The latest novel inspired by Hong Kong’s change of sovereignty, Hong Kong On Air (Muhammad Cohen, 2007, Blacksmith Books, 454 pages, HK$95), might have been twice as good at half the length.
Cartoonist Harry Harrison created the cover art. With images of Prince Charles, Jiang Zemin, Tung Chee-hwa, Chris Patten and others watched by shadowy figures in a TV studio, Harry’s cover may be the book’s best feature.
Muhammad Cohen, the New York-born author, moved to Hong Kong in 1995 to work on the startup of CNBC Asia. He stayed and became a permanent resident. He also toiled at The Standard newspaper and at Bloomberg News. Previously, he produced news at CNN in Washington.
The author’s TV background dominates this first novel. He aspires to capture the mood as Hong Kong falls under the Chinese mainland’s sovereignty.
“I don’t think scared is the correct word, Mike,” May says. “Somewhat apprehensive, perhaps. But mostly just uncertain. For example, no one expects Hong Kong to adopt the one-child policy, but many of my friends are pregnant now, just in case.”
Above all, Cohen gives media watchers an inside view of the antics behind TV newscasts. “Like everything in television, or at least at FGN Asia, the control room is backwards, overly complicated, too heavy on technology and light on common sense.”
A flimsy plot surrounds two Americans, Laura Wellesley, a Franklin Global Networks (FGN) Asia TV producer, and her husband, Jeff Golden, an adulterous lingerie merchant.
Millions of Hong Kong people should recognize the workaholism that engulfs Laura, allowing FGN Asia to dominate her life and endanger her marriage. Equal numbers will spot a familiar pattern in Jeff’s nefarious activities on business trips to Guangdong Province.
On every page, much rings true: “Before we were never clear about what was expected, so people were unsure about what to do. Edie says that’s a very Chinese thing: give vague instructions so you can criticize whatever goes wrong and blame someone else.”
Considering the realities of post-1997 Hong Kong, the book’s most tragic character may be Deng Jiang Mao, an egotistical Chinese-American news-anchor who frustrates Laura at work. On-air, he insists on kowtowing to the new colonial masters in Beijing.
“Laura, I was looking through the scripts and on B-4 we’ve got ‘Tiananmen Square massacre’. Let’s just say sanctions were imposed in 1989….”
“Oh, come on….”
“Sometimes you just don’t understand…. And ‘massacre’ is overkill.”
The author tries hard, but Hong Kong On Air isn’t a humorous book. At best, it has amusing moments. For an example of attempted humor gone wrong, consider Jeff’s first visit to a mainland massage parlor when he notices one of the masseuse’s “small, pointy breasts peeking – or maybe it’s Beijing, Jeff thinks – out of the robe”.
Despite Hong Kong’s fast pace, the novel unfolds lethargically, its dialogue and descriptions bogged down in tedious details. Hong Kong On Air earns a passing grade, just barely.
Approval rating: 51 per cent.
For more information: www.blacksmithbooks.com
(October 4, 2007)
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