Running Away

Sent by Marie, who broke up with him not long ago, a nameless narrator travels to Shanghai with an envelope for a man called Zhang Xiangzhi, on an errand never explained. Someone hands him a mobile phone on his first day, and the narrator, who has always dreaded telephones, starts to wonder whether he is being tracked. He falls in with Li Qi, an alluring and ambiguous young woman, and travels with her overnight by train to Beijing, where the trip with his watchful minder turns fast, violent and confused. On the train, just as he and Li Qi begin to make love, the phone rings: it is Marie, with news of a death in her family. Still in love with her, he feels pulled back toward her across the world. Love, death and water in every form run through the story.

AI-generated summary

About the book

Form

Novel

Length

186 pages in the original

Genres

Love (assigned by AI)

Set in

China

Series

Marie Madeleine Marguerite de Montalte, book 2 · book 3: La Vérité sur Marie· book 4: Nue

First published

2005 by Éditions de Minuit

Author's age

48 when first published

ISBN

9782707319272 (original)

9781564785671 (Dalkey Archive Press, United States)

More

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