Ms. Ming's Guide to Civilization by Jan Alexander

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Dares to imagine a post-capitalist utopia.

To me great books are those that leave no perspective unquestioned. Definitely not the protagonists’. And not the author’s own either. In Ms. Ming’s Guide to Civilization, Jan Alexander dares to imagine what would happen if two precocious young women—one from a Chinese village, the other from New York City—envisioned an enlightened, post-capitalist world as well as the technology to make it a reality. But Alexander doesn’t stop there. Ms. Ming never stops questioning. How might a utopia inspired by an artsy Brooklynish neighborhood go horribly wrong? When capitalism, communism, and authoritarianism start blurring together, what’s a young woman who just wants to write all day to do? With an operatic and often hilarious cast of characters—including the far from flawless Ming, her green-card husband, a rapper from a rice paddy, and the legendary Monkey King himself—Alexander crafts a farsighted novel on a grand international scale with a discerning eye for vivid details and unintended consequences.

A favorite bit: "The more questions he pondered, the freer he felt."




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