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The Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu
An astounding debut that reimagines the classic Western through the eyes of a Chinese American assassin on a quest to rescue his kidnapped wife and exact his revenge on her abductors, and “declares the arrival of an astonishing new voice” (Jonathan Lethem).
Orphaned young, Ming Tsu, the son of Chinese immigrants, is raised by the notorious leader of a California crime syndicate, who trains him to be his deadly enforcer. But when Ming falls in love with Ada, the daughter of a powerful railroad magnate, and the two elope, he seizes the opportunity to escape to a different life. Soon after, in a violent raid, the tycoon’s henchmen kidnap Ada and conscript Ming into service for the Central Pacific Railroad.
Battered, heartbroken, and yet defiant, Ming partners with a blind clairvoyant known only as the prophet. Together the two set out to rescue his wife and to exact revenge on the men who destroyed Ming, aided by a troupe of magic-show performers, some with supernatural powers, whom they meet on the journey. Ming blazes his way across the West, settling old scores with a single-minded devotion that culminates in an explosive and unexpected finale.
Written with the violent ardor of Cormac McCarthy and the otherworldly inventiveness of Ted Chiang, The Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu is at once a thriller, a romance, and a story of one man’s quest for redemption in the face of a distinctly American brutality.
Orphaned young, Ming Tsu, the son of Chinese immigrants, is raised by the notorious leader of a California crime syndicate, who trains him to be his deadly enforcer. But when Ming falls in love with Ada, the daughter of a powerful railroad magnate, and the two elope, he seizes the opportunity to escape to a different life. Soon after, in a violent raid, the tycoon’s henchmen kidnap Ada and conscript Ming into service for the Central Pacific Railroad.
Battered, heartbroken, and yet defiant, Ming partners with a blind clairvoyant known only as the prophet. Together the two set out to rescue his wife and to exact revenge on the men who destroyed Ming, aided by a troupe of magic-show performers, some with supernatural powers, whom they meet on the journey. Ming blazes his way across the West, settling old scores with a single-minded devotion that culminates in an explosive and unexpected finale.
Written with the violent ardor of Cormac McCarthy and the otherworldly inventiveness of Ted Chiang, The Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu is at once a thriller, a romance, and a story of one man’s quest for redemption in the face of a distinctly American brutality.
289 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 1, 2021
409 people are currently reading
15045 people want to read
About the author
Tom Lin
2 books173 followersTom Lin was born in China and immigrated to the United States when he was four. A graduate of Pomona College, he is currently in the PhD program at the University of California, Davis. THE THOUSAND CRIMES OF MING TSU is his first novel.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 867 reviews
August 6, 2021
3.5 stars: I listened to “The Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu” narrated by Feodor Chin, written by Tom Lin. While I’m not a big fan of the Action & Adventure and Cowboy genre, the New York Times raved “An astounding debut that reimagines the classic Western through the eyes of a Chinese American assassin on a quest to rescue his kidnapped wife and exact his revenge on her abductors”. This piqued my interest.
Beyond being a reimagined western, the story captures the historical abuse of Chinese immigrants in building the Central Pacific Railroad. Author Lin adds some mystical elements, which could be distractive in a less skilled author’s hands. The magic added to the adventure aspect.
There’s a lot of murder, which is expected. Lin made the landscape part of the murderous feel. Lin also used the horses in his atmospheric impressions. Those poor animals were thirstier than the people, and I’ve not read of the amount of horse deaths in a single story. The horse deaths were as tragic as the humans. Horse lovers beware!
Ming Tsu is a Chinese orphan raised by a white man to become an assassin in the wild west. When the story opens, Ming is seeking vengeance from the men who stole his wife Ada and sent Ming to prison for 10 years hard service in building the Pacific Rail line. This atrocity occurred because Tsu is Chinese (though don’t call him a China-man if you want to live) and he married a white woman, against the social mores of the time. Ming is dying of thirst on the salt flats of Utah. And that knowing thirst never leaves the story.
Ming teams with a traveling magic show which adds some incredibly interesting characters. A deaf/blind/mute communicates telepathically for example. Ming is hired to guide the show to safety. Ming and the magic show meet up with a blind old man, the Prophet, who can sometimes see the future.
Yes, this western warps into fantasy, and then back into a blood-soaked fight of a classic Western.
I enjoyed the story as a unique genre. I also get a kick out of those novels in which the “good” guy (the one we root for), is not a good person. Ming is killing men, right and left; yet we want him to find his woman and avenge his wrong.
I’m happy I gave this a shot. It’s unique (for me) and one that gave my imagination fodder. Author Tom Lin writes so well that it’s easy to see every scene.
Beyond being a reimagined western, the story captures the historical abuse of Chinese immigrants in building the Central Pacific Railroad. Author Lin adds some mystical elements, which could be distractive in a less skilled author’s hands. The magic added to the adventure aspect.
There’s a lot of murder, which is expected. Lin made the landscape part of the murderous feel. Lin also used the horses in his atmospheric impressions. Those poor animals were thirstier than the people, and I’ve not read of the amount of horse deaths in a single story. The horse deaths were as tragic as the humans. Horse lovers beware!
Ming Tsu is a Chinese orphan raised by a white man to become an assassin in the wild west. When the story opens, Ming is seeking vengeance from the men who stole his wife Ada and sent Ming to prison for 10 years hard service in building the Pacific Rail line. This atrocity occurred because Tsu is Chinese (though don’t call him a China-man if you want to live) and he married a white woman, against the social mores of the time. Ming is dying of thirst on the salt flats of Utah. And that knowing thirst never leaves the story.
Ming teams with a traveling magic show which adds some incredibly interesting characters. A deaf/blind/mute communicates telepathically for example. Ming is hired to guide the show to safety. Ming and the magic show meet up with a blind old man, the Prophet, who can sometimes see the future.
Yes, this western warps into fantasy, and then back into a blood-soaked fight of a classic Western.
I enjoyed the story as a unique genre. I also get a kick out of those novels in which the “good” guy (the one we root for), is not a good person. Ming is killing men, right and left; yet we want him to find his woman and avenge his wrong.
I’m happy I gave this a shot. It’s unique (for me) and one that gave my imagination fodder. Author Tom Lin writes so well that it’s easy to see every scene.
October 19, 2021
The Thousands Crimes of Ming Tsu is yet another book critics seem to love, but why is a mystery. To my mind it is a book of tremendous possibilities wasted.
What it is:
- A fairly conventional old west revenge tale. Bad guys separate the anti-hero from his wife and imprison him. He breaks free and sets out to kill those who wronged him and reclaim his bride. Along the way he meets some interesting folks and kills lots of bad guys. The ending is predictable long before the story ends. It's Clint Eastwood westerns from the late 1960s rolled into a book.
NPR's review sums up the limitations of this choice:
It is also a tedious biology travelogue from southern Wyoming to Sacramento along the transcontinental railroad. Not that the descriptions for this desolate part of the U.S. aren't interesting and well done. Rather it's that Lin devotes a chapter to chronicling every single day of Tsu's several week journey to Sacramento, even when nothing happens.
What it could have been:
Ming Tsu, is Chinese, sentenced to work on the transcontinental railroad. The book could have shared a bit on the plight of Chinese lured to the U.S. with promises of a better life, then pressed into slave labor on the railroads. Instead they are mentioned only in passing. Tsu's own experience on the railroad merits but a page. He shows no sympathy for his countrymen's plight nor seeks to aid them.
Lin could have embedded some Chinese culture in Tsu himself. Instead he writes him as a fully westernized white man with Asian features. When asked about his Chinese heritage he says he doesn't remember it. He shows no interest in it. What then is the point of him being Chinese other than a lure for book critics. (I wrote a book about a murdering Chinese cowboy. Come see!) A more interesting version of Tsu could have been cribbed from the 1970s TV series Kung Fu:
What made this series interesting was Kwai Chang Caine's struggle to remain true to his disciplined and spiritual Chinese heritage in the rough and tumble culture of the predominately white old west. Lin could have done something similar vs a boring stereotypical outlaw who looks Chinese.
Finally, on his journey, Ming Tsu meets and partners with a blind prophet who can see into the future but can't remember the past, and a traveling circus consisting of a woman who can set herself on fire and not burn, a shapeshifter who can become anyone he touches, and young boy who can speak directly into other people's heads. Stealling from GR friend David's review, Lin presents all the elements for "a gritty (Tarrantino-esque) Wild West X-Men story, an elaborate heist perpetrated by this motley crew of mutants, or an X-Force style killing team reaping wrongdoers across Nevada and California." But no. No using their powers for good or ill. No cool capers. No anything. The performers perform their tricks for coins. Tsu kills. And we're left wondering what might have been in the hands of a more imaginative author.
On my buy, borrow, skip scale, Thousand Crimes is a borrow. I doubt you'll want to read it again. You may want to skip read though the travelogues.
What it is:
- A fairly conventional old west revenge tale. Bad guys separate the anti-hero from his wife and imprison him. He breaks free and sets out to kill those who wronged him and reclaim his bride. Along the way he meets some interesting folks and kills lots of bad guys. The ending is predictable long before the story ends. It's Clint Eastwood westerns from the late 1960s rolled into a book.
NPR's review sums up the limitations of this choice:
While The Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu, from its very first pages, states very clearly what it is going to give its readers (crimes, lots of them,) the plot arc feels similarly predestined by its understanding of what the genre requires. At the end of a very long road, the protagonist does not waver. He is offered other options but cannot take them, in part because that's not who he is and in part because the plot demands that he doesn't deviate, despite all evidence that he could.
It is also a tedious biology travelogue from southern Wyoming to Sacramento along the transcontinental railroad. Not that the descriptions for this desolate part of the U.S. aren't interesting and well done. Rather it's that Lin devotes a chapter to chronicling every single day of Tsu's several week journey to Sacramento, even when nothing happens.
What it could have been:
Ming Tsu, is Chinese, sentenced to work on the transcontinental railroad. The book could have shared a bit on the plight of Chinese lured to the U.S. with promises of a better life, then pressed into slave labor on the railroads. Instead they are mentioned only in passing. Tsu's own experience on the railroad merits but a page. He shows no sympathy for his countrymen's plight nor seeks to aid them.
Lin could have embedded some Chinese culture in Tsu himself. Instead he writes him as a fully westernized white man with Asian features. When asked about his Chinese heritage he says he doesn't remember it. He shows no interest in it. What then is the point of him being Chinese other than a lure for book critics. (I wrote a book about a murdering Chinese cowboy. Come see!) A more interesting version of Tsu could have been cribbed from the 1970s TV series Kung Fu:
What made this series interesting was Kwai Chang Caine's struggle to remain true to his disciplined and spiritual Chinese heritage in the rough and tumble culture of the predominately white old west. Lin could have done something similar vs a boring stereotypical outlaw who looks Chinese.
Finally, on his journey, Ming Tsu meets and partners with a blind prophet who can see into the future but can't remember the past, and a traveling circus consisting of a woman who can set herself on fire and not burn, a shapeshifter who can become anyone he touches, and young boy who can speak directly into other people's heads. Stealling from GR friend David's review, Lin presents all the elements for "a gritty (Tarrantino-esque) Wild West X-Men story, an elaborate heist perpetrated by this motley crew of mutants, or an X-Force style killing team reaping wrongdoers across Nevada and California." But no. No using their powers for good or ill. No cool capers. No anything. The performers perform their tricks for coins. Tsu kills. And we're left wondering what might have been in the hands of a more imaginative author.
On my buy, borrow, skip scale, Thousand Crimes is a borrow. I doubt you'll want to read it again. You may want to skip read though the travelogues.
June 5, 2023
Ming Tsu is a sharpshooting enforcer who carries a rail spike sharpened to a mirror finish and a list of names he's killing his way through to ultimately reunite with his one true love. In author Tom Lin's hands the story clips along as Ming traverses the West leaving a bloody trail of bodies.
Ming is Chinese American, orphaned as an infant and raised by the ruthless Silas Root. His ethnicity makes for a unique perspective on the traditional Western. At one point he slips in close to a target by joining the Chinese immigrants who made up the majority of the workforce on the Central Pacific line. The $10K bounty on his head is advertised with a barely recognizable wanted sign that clearly illustrates that the predominantly white population can barely recognize him from any other Chinaman. He is perfectly invisible and equally ruthless.
There's enough meat there to render a Tarantino-esque revenge narrative but Lin ups the ante when Ming comes across a travelling circus filled with miracles. There is the tattooed, shape-shifting Pacific Islander, the deaf and dumb young boy who can speak directly into other people's heads, the Navajo that can erase memories, the fireproof woman and the blind prophet who can determine your time of passing.
And therein is my beef with the story. Aside from the fact that there wasn't a single sunrise or sunset that didn't warrant some sort of mention, Lin relegates these fantastical characters to mere color. This could have been a gritty Wild West X-Men story, an elaborate heist perpetrated by this motley crew of mutants, or an X-Force style killing team reaping wrongdoers across Nevada and California. But a small gripe in an otherwise pulpy bit of fun that I just flew through.
Ming is Chinese American, orphaned as an infant and raised by the ruthless Silas Root. His ethnicity makes for a unique perspective on the traditional Western. At one point he slips in close to a target by joining the Chinese immigrants who made up the majority of the workforce on the Central Pacific line. The $10K bounty on his head is advertised with a barely recognizable wanted sign that clearly illustrates that the predominantly white population can barely recognize him from any other Chinaman. He is perfectly invisible and equally ruthless.
There's enough meat there to render a Tarantino-esque revenge narrative but Lin ups the ante when Ming comes across a travelling circus filled with miracles. There is the tattooed, shape-shifting Pacific Islander, the deaf and dumb young boy who can speak directly into other people's heads, the Navajo that can erase memories, the fireproof woman and the blind prophet who can determine your time of passing.
And therein is my beef with the story. Aside from the fact that there wasn't a single sunrise or sunset that didn't warrant some sort of mention, Lin relegates these fantastical characters to mere color. This could have been a gritty Wild West X-Men story, an elaborate heist perpetrated by this motley crew of mutants, or an X-Force style killing team reaping wrongdoers across Nevada and California. But a small gripe in an otherwise pulpy bit of fun that I just flew through.
November 23, 2023
Really enjoyed this one and was torn between four and five stars. The characters were extremely unique. The main character is engaging and heroic, the writing is a notch above. The most difficult part of writing is Voice and I loved the voice in this novel. The characters really get unique and interesting when the main character hooks up with a circus. The time period, the setting, the plot was topnotch. This story is an odyssey, the main character has a goal and has to overcome the conflicts on the way to his goal.
The story reminds me of Savage Country by Robert Olmstead another great read.
The story reminds me of Savage Country by Robert Olmstead another great read.
December 20, 2021
This book got a rave review from the NYT earlier this year & is a finalist for the 2022 Carnegie Medal, which is evidence of ABSOLUTELY nothing except the fact that Publishing™ loves when Asian Americans engage in representation without threat to power, that is to say, a thousand different variants on exoticism.
'The Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu' is at best, if you're being generous, confused or apolitical, and if you're inclined to be a bit more realistic, thinly-veiled male fantasy that's superimposed onto a narrator who at times appears only nominally Chinese. On the male fantasy count: how convenient you are a tall imposing violent man who seems to have no character attributes other than to kill other people and fulfill some oath to your "wife", and how convenient, everywhere you go (white) women fall in love with you and want to have sex with you!
There is so much description of Ming's actions that it becomes tedious to read—great, he put three bullets in another man's head—but it exists solely because it's meant to sate this (heavily gendered) cultural predisposition to violent fantasy. Sure, that might actually be entertaining, if this was a movie or a videogame. But reading paragraphs and paragraphs describing killing people? It gets old quick.
As for the confused/horrible politics: I could go on forever. Of course the "resistance" to the constant problem we're raking over the coals, AsAm and in this case specifically Chinese American masculinity, is to write a narrator who's everything Chinese men are stereotyped not to be: tall! speaks perfect English! does NOT speak Chinese! white women love him! Like, Tom Lin, you could also probably solve your issues with masculinity by realizing that its inextricable from misogyny and this Western ideal of 'male' is not really worth aspiring to.
Of course, you could say that we're getting this flavor of masculinity because of the period-typical setting/genre (Western). Then we're still left with a 'Chinese' character who basically feels like a white character with a few racist epithets tossed at him here and there, none of which actually seem to have any deep effect on his character or plot progression because so much of this story is poorly written male fantasy and indestructible plot armor.
There is also a particular scene where Ming threatens the ringmaster and clarifies that the Chinese men in the mining community are 'not his countrymen.' It's framed in a very triumphant way, so we're clearly supposed to see it as some 'defining moment' where Ming Establishes All Chinese People Are Not The Same! That shit made me cringe SO hard. Like, are we supposed to interpret his COMPLETE lack of solidarity with these working Chinese immigrants as a positive? How does that even make sense with his character when he worked the rails himself? When will we let go of aspiring to be recognized as individuals by white people & willing to forgo any sort of intra/inter racial solidarity to get it?
Maybe, of course, I'm thinking too hard about the politics of every moment. Maybe Ming is just, you know, a man on his own grind and don't you remember that moment in the Sierras where he covers the dead Chinese boy's body with rocks? Yes, and the problem is that we don't need another narrator is completely detached from his identity. He may well be a white guy doing all those things for the same reasons, covering the body out of sympathy, just with a Chinese name.
To be fair, there are some good concepts in this novel: I think the idea of taking the Western and writing it from the perspective of a Chinese man who labored on the rails is super fascinating, and a great way to upend the genre. The idea that in a whole world of people who's fate is already ordained, what it would be like to be the one person "outside bounds", who still has free will. A lot of the magical realist elements, from the prophet to the nature of memory and land, and having multiple lives—I thought I could detect a hint of Buddhist influence, and it was fascinating.
However, these concepts are treated in the novel as just "aesthetic" influences, interesting shit for people to say and observe that seems to have no deep influence on the plot or the narrator. Instead, we get clumsy action sequences, over and over, the same frame of the outsiders trekking through the desert. The point of Chinese labor building the railroads is only addressed in fleeting moments; we spend more time on Ming fantasizing about his white wife. It's like Lin introduces interesting concepts in his novel, and then immediately abandons them. The result is something that is boring, eye-roll inducing, and only momentarily compelling.
I honestly think a lot of the godawful representation/politics/male fantasy could perhaps be forgiven if the story was just better written. But God, it's just not. It's still readable, but I have very honestly read fanfiction that has better action, better characterization, better structure, better dialogue, and better prose. The plot was structured into these little mini-chapters of action that I'm guessing were meant to feel like quests, but not all of them were entertaining or distinct so it just felt a bit random. And also the PLOT ARMOR on Ming just got too unbelievable: EVERY shot on him "goes wide", he's got this blind prophet that says really cool stuff but functionally serves no other purpose than to inform him before every fight that he's not going to die and exactly how to survive, then when the prophet dies, a MAGIC COUGAR pulls up in the Sierras to save him from death. I mean, I understand this is a man who's "cheated death", but come on, when you get to the point where you're writing cougar ex machine to keep the plot going, this is just poorly written. Imagine the following scene:
1. Bad Guys Appear
2. They Draw Guns
3. Bad Guys Shot Misses
4. Mings Doesn't
And slap a for loop on this baby and you've basically got the novel's structure.
The dialogue was often wooden and sometimes didn't have much of a reason for occurring, I literally read a dialogue scene where Lin clearly just needed to move on from it, so it ends with one character randomly going "Let's stop talking about this" and they all just go silent. Ming will go from "bristling" to "scoffing" within like 10 seconds in the same conversation. So many characters are repeatedly mentioned by name but never given much or ANY actual characterization: Gomez, Gideon Porter, the Judge, Charles Dixon, even Ada. Like I am not even engaging with the novel on a thematic or stylistic level right now, literally just from the perspective of the actual writing, it's poorly executed.
Absolutely unsurprising that all those primarily white critics circles and review outlets would love something like this. They love garbage representation, enough to forgive bad writing to get it, and pat themselves on the back for being so diverse!
'The Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu' is at best, if you're being generous, confused or apolitical, and if you're inclined to be a bit more realistic, thinly-veiled male fantasy that's superimposed onto a narrator who at times appears only nominally Chinese. On the male fantasy count: how convenient you are a tall imposing violent man who seems to have no character attributes other than to kill other people and fulfill some oath to your "wife", and how convenient, everywhere you go (white) women fall in love with you and want to have sex with you!
There is so much description of Ming's actions that it becomes tedious to read—great, he put three bullets in another man's head—but it exists solely because it's meant to sate this (heavily gendered) cultural predisposition to violent fantasy. Sure, that might actually be entertaining, if this was a movie or a videogame. But reading paragraphs and paragraphs describing killing people? It gets old quick.
As for the confused/horrible politics: I could go on forever. Of course the "resistance" to the constant problem we're raking over the coals, AsAm and in this case specifically Chinese American masculinity, is to write a narrator who's everything Chinese men are stereotyped not to be: tall! speaks perfect English! does NOT speak Chinese! white women love him! Like, Tom Lin, you could also probably solve your issues with masculinity by realizing that its inextricable from misogyny and this Western ideal of 'male' is not really worth aspiring to.
Of course, you could say that we're getting this flavor of masculinity because of the period-typical setting/genre (Western). Then we're still left with a 'Chinese' character who basically feels like a white character with a few racist epithets tossed at him here and there, none of which actually seem to have any deep effect on his character or plot progression because so much of this story is poorly written male fantasy and indestructible plot armor.
There is also a particular scene where Ming threatens the ringmaster and clarifies that the Chinese men in the mining community are 'not his countrymen.' It's framed in a very triumphant way, so we're clearly supposed to see it as some 'defining moment' where Ming Establishes All Chinese People Are Not The Same! That shit made me cringe SO hard. Like, are we supposed to interpret his COMPLETE lack of solidarity with these working Chinese immigrants as a positive? How does that even make sense with his character when he worked the rails himself? When will we let go of aspiring to be recognized as individuals by white people & willing to forgo any sort of intra/inter racial solidarity to get it?
Maybe, of course, I'm thinking too hard about the politics of every moment. Maybe Ming is just, you know, a man on his own grind and don't you remember that moment in the Sierras where he covers the dead Chinese boy's body with rocks? Yes, and the problem is that we don't need another narrator is completely detached from his identity. He may well be a white guy doing all those things for the same reasons, covering the body out of sympathy, just with a Chinese name.
To be fair, there are some good concepts in this novel: I think the idea of taking the Western and writing it from the perspective of a Chinese man who labored on the rails is super fascinating, and a great way to upend the genre. The idea that in a whole world of people who's fate is already ordained, what it would be like to be the one person "outside bounds", who still has free will. A lot of the magical realist elements, from the prophet to the nature of memory and land, and having multiple lives—I thought I could detect a hint of Buddhist influence, and it was fascinating.
However, these concepts are treated in the novel as just "aesthetic" influences, interesting shit for people to say and observe that seems to have no deep influence on the plot or the narrator. Instead, we get clumsy action sequences, over and over, the same frame of the outsiders trekking through the desert. The point of Chinese labor building the railroads is only addressed in fleeting moments; we spend more time on Ming fantasizing about his white wife. It's like Lin introduces interesting concepts in his novel, and then immediately abandons them. The result is something that is boring, eye-roll inducing, and only momentarily compelling.
I honestly think a lot of the godawful representation/politics/male fantasy could perhaps be forgiven if the story was just better written. But God, it's just not. It's still readable, but I have very honestly read fanfiction that has better action, better characterization, better structure, better dialogue, and better prose. The plot was structured into these little mini-chapters of action that I'm guessing were meant to feel like quests, but not all of them were entertaining or distinct so it just felt a bit random. And also the PLOT ARMOR on Ming just got too unbelievable: EVERY shot on him "goes wide", he's got this blind prophet that says really cool stuff but functionally serves no other purpose than to inform him before every fight that he's not going to die and exactly how to survive, then when the prophet dies, a MAGIC COUGAR pulls up in the Sierras to save him from death. I mean, I understand this is a man who's "cheated death", but come on, when you get to the point where you're writing cougar ex machine to keep the plot going, this is just poorly written. Imagine the following scene:
1. Bad Guys Appear
2. They Draw Guns
3. Bad Guys Shot Misses
4. Mings Doesn't
And slap a for loop on this baby and you've basically got the novel's structure.
The dialogue was often wooden and sometimes didn't have much of a reason for occurring, I literally read a dialogue scene where Lin clearly just needed to move on from it, so it ends with one character randomly going "Let's stop talking about this" and they all just go silent. Ming will go from "bristling" to "scoffing" within like 10 seconds in the same conversation. So many characters are repeatedly mentioned by name but never given much or ANY actual characterization: Gomez, Gideon Porter, the Judge, Charles Dixon, even Ada. Like I am not even engaging with the novel on a thematic or stylistic level right now, literally just from the perspective of the actual writing, it's poorly executed.
Absolutely unsurprising that all those primarily white critics circles and review outlets would love something like this. They love garbage representation, enough to forgive bad writing to get it, and pat themselves on the back for being so diverse!
October 1, 2025
It seems I've been reading a lot of Westerns over the last year or so and this is the newest one, published in 2021. It's basically the standard story of a guy going on a mission of vengeance. The difference is that the man is Chinese and more bodies get stacked up than usual. Ming Tsu is an orphan born in America of Chinese parents and raised by a criminal to be a killer. And Ming becomes an even more remorseless killer than the Terminator. No one can stop him. Isn't there any kryptonite that can stop this guy? Needless to say, such a story can easily become boring. But I give it 4 stars rather than 3 or less because I liked the writing and following Ming's odyssey across Nevada and into California for the big show-down in Sacramento. He travels with a blind old Chinese man he calls "the prophet" and also runs across a traveling sideshow. It turns out that the folks in the show all have various gifts or powers... I feel we go from Cormac McCarthy "No Country for Old Men" territory to Ray Bradbury "October Country." It did make the story more interesting, that is, adding the fantastic elements.
I look forward to seeing what Tom Lin will write next.
I look forward to seeing what Tom Lin will write next.
November 21, 2021
The dying man writhed in agony and reaching out he grabbed the ringmaster's ankle weakly. The ringmaster jerked his foot away and kicked the man hard in the face, sending him rolling over on his side. He gave his cane a sharp twist and it came apart in his hand, revealing a hidden knife.
"A man is never without his arms," he said, and winked at Ming. "Something you surely must know better than I. But enough of these platitudes." With his boot the ringmaster rolled the moaning man back over onto his back. "I'll be taking those bills back," he said, and opened the man's throat with a quick swipe of his bladed cane.
The man gurgled a soft protest as he passed...
So then. This writing is simultaneously excessively ornate, and excessively blunt, and casually sloppy (what's with those three uses of the word back, anyway..."back over onto his back I'll be taking those bills back"?). It's a style that reminds me more than anything of The Life and Adventures of Joaquín Murieta: The Celebrated California Bandit by John Rollin Ridge (1854), a book that everyone should read before they die. It's almost the same story, come to think of it. As in John Rollin Ridge's novel, the story told in The Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu is overplotted and overblown and ridiculous, and yet, in its own way, somehow, deeply entertaining.
This was a very fun read, in other words. I'm not sure it's meant to be more than that, and if not, then I'd say it's a resounding success.
"A man is never without his arms," he said, and winked at Ming. "Something you surely must know better than I. But enough of these platitudes." With his boot the ringmaster rolled the moaning man back over onto his back. "I'll be taking those bills back," he said, and opened the man's throat with a quick swipe of his bladed cane.
The man gurgled a soft protest as he passed...
So then. This writing is simultaneously excessively ornate, and excessively blunt, and casually sloppy (what's with those three uses of the word back, anyway..."back over onto his back I'll be taking those bills back"?). It's a style that reminds me more than anything of The Life and Adventures of Joaquín Murieta: The Celebrated California Bandit by John Rollin Ridge (1854), a book that everyone should read before they die. It's almost the same story, come to think of it. As in John Rollin Ridge's novel, the story told in The Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu is overplotted and overblown and ridiculous, and yet, in its own way, somehow, deeply entertaining.
This was a very fun read, in other words. I'm not sure it's meant to be more than that, and if not, then I'd say it's a resounding success.
April 23, 2021
Magic realism in a Weird Western is usually an unmitigated delight, but this complex novel reads more like a graphic novel minus the graphics. Ming is a rather wooden character, moving through the motions of revenge as he seeks for his lost love. Almost non-stop action, and very little character development as even the setting becomes mostly an obstacle on his quest. It's an interesting attempt, and I'm glad I finished, even though I found it a slow read--one more assassination, one more dead horse, one more cryptic prophecy, ho-hum. Without a strong connection to the characters, the action was divorced from suspense.
March 23, 2022
I really enjoyed this short and brutal little western. Ming Tsu is a badass assassin in the Far West during time that the great Pacific railroads were being built. He is a sort of Chinese Arya, marking names off his list as he venges past wrongs. The writing reminds me a little of Cormac McCartney, but the dialog here actually uses punctuation marks ;-) He hooks up first with a prophet, who makes for a great character study and some comic relief. Later, he has a group of "miracles" with which he travels - this brings an element of magical realism to the story for which I found it easy to suspend my disbelief. The themes of home, love, upbringing, and forgiveness are all here if in a photo negative version. The descriptions of the many dry walks across the wastelands and encounters with outlaws and bones along the way were realistic and moving.
Fantastic little book, I feel it was well-deserving of the 2021 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Fiction. Maybe not a Pulitzer winner though.
Come and vote for your favorite in Fino's 2021 Pulitzer list
Fantastic little book, I feel it was well-deserving of the 2021 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Fiction. Maybe not a Pulitzer winner though.
Come and vote for your favorite in Fino's 2021 Pulitzer list
July 21, 2024
I'm looking at a book with an incredible concept and high potential. Unfortunately, my experience with it was disappointing for various reasons. The storyline was intriguing, and everything initially seemed promising. However, the execution left much to be desired, making it a struggle to get through the book due to its poor writing. More effort could have been put into developing the characters, especially Min Tsu, the main character. His personality often didn't align with his actions or thoughts throughout the book, such as his attitude towards Chinese immigrants. Was this supposed to be a character flaw we should understand? Instances like this occurred frequently, leading to an overall abrupt misalignment of events and a plotline that didn't come together smoothly.
And most importantly, getting through this book was so difficult for me—in simple terms, it was a snooze-fest.
And most importantly, getting through this book was so difficult for me—in simple terms, it was a snooze-fest.
July 5, 2021
The Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu by Tom Lin begins as a revisionist western. Instead of a dapper Bret Maverick or James West, our protagonist is Ming Tsu, an orphaned Chinese immigrant who has been trained in the deadly art of assassination. He has been beaten, his wife taken from him and he has been enslaved, pounding rails for the Central Pacific Railroad. Ming talks like Clint Eastwood and is handy with a six-gun, so it seems obvious that retribution will be dealt out in hot lead. And then things get weird. And let me be clear: not a little weird like that weird little growth on the big toe of your left foot. But super crazy weird like that hideous monstrosity that sprouted on the big toe of my left foot. The one that is the color of Thousand Island dressing and has the texture of a Twinkie, smells like peanut butter, and will hiss at you if you poke it too hard. (Just reading this back makes me think maybe I should have my doctor check it out). The story was so strange I started to think maybe I was reading this too literally. Maybe The Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu was a parable about the passing of time. Maybe it was a fable about the fleeting nature of memory. Maybe it was a not even a western at all but an honest to God allegory about Alzheimer’s disease. I was seized by fear. Just what the Hell had I brought into my family’s home? What have I exposed my loved ones to? I had no idea and that made me feel stupid. As anyone can tell you I do not need any book to make me look stupid. I have that covered by myself. Soon I was glaring at this book, it was giving me the ole stink eye back, and the growth on my toe kept spiting toxic acid at it. I began to suspect that maybe first time author Lin had no idea himself what his book was about or the purpose of the weirdness. While I enjoy magical realism and a little David Lynch in my entertainment, I felt this novel was a little too much. So three stars is all you’re getting Ming!
June 23, 2021
I'll say one thing for Mr. Lin's debut . . . he delivers on that title. In fact, it may be an undercount.
Otherwise, it's rare that I can be doubly disappointed by a book. The first letdown is that "The Thousand" et al is not a novel about anti-Asian discrimination in the late 19th century, which is the impression I got from a brief interview I read. The second letdown is that, on its own merits, "The Thousand" blah blah blah just isn't very good. The sentences are so Hemingway-esque that I said "go catch a fish" out loud at one point. The violence is so repetitive that it becomes mundane, which may be the point, although if that's the case I got it on page 10. And the story is so full of tropes it feels assembled. There's a blind prophet (is there any other kind?). There's a tender-hearted orphan boy (as are they all). And did I mention that half the characters have superpowers (because who DOESN'T anymore)? Worst of all, the main character falls asleep and dreams in every other chapter, and we read all about it. Not sure if it's lazy storytelling or lazy plot development. Maybe both, which is at least efficient.
Some of the violence is kind of fun, though, so it eeks out an extra star from me.
Otherwise, it's rare that I can be doubly disappointed by a book. The first letdown is that "The Thousand" et al is not a novel about anti-Asian discrimination in the late 19th century, which is the impression I got from a brief interview I read. The second letdown is that, on its own merits, "The Thousand" blah blah blah just isn't very good. The sentences are so Hemingway-esque that I said "go catch a fish" out loud at one point. The violence is so repetitive that it becomes mundane, which may be the point, although if that's the case I got it on page 10. And the story is so full of tropes it feels assembled. There's a blind prophet (is there any other kind?). There's a tender-hearted orphan boy (as are they all). And did I mention that half the characters have superpowers (because who DOESN'T anymore)? Worst of all, the main character falls asleep and dreams in every other chapter, and we read all about it. Not sure if it's lazy storytelling or lazy plot development. Maybe both, which is at least efficient.
Some of the violence is kind of fun, though, so it eeks out an extra star from me.
June 14, 2021
I did not care for this book at all. The premise sounded really interesting, but the execution just didn't work for me. The prose itself often felt overwrought and needlessly flowery, with odd sentence composition. There were many instances where characters would be in conversation, and suddenly the text would switch from representing dialog to reporting it. There was also a lot of fairly gruesome violence (which, okay, it's a western revenge story...there's going to be some violence).
I think this book falls into the magical realism category, which is not my thing at all; there were certainly some things that were otherwise unexplained, and to me seemed pointless. The two women characters in the book were pretty flat and defined almost solely by their relationship to the main character.
I think this book falls into the magical realism category, which is not my thing at all; there were certainly some things that were otherwise unexplained, and to me seemed pointless. The two women characters in the book were pretty flat and defined almost solely by their relationship to the main character.
August 6, 2021
Unapologetically pulpy and violent, this western story about hard bitten assassin Min Tsu, with an already high body count behind him, is on the trail of all the men responsible for ripping him away from his wife Ada (they eloped against her father’s wishes), and sending him off to work laying rails for the Union Pacific Company, in the hopes that that hard life would kill him.
They didn’t count on the sheer (literal) bloody mindedness of Ming, who escapes and travels through hundreds of kilometres of hard terrain in search of his targets.
Along the way, he falls in with a blind old man who can predict a little of the future, and travelling magic show people (who are mostly BIPoC), each endowed with unusual powers, which they use in their performances, and to keep alive on the road.
The story is full of violence, with Ming no stranger to murder, and the various lawmen he encounters being quick to pull out their guns, too.
I loved the more realistic view of the West, with its rampant racism, which Ming occasionally uses to his advantage; for example, his wanted poster is so badly drawn, it could be of any East Asian there to work the railroad, allowing him to frequently evade capture. Though of Chinese descent, Ming identifies as American, having been raised from a very young age by a white man, and speaking no Mandarin or Cantonese.
I liked the supporting characters of the old, blind man and magic show performers. I can see why other GR reviewers drew comparisons to the X-Men. I hadn't expected this paranormal aspect to the story, but liked it and how matter-of-factly the author included this into the story.
I figured out the small twist in the story well before Ming did, but I still liked this fairly quick, bullet-ridden read.
They didn’t count on the sheer (literal) bloody mindedness of Ming, who escapes and travels through hundreds of kilometres of hard terrain in search of his targets.
Along the way, he falls in with a blind old man who can predict a little of the future, and travelling magic show people (who are mostly BIPoC), each endowed with unusual powers, which they use in their performances, and to keep alive on the road.
The story is full of violence, with Ming no stranger to murder, and the various lawmen he encounters being quick to pull out their guns, too.
I loved the more realistic view of the West, with its rampant racism, which Ming occasionally uses to his advantage; for example, his wanted poster is so badly drawn, it could be of any East Asian there to work the railroad, allowing him to frequently evade capture. Though of Chinese descent, Ming identifies as American, having been raised from a very young age by a white man, and speaking no Mandarin or Cantonese.
I liked the supporting characters of the old, blind man and magic show performers. I can see why other GR reviewers drew comparisons to the X-Men. I hadn't expected this paranormal aspect to the story, but liked it and how matter-of-factly the author included this into the story.
I figured out the small twist in the story well before Ming did, but I still liked this fairly quick, bullet-ridden read.
September 17, 2022
"A man is immortal until the moment of his death. And then he is vulnerable to all things. But until this moment he lives forever, and nothing in all creation can lay him low."
This is tough for me. I loved this story but could not get past the writing style. The old western style with magic, mystery, and vengeance was so good. Unfortunately, I felt like I was stumbling through the whole thing, just trying to make it through the book. I am definitely not blaming Lin for this because he wrote a beautiful story that I should have loved. Let's call it bad timing mixed with a reading slump and leave it at that.
Review originally posted here on Britt's Book Blurbs.
This is tough for me. I loved this story but could not get past the writing style. The old western style with magic, mystery, and vengeance was so good. Unfortunately, I felt like I was stumbling through the whole thing, just trying to make it through the book. I am definitely not blaming Lin for this because he wrote a beautiful story that I should have loved. Let's call it bad timing mixed with a reading slump and leave it at that.
Review originally posted here on Britt's Book Blurbs.
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August 29, 2021
Dark, violent, and not in one of my preferred genres. I listened on audiobook … not sure I would have finished otherwise. Despite some gratuitous scenes, it had substance, interesting characters, and a solid plot. I understand the higher ratings and why some would love it. Lastly, the ending surprised me, which I always appreciate.
September 27, 2021
This was a pretty good novel, and I enjoyed almost all of it. There is a lot of death, horse death, and violence so be warned.
Feodor Chin is the narrator for the audiobook version of this novel, and he was perfect for this particular novel describes its genre. His accents were sublime.
Here is a more in depth review, which I agree with completely:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
3.5 stars
Feodor Chin is the narrator for the audiobook version of this novel, and he was perfect for this particular novel describes its genre. His accents were sublime.
Here is a more in depth review, which I agree with completely:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
3.5 stars
June 21, 2021
A really difficult read, which I eventually packed up, and probably should have done so earlier.
There isn't sufficient depth to the characters, and it is almost devoid of humour.
There isn't sufficient depth to the characters, and it is almost devoid of humour.
August 7, 2021
What a great combination of beautiful writing and gripping storycrafting. I won't describe the book at length. I'll put it this way: set when the Chinese were building America and its transcontinental railroad, Ming experiences racism and he seeks revenge. He's a trained and paid killer so the task is made easier. He has a set of targets in mind and during his quest, he meets up with a band of misfits. They are weirdly gifted and diverse (a Native American, a Pacific Islander, and a Latino/Mexican). The adventure is fast and chock full of encounters and yes, murders too.
At so many intervals, I was surprised to see the page number when I considered all the action that had occured. Lin's words are very precise and intentional; they're poetic and strategic. And his punctuation is tactical; e.g., the commas are spare but when they occur they mean something significant... the reader must pause and pay attention. And I suggest hearing the sounds of his words in these sentences and paragraphs. Lin is very aware of how the sounds and the rhythm of his words are presented.
It's an affirming and joyful experience to read how Lin implements this artform.
Ok, and I'll say this: this author is someone to keep an eye for and on. I will surely read more of his works. I hope he is working on more writing for me. This "Ming" can certainly dream!
This is the 3rd book I've read that's set around the Gold Rush era. The other titles are "How Much of These Hills is Gold" and "Fortunes." This re-imagining, this reclamation of history in story, is significant and powerful. I think of "feminist rehearsal."
Several favorite quotes:
...And when he at last reached them they did not seem to notice and if any recognized him they did not say so. Mutely he fell in among the Chinese laying ties. The men moved to make space for him, passed him a sledge to drive spikes, let him labor with them. Perhaps they stared a little, too, at the strange man who wore no queue and who threw a strange and quiet aura of danger. And then their ranks closed tightly around him, he was drawn near, and in a moment he was gone among them.
...There was in his body a memory of labor, of force, of weight, and motion. He pulled the glove back onto his tanned hand and turned round to the small figure of the prophet, seated motionless atop his horse. There were memories in the ancient body, too. Perhaps those blank white eyes preserved a dull memory of seeing.
...They had been moving for days now without rest. In the cold predawn light the two men stood beside their horses and watched the beasts breathing. Soon the sky began to shout with garish streaks of pinks and reds. How similar dawn and dusk appear in the eye unmoored from time, from east and from west. The one approximates the other, and time waits to be set in motion everywhere at once.
He ducked under the flap of the boy's tent and entered. Hunter was crying, the kind that can be neither hastened nor delayed but must simply be endured, that comes unbidden and departs just as suddenly and leaves only the glossy residue of tears....
The prophet fell silent for a moment, then said, "It is not so. No man only remembers the past. Those who claim to are mistaken. Remembrance is the burden of the body, not of the mind. True memory is not to be recollected. It is a rite to be performed."...."There are true memories," the prophet said. "The past enacted continuously in the present. Rituals. Habits. True memories sound registers below what the mind can touch. Men can misremember. Men can lie. But the body cannot forget. It was no sense of forgetting." He extended a withered arm and pulled back his sleeve to reveal a spiderweb of thin white sars encircling his wrist. "Flesh rubbed raw from irons," he murmured. "My body remembers a time when it was in chains, even while I cannot."
"You asked me," the prophet said, "what good an elegy is when sung by a man who cannot remember. But all men cannot remember." His voice was clear and lucid. "An elegy is good merely because it is sung. And when its words are lost, it is still good, because it is sung. And when its melody, too, has been washed away, it is still good, because it was once sung." He rose to his feet and cast his blind eyes over the men sitting around the fire. "To sing at all is to labor, and it is only by labor that men living recall the shadows of men passed. This is what is it means to remember."
....There was something that he had to do but he could not remember what, could only feel the weight of a discarded obligation pressing against him, a vague and unplaceable sense of having forgotten something important....
....The prophet said that it had been a creature of an antediluvian age, that long ago it swam here in a sunlit sea forty fathoms deep. And he said that this land was once somewhere else, that the earth turned and turns in an endless sweep but of placelessness. The prophet spoke again of his favorite subject, time beyond time, of mountains ground to dust in the blink of an ancient eye, of chasms chiseled through sandstone. Our world, he said, was a fiendish patchwork of rock and water, seamed under the oceans with fire and rock.
These are small hours of the day, and in these hours men and beasts alike lose their way. Dusk and dawn, the liminal twins, each one interchangeable with the other. The passing of time perceptible only in the faint redness to the west, or the rising glow to the east. Under cloudcover there is no telling whatsoever; the minutes spool out irregular and unremarkable. All wait for the hour to reveal itself, for the sky to roll over black, or else bleach to colorless day. And in these small hours of the day time forgets itself.
At so many intervals, I was surprised to see the page number when I considered all the action that had occured. Lin's words are very precise and intentional; they're poetic and strategic. And his punctuation is tactical; e.g., the commas are spare but when they occur they mean something significant... the reader must pause and pay attention. And I suggest hearing the sounds of his words in these sentences and paragraphs. Lin is very aware of how the sounds and the rhythm of his words are presented.
It's an affirming and joyful experience to read how Lin implements this artform.
Ok, and I'll say this: this author is someone to keep an eye for and on. I will surely read more of his works. I hope he is working on more writing for me. This "Ming" can certainly dream!
This is the 3rd book I've read that's set around the Gold Rush era. The other titles are "How Much of These Hills is Gold" and "Fortunes." This re-imagining, this reclamation of history in story, is significant and powerful. I think of "feminist rehearsal."
Several favorite quotes:
...And when he at last reached them they did not seem to notice and if any recognized him they did not say so. Mutely he fell in among the Chinese laying ties. The men moved to make space for him, passed him a sledge to drive spikes, let him labor with them. Perhaps they stared a little, too, at the strange man who wore no queue and who threw a strange and quiet aura of danger. And then their ranks closed tightly around him, he was drawn near, and in a moment he was gone among them.
...There was in his body a memory of labor, of force, of weight, and motion. He pulled the glove back onto his tanned hand and turned round to the small figure of the prophet, seated motionless atop his horse. There were memories in the ancient body, too. Perhaps those blank white eyes preserved a dull memory of seeing.
...They had been moving for days now without rest. In the cold predawn light the two men stood beside their horses and watched the beasts breathing. Soon the sky began to shout with garish streaks of pinks and reds. How similar dawn and dusk appear in the eye unmoored from time, from east and from west. The one approximates the other, and time waits to be set in motion everywhere at once.
He ducked under the flap of the boy's tent and entered. Hunter was crying, the kind that can be neither hastened nor delayed but must simply be endured, that comes unbidden and departs just as suddenly and leaves only the glossy residue of tears....
The prophet fell silent for a moment, then said, "It is not so. No man only remembers the past. Those who claim to are mistaken. Remembrance is the burden of the body, not of the mind. True memory is not to be recollected. It is a rite to be performed."...."There are true memories," the prophet said. "The past enacted continuously in the present. Rituals. Habits. True memories sound registers below what the mind can touch. Men can misremember. Men can lie. But the body cannot forget. It was no sense of forgetting." He extended a withered arm and pulled back his sleeve to reveal a spiderweb of thin white sars encircling his wrist. "Flesh rubbed raw from irons," he murmured. "My body remembers a time when it was in chains, even while I cannot."
"You asked me," the prophet said, "what good an elegy is when sung by a man who cannot remember. But all men cannot remember." His voice was clear and lucid. "An elegy is good merely because it is sung. And when its words are lost, it is still good, because it is sung. And when its melody, too, has been washed away, it is still good, because it was once sung." He rose to his feet and cast his blind eyes over the men sitting around the fire. "To sing at all is to labor, and it is only by labor that men living recall the shadows of men passed. This is what is it means to remember."
....There was something that he had to do but he could not remember what, could only feel the weight of a discarded obligation pressing against him, a vague and unplaceable sense of having forgotten something important....
....The prophet said that it had been a creature of an antediluvian age, that long ago it swam here in a sunlit sea forty fathoms deep. And he said that this land was once somewhere else, that the earth turned and turns in an endless sweep but of placelessness. The prophet spoke again of his favorite subject, time beyond time, of mountains ground to dust in the blink of an ancient eye, of chasms chiseled through sandstone. Our world, he said, was a fiendish patchwork of rock and water, seamed under the oceans with fire and rock.
These are small hours of the day, and in these hours men and beasts alike lose their way. Dusk and dawn, the liminal twins, each one interchangeable with the other. The passing of time perceptible only in the faint redness to the west, or the rising glow to the east. Under cloudcover there is no telling whatsoever; the minutes spool out irregular and unremarkable. All wait for the hour to reveal itself, for the sky to roll over black, or else bleach to colorless day. And in these small hours of the day time forgets itself.
May 26, 2023
Intriguing blend of Wild West and Magical Realism. Not a normal genre for me, but the plot captured me enough to give it a go.
Ming, born an American, raised by a criminal, was ripped from the wife he loved. Thrown into the racist environment of building the western railroad, he escapes and begins a journey of revenge on the men who did him wrong, all the while seeking his lost wife. His travels bring him into contact with a travelling circus of miracles and an odd adventure explores not only the heart of a man, but how nature and nurture combine someone's personality.
Lin did a fabulous job with the writing, though I hated the ending, this book deserves that 4th star.
Ming, born an American, raised by a criminal, was ripped from the wife he loved. Thrown into the racist environment of building the western railroad, he escapes and begins a journey of revenge on the men who did him wrong, all the while seeking his lost wife. His travels bring him into contact with a travelling circus of miracles and an odd adventure explores not only the heart of a man, but how nature and nurture combine someone's personality.
Lin did a fabulous job with the writing, though I hated the ending, this book deserves that 4th star.
October 29, 2022
Westerns are another one of those genres like Noir where I thought I had a pretty good idea of what to expect until I actually started reading those books. What I want out of a Western is some good ol' rootin', tootin' and shootin' with a dash of sad introspection and commentary on the futility of raging against technological progress. Instead, I've been getting miserable protagonists that I find myself rooting against and stories with long stretches of absolutely nothing happening at all.
This book was a pleasant surprise in that it was exactly what I wanted it to be.
At its heart, this is a revenge tale that we join already in progress, some of the names on the eponymous Ming Tsu's hitlist already taken care of. The slight he experienced was pretty rough and I understand why a character in this situation would develop a singular focus to seek vengeance on those that wronged him. I didn't think it'd feel very cathartic to watch him get that comeuppance, but I was invested enough to see it through. And I'm glad I did, because that climax and final chapter alone bumped this up another star rating for me; that was a fantastic conclusion in my opinion.
There was a recurring motif and theme about memories not being perfect that was hammered on a lot in the first half of the book that was pretty much dropped in the second half, which I found strange. And there's a good portion of the book where the protagonist is traveling with a troupe of roadside performers for lack of a better description, but they didn't stick around as long as I expected and wanted them to. The last quarter or so, Ming Tsu is alone, but even these chapters devoid of dialogue kept me engaged with some frankly beautiful prose. It was very environmental, but also felt very different from all the parts that preceded it.
It's hard to make a revenge tale that's not too predictable, but it was rewarding to see one that didn't do what I expected.
This book was a pleasant surprise in that it was exactly what I wanted it to be.
At its heart, this is a revenge tale that we join already in progress, some of the names on the eponymous Ming Tsu's hitlist already taken care of. The slight he experienced was pretty rough and I understand why a character in this situation would develop a singular focus to seek vengeance on those that wronged him. I didn't think it'd feel very cathartic to watch him get that comeuppance, but I was invested enough to see it through. And I'm glad I did, because that climax and final chapter alone bumped this up another star rating for me; that was a fantastic conclusion in my opinion.
There was a recurring motif and theme about memories not being perfect that was hammered on a lot in the first half of the book that was pretty much dropped in the second half, which I found strange. And there's a good portion of the book where the protagonist is traveling with a troupe of roadside performers for lack of a better description, but they didn't stick around as long as I expected and wanted them to. The last quarter or so, Ming Tsu is alone, but even these chapters devoid of dialogue kept me engaged with some frankly beautiful prose. It was very environmental, but also felt very different from all the parts that preceded it.
It's hard to make a revenge tale that's not too predictable, but it was rewarding to see one that didn't do what I expected.
July 12, 2021
This is an excellent Western novel, and brought all the essential elements of the genre into full life. I very much enjoyed reading it.
So it seems a little sad to say that I wanted more from it, too. The main character, Ming Tsu, is Chinese, and is a solid reminder that a Western hero (or antihero) needn't be white. The story and the setting still work perfectly well, and please let's see more of it in books, films and TV shows!
The problem, for me, is that Ming was orphaned as a baby and raised by a white man. Ming doesn't speak Mandarin, and he emphatically does not empathise or identify with "Chinamen". It seemed to me that he might as well have been white, and even though he's the main character it wouldn't really have changed the nature of the story. These sorts of characters are always outsiders, whatever their race.
The most delightful and interesting character, for me, was Ming's sidekick and guide, the Prophet - who did indeed feel intrinsically Chinese. But the Prophet might have attached himself to the main character for any number of (unknowable) reasons, whether the latter was Chinese or not.
So, I loved this novel, and heartily recommend it. But I'd love to see authors leaning in even further to working with the multi-race culture of the Old West and writing non-white protagonists.
So it seems a little sad to say that I wanted more from it, too. The main character, Ming Tsu, is Chinese, and is a solid reminder that a Western hero (or antihero) needn't be white. The story and the setting still work perfectly well, and please let's see more of it in books, films and TV shows!
The problem, for me, is that Ming was orphaned as a baby and raised by a white man. Ming doesn't speak Mandarin, and he emphatically does not empathise or identify with "Chinamen". It seemed to me that he might as well have been white, and even though he's the main character it wouldn't really have changed the nature of the story. These sorts of characters are always outsiders, whatever their race.
The most delightful and interesting character, for me, was Ming's sidekick and guide, the Prophet - who did indeed feel intrinsically Chinese. But the Prophet might have attached himself to the main character for any number of (unknowable) reasons, whether the latter was Chinese or not.
So, I loved this novel, and heartily recommend it. But I'd love to see authors leaning in even further to working with the multi-race culture of the Old West and writing non-white protagonists.
June 29, 2024
I liked the super natural themes in this, but over all, it fell short for me. I didn't feel invested in Ming's resolve for revenge because he cheated on his wife. He had all this love for her, yet murdered her husband and then her. I would liked to have had this story end where Ming see's her happy and ends up walking away. The whole time the book is trying to convince you that Ming has morality in some form. Things contridicted themselves to much. To many themes were conflicting and didnt blend well.
The supernatural aspects felt like plot armor for the character. He felt like he couldnt form his own thoughts and needed the prophet to do his thinking, and I didnt like that. He never figures out where to go, he just asks the prophet, and he tells him. It really lost me when Ming dodged a bullet because the prophet told him to lean back. How am I going to believe that Ming is this amazing gunman, if he has cheat codes on?
The supernatural aspects felt like plot armor for the character. He felt like he couldnt form his own thoughts and needed the prophet to do his thinking, and I didnt like that. He never figures out where to go, he just asks the prophet, and he tells him. It really lost me when Ming dodged a bullet because the prophet told him to lean back. How am I going to believe that Ming is this amazing gunman, if he has cheat codes on?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 6, 2021
Worst book ever
I cannot believe I was enticed by the hype for a book this bad. The only thing that kept me reading is I thought it could only get better. Didn’t happen
I cannot believe I was enticed by the hype for a book this bad. The only thing that kept me reading is I thought it could only get better. Didn’t happen
September 19, 2021
This disappointed me. I think when I read the synopsis, I was hoping for me. This felt like a book rendition of the movie Django Unchained but with a Chinese main character. It wasn't unique in the slightest. It felt like every single spaghetti western out there with the generic plot of man is wronged and makes a hit list of men he's going to go kill to get revenge. It also had the added bonus of Ming Tsu attempted to get his wife back. It hit every single western trope that there is. The ending is predictable long before the story ends. I didn't feel much sympathy for the main character. We were never given enough time before he begins his murder quest to get to know him or his backstory or really any of his actual personality and it just left me feeling unsatisfied.
Honestly, Ming Tsu felt interchangeable with every white stereotypical western cowboy with the exception that he faced tons of racial slurs in every conversation. Ming Tsu is supposed to be a Chinese orphan who was sentenced to work on the transcontinental railroad. The book could have shared a bit on the plight of Chinese lured to the U.S. with promises of a better life, then pressed into slave labor on the railroads. It's only mentioned in passing. He shows no sympathy for his countrymen and actually seems to hold almost contempt for them. And when asked about his Chinese heritage he says he doesn't remember it. He shows no interest in it at all. I didn't see the point of making him Chinese if that wasn't much of a factor in this book as all.
The two women in the book were flat characters and defined almost solely by their relationship to Ming Tsu. They didn't even feel real. The romance between himself and Hazel was rushed, non-existent and based almost solely on them having sex almost every night while he is with the caravan. Also, it unsettled me how little Ming Tsu thought of what Ada wanted. His daydreams her abandoning her child for him just because he came came back were sickening and selfish. Even his memories say that she was upset with him over lying to her about what he did for a living, for hiding things. What from that tells him that she would rejoice his return? Especially, when the Prophet told him that she was happy in her life. But I digress...
As a side note, I also didn't love the animal harm in this book. They shoot quite a number of horses in this novel, after of course having exhausted them until they can't even stand. It felt cruel and unnecessary.
All in all, the entire novel felt very one note and flat. It was tedious to read and honestly, the only things I liked about this was there were some beautiful scenery descriptions as they journeyed from southern Wyoming to Sacramento along the transcontinental railroad, and the bits of magical realism thrown in.
This book was recommended to me by TBR (Tailored Book Recommendations).
Honestly, Ming Tsu felt interchangeable with every white stereotypical western cowboy with the exception that he faced tons of racial slurs in every conversation. Ming Tsu is supposed to be a Chinese orphan who was sentenced to work on the transcontinental railroad. The book could have shared a bit on the plight of Chinese lured to the U.S. with promises of a better life, then pressed into slave labor on the railroads. It's only mentioned in passing. He shows no sympathy for his countrymen and actually seems to hold almost contempt for them. And when asked about his Chinese heritage he says he doesn't remember it. He shows no interest in it at all. I didn't see the point of making him Chinese if that wasn't much of a factor in this book as all.
The two women in the book were flat characters and defined almost solely by their relationship to Ming Tsu. They didn't even feel real. The romance between himself and Hazel was rushed, non-existent and based almost solely on them having sex almost every night while he is with the caravan. Also, it unsettled me how little Ming Tsu thought of what Ada wanted. His daydreams her abandoning her child for him just because he came came back were sickening and selfish. Even his memories say that she was upset with him over lying to her about what he did for a living, for hiding things. What from that tells him that she would rejoice his return? Especially, when the Prophet told him that she was happy in her life. But I digress...
As a side note, I also didn't love the animal harm in this book. They shoot quite a number of horses in this novel, after of course having exhausted them until they can't even stand. It felt cruel and unnecessary.
All in all, the entire novel felt very one note and flat. It was tedious to read and honestly, the only things I liked about this was there were some beautiful scenery descriptions as they journeyed from southern Wyoming to Sacramento along the transcontinental railroad, and the bits of magical realism thrown in.
This book was recommended to me by TBR (Tailored Book Recommendations).
December 2, 2022
Ming Tsu, chinesisches Einwandererkind, das sehr früh seine Eltern verliert. Niemand kümmert sich um ihn, bis sich der berüchtigte Anführer eines Verbrechersyndikats seiner annimmt und ihn zum Killer ausbildet. Fortan erledigt er das, was man ihm aufträgt. Stellt sein Handeln nicht in Frage. Bis, ja bis er sich in Ada, die Tochter eines Eisenbahntycoons verliebt und mit ihr durchbrennt, was natürlich ihrem Vater nicht passt. Dessen Handlanger heften sich auf die Fährte des Paares, entführen Ada, nehmen Ming Tsu gefangen und verkaufen ihn an die Eisenbahngesellschaft, wo er mit vielen seiner Landsleute (lt. Quellen ca. 90 % der Arbeiter) als Zwangsarbeiter bei Sprengungen, dem Verlegen der Schienen etc. eingesetzt wird. Wusstet ihr, dass der Bau der ersten transkontinentalen Eisenbahn ohne chinesische Zwangsarbeiter nicht möglich gewesen wäre?
Zehn Jahre harte Knochenarbeit, viele seiner Leidensgenossen sterben, aber nicht Ming Tsu. Getrieben von dem Wunsch nach einem Wiedersehen mit seiner geliebten Ada beißt er sich durch, aber all diejenigen, die für ihre gewaltsame Trennung verantwortlich sind, sollen bluten. Er erstellt eine Liste mit deren Namen, verbündet sich mit einem hellsichtigen alten Landsmann und zieht, zusätzlich unterstützt von einer Gauklertruppe mit übernatürlichen Kräften, Richtung Westen. Dorthin, wo er Ada vermutet. Aber nicht, ohne eine veritable Blutspur hinter sich her zu ziehen.
Rache-Odyssee, Neo-Western, Love Story, Sozialreportage, Pulp, Thriller – all das ist „Die tausend Verbrechen des Ming Tsu“, das Debüt Tom Lins, 2022 mit der prestigeträchtigen Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction ausgezeichnet.
Ein wilder Ritt, im wahrsten Sinne des Wortes. Vielfältig, unterhaltsam, spannend, eindringlich. Liebt ihr die Filme Tarantinos und/oder der Coen Brüder? Dann solltet ihr unbedingt zugreifen. Und wenn nicht, dann auch.
Zehn Jahre harte Knochenarbeit, viele seiner Leidensgenossen sterben, aber nicht Ming Tsu. Getrieben von dem Wunsch nach einem Wiedersehen mit seiner geliebten Ada beißt er sich durch, aber all diejenigen, die für ihre gewaltsame Trennung verantwortlich sind, sollen bluten. Er erstellt eine Liste mit deren Namen, verbündet sich mit einem hellsichtigen alten Landsmann und zieht, zusätzlich unterstützt von einer Gauklertruppe mit übernatürlichen Kräften, Richtung Westen. Dorthin, wo er Ada vermutet. Aber nicht, ohne eine veritable Blutspur hinter sich her zu ziehen.
Rache-Odyssee, Neo-Western, Love Story, Sozialreportage, Pulp, Thriller – all das ist „Die tausend Verbrechen des Ming Tsu“, das Debüt Tom Lins, 2022 mit der prestigeträchtigen Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction ausgezeichnet.
Ein wilder Ritt, im wahrsten Sinne des Wortes. Vielfältig, unterhaltsam, spannend, eindringlich. Liebt ihr die Filme Tarantinos und/oder der Coen Brüder? Dann solltet ihr unbedingt zugreifen. Und wenn nicht, dann auch.
November 29, 2021
westerns introduced me to story. when i was little we went to the movies every sunday as a family. there was a movie theater in the neighborhood and going to the movies in the afternoon had the same weight as going to church in the morning. i remember watching westerns. tons of westerns. american westerns, spaghetti westerns. when out of the theater i thought of myself as a cowboy riding his horse (bike) in the waste lands of the industrial zone adjacent my neighborhood. during the day it was empty and dusty because all the workers where inside the factories and there was no landscaping and only basic roads. i roamed these western lands and hills with my steer.
this book brought me back . it's delightful when these narratives come back to you with a new voice and new faces yet very much the same. a fresh authenticity. loved the reader of the audiobook, too. i was sorry when it ended. i would have gladly listened to another 10 hours.
this book brought me back . it's delightful when these narratives come back to you with a new voice and new faces yet very much the same. a fresh authenticity. loved the reader of the audiobook, too. i was sorry when it ended. i would have gladly listened to another 10 hours.
August 12, 2021
This is a western story set in the time when they were building the transcontinental railroad. It is also a story of revenge and magical realism. Ming Tsu is a Chinese man who was raised by a white man and trained to be an assassin. When his wife is taken from him and he is forced out, he finds himself working on a railroad gang until the time is right to seek his revenge to those who wringed him and get his wife back. With the assistance of and old blind Chinese man known as the Prophet, they set out. They hook up with a traveling magic show as they head west. This is a violent story as the title suggests, and it is all about Ming and how he fits in this world of his. I found it quite enjoyable and fascinating. I was first put off by the magical realism, but it worked and I am glad I read it.
December 1, 2021
Easily the worst book I read this year
February 27, 2022
Ming Tsu is a character unlike any I have met before. He is a man of few words, trekking sometimes by horse but mostly on foot from Utah to Sacramento, California, in the 1860s, across deserts and mountains, in blistering heat and in bone-chilling cold, driven by his unique sense of justice and devotion. Along the way he is sometimes in the company of various other travelers, who are each mysterious, miraculous, and ordinary in ways almost as confounding as those of Ming Tsu. Coming to know each character in the book is part of its magic, which I'll not spoil by introducing them here. This is a novel full of grisly intricately-described murders, so it is not for the weak of heart. Make no mistake -- Ming Tsu is a killer. That is what he does. He kills.
This is Mr. Lin's debut novel. I can't wait to read more from him.
This is Mr. Lin's debut novel. I can't wait to read more from him.
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