"May in America" is the latest novel from acclaimed Chinese-American author, Annie Wang. May, one of the new generation of Chinese rich kids, has outgrown Beijing and has come to California for an exciting life. She meets two American men: a Jewish-American Harvard-educated professor named Leaf; and Mentor, a Silicon Valley self-made billionaire. As her relationships with Leaf and Mentor progress, May’s past traumas in patriarchal China are revealed, while her cultural naiveté leads to divergent interpretations of trust, personal boundaries, respect, fetishism, and sexual deviancy. May’s life descends into a mad triangle of deception. Desperate, hurting, disconnected and suffering from the feeling of being emotionally dead and alone, May must somehow find the strength to survive the whirlwind of her new life. "May in America" reveals the universally evocative themes of love and lust, darkness and light, innocence and cynicism, individuality and co-dependence, and, ultimately, loss and redemption.
Once dubbed “The Bad Girl of Beijing,” Annie Wang's previous books include "Lili" (2002) and "The People’s Republic of Desire" (2006), both of which were critically acclaimed and were called China’s version of “Sex and the City.” In her works, Annie Wang represents the leading edge of contemporary China’s avant-garde young writers in the 1990s. Her works continue to probe the fringes of erotic and alt.sex fiction in Chinese literature. Her writings frequently tackle issues of gender and sexual identity, psychological and physical dysfunction, and traditional Chinese attitudes at the intersection of Western sensuality, sexuality, time, and place.
