Cinema Love is the impressive debut novel by Chinese American writer Jiaming
Tang. The book’s blurb and the opening chapters may lead readers to believe that it
primarily explores the lives of gay men in post-Mao China, a period when
homosexuality was still a criminal offence. That portrayal includes the imagination of
a nondescript cinema functioning as a queer utopia and a Stonewall-type riot in
which gay men courageously resist the police—both of which lack historical
accuracy. However, as the narrative transitions to 1980s Chinatown and
contemporary, post-pandemic New York, the novel’s true strength emerges: a
poignant story of migrant lives, women’s agency, and the reconciliation of traumatic
pasts.

The tentative, fearful gay characters eventually give way to resilient female
characters who dare to love and hate with intensity. The book becomes most
relatable and evocative when read as a chronicle of the migratory experiences of an
older generation of (often undocumented) migrants from China to the United States.
These individuals carry buried but unforgotten traumas, endure shattered ‘American
dreams’, and yet persist in valiantly holding on to their aspirations, hopes, and
desires. The novel stands as a love song to Chinatown and the Chinese diaspora
community that the author knows intimately.

The introduction of ghostly elements might initially seem disorienting in a narrative
grounded primarily in social realism. Nevertheless, readers are encouraged to
embrace the supernatural—ghosts, destiny, and other ethereal forces—to make
sense of the novel’s many twists, turns, and coincidences. Accepting these elements
opens the door to intriguing insights into the mundane, everyday dimensions of
religion and spirituality in Asia, as experienced by some.

The title, Cinema Love, primarily references gay men’s affection for one another
within the Workers’ Cinema, where mainstream war films created an ideal backdrop
for clandestine cruising in the shadows. Tang’s writing is strikingly cinematic, deftly
cutting between scenes, characters, and perspectives—from intimate close-ups of
individual lives to expansive long shots capturing the social panorama and
communal mobilisation. At times, the story risks lapsing into melodrama,
sentimentality, or even kitsch. However, written in an era when diasporic Chinese
communities in the United States and worldwide are grappling with the historical and
contemporary traumas of homophobia, xenophobia, migration controls, and anti-
Asian racism, this gut-punching melodrama serves as a potent and necessary salve
for its characters and readers alike.

The sophistication of the novel’s narrative structure and character development
belies the fact that this is Tang’s debut work. Cinema Love is a substantial contribution to Asian American literature and provides a strong foundation for an inevitable feature film adaptation.

Source: Bao, Hongwei. “Gut-punching Melodrama: Jiaming Tang’s Cinema Love.” Cha: An Asian Literary Journal, 9 Jan. 2025, chajournal.blog/2025/01/09/cinema-love.

Hongwei Bao

Cinema Love is available from fiveleavesbookshop.co.uk/product/cinema-love-not-just-an-extraordinary-debut-but-a-future-classic-jessamine-chan/.

The novel is also published in paperback at the end of January 2025