mysterious crocodiles, along with the wonderfully random crocodile facts, provide an amusing break from the emotional intensity of the main story. They give the novel a playfulness that I really appreciated, while also creating another way of thinking about difference, identity and the experience of being an outsider.
I was also particularly delighted by the reference to François Truffaut’s The 400 Blows. I wrote about the film during my postgraduate studies in post-production and film, so spotting a reference to it here felt like a lovely little personal connection. It’s always satisfying when a book unexpectedly intersects with something you’ve studied or spent time thinking about!
Overall, I found Notes of a Crocodile to be a surprisingly thoughtful, touching and very original read. It explores queer identity, love, loneliness and belonging with plenty of emotional honesty, but it never feels entirely weighed down by its subject matter. The combination of such beautiful literary writing, memorable characters, satirical touches and that wonderfully strange crocodile motif made this a book I enjoyed very much.
A very solid four stars from me, and one that gave us plenty to talk about at book club.
Overall reaction:
