Within these walls exist a force that allows the hidden parts of people to be seen’
I absolutely devoured Cinema Love by Jiaming Tang and the only thing I regretted was not savouring every single beautiful word because my time with Old Second and Bao Mei was way too short! Cinema Love tells the story of men who find intimacy and love amongst one another at a workers’ cinema in the rural city of Fuzhou, where Bao Mei stands as a ticket sales person, and the protector of the men and their secret affairs.
Within the walls of this cinema, the men can be themselves, and this is where Bao Mei finds her happiness too. Fast forward to New York’s Chinatown thirty years later, harrowing events come to light as we find out that not everyone had an understanding relationship like our book’s main characters. Cinema Love is a novel that will make you smile, but also cry. It’s a gorgeous story about tender love and acceptance. I really wish that I could erase this novel from my mind just so I could go back and read it for the first time all over again!
Reviewed by Danielle.
Cinema Love was published on 09/05/24 by John Murrays.
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