The Three-Body Problem - Book Review

The Three Body Problem is something of a rarity; it’s a book that was originally published in China that has also managed to become immensely popular in the US. Western markets, and American markets in particular, generally aren’t very welcoming to foreign works, but after reading the first novel in Liu Cixin’s groundbreaking trilogy, it’s not really hard to see why it has enjoyed so much success As a side note, I’m going to use the Chinese system of names, where the surname comes first. If your bookstore lists its books in alphabetical order, it will be in the “L” section, for “Liu."

Now, I was admittedly a little skeptical when I first picked up The Three Body Problem. First off, the book is a translation. And no matter how good the translation is, there will always be something that is inevitably lost. Secondly, I'm inherently suspicious of a novel published in a police state like China, where censorship runs rampant. However, the translation itself feels very fluid, and seems to do its best to convey the original meaning of the text, and the censors seem to have left the book completely intact. The translator, Ken Liu (no relation to the author), has also provided footnotes for when a simple translation is unable convey the author’s intent, and seems to have done his very best to convey it. Nevertheless, I encourage anyone who is able to read the book in the original Chinese (though I’m not sure whether it was originally published in Mandarin or some other dialect). Ken also has footnotes explaining the many references to Chinese culture found throughout the book, which is especially useful to Western readers, whose knowledge of Chinese history is generally somewhat limited.

As the novel began, I was hit on the head with what is best described as an emotional cinderblock, as a young woman named Ye Wenjie watches as her father is beat to death by four young Cadres for the simple crime of teaching basic physics. As I said, emotional cinder block.

Ye is then transferred to what is best described as a labor camp, where she runs afoul of some officials in the Chinese Government. She is almost sent to prison, but then a government official named Yang offers her an opportunity; rot in jail, or use her knowledge of science to help with a secret government project called “Red Coast.” Ye, of course, chooses the latter.

The novel then shifts to the modern day, where we are introduced to a scientist named Wang Miao. Miao is asked by the Chinese government to help look into the mysterious suicides of several renowned physicists, and a mysterious organization called “The Foundation of Science.” As he does so, Wang begins to uncover a conspiracy with global ramifications. And while I acknowledge that that sounds unbelievably generic, I assure you, the story itself is anything but.

Liu is one of those writers who has endeavored to put the “science” back in science fiction — something that will very much appeal to fans of Andy Weir’s The Martian. The book, at times, feels like a crash course in astrophysics. This means that he uses quite a bit of jargon at times, but it probably won’t confuse you too much if you’ve watched an episode or two of Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking. However, it’s still probably a bit of a turn off to some more casual readers, which is unfortunate, because there’s a lot to like about The Three Body Problem. There’s something for every sci-fi fan, as Liu expertly combines tropes from across the genre in new and exciting ways. Though the work is probably best characterized as Hard Science Fiction, it has elements of Space Opera and Cyberpunk, along with several other genres. In this modern age of science fiction where the same tropes and plot lines are repeated again and again (anyone who wants to challenge me on this need only look at the abundance of Lord of the Flies/Hunger Games knock-offs that have oversaturated the market lately), The Three Body Problem feels refreshingly original.

The writing in The Three Body Problem feels remarkably fluid and clear. The writing seems to have a certain cadence that I just can’t describe. It’s probably partly owed to the fact that the novel owes much to the literary tradition of the East - one that has a different history from the West. As Ken Liu said in his Translator’s Note, “The Chinese literary tradition shaped and was shaped by its readers.” I can safely say that Liu Cixin has taken his rightful place in that tradition — and as one of the great authors in the genre of science fiction.

5/5 Stars