The author did an incredible job of weaving past and present together; all the characters were extremely fleshed out and though perspectives shifted frequently, there’s never any confusion as to whose narration you’re reading. Each of their woes were carefully constructed and navigated, with an impressive depth throughout. It was also fascinating to read from the perspectives of wives of closeted gay men – a viewpoint I’ve never seen (or even considered) before. However, there were so many themes incorporated that it ended up feeling a little convoluted toward the end. That said, Tang is undoubtedly a talented writer, and I’m excited to see what he does next.

Jiaming Tang’s debut novel, Cinema Love, is a poignant exploration of love and identity that lingers long after the final page. The narrative unfolds in China, centering on Old Second, a man who is cast out after his sexuality is revealed. As he navigates life in a new city, he discovers a theater that becomes a sanctuary for men like him and a woman named Bao Mei, who guards their secrets.

Tang excels at weaving a complex tapestry of interconnected lives through a series of vignettes that span decades and continents. The novel deftly alternates between moments of profound joy and deep sorrow, crafting a narrative that is both rich and moving. The evolving storylines and diverse characters come together to create a deeply affecting portrayal of love and struggle.

Probably one of the most beautiful books I have read this year. I need everyone to read this book, its magical, wonderful, heartbreaking, and oh so memorable. I have not stopped thinking about this book ever since i finished it and wish I could go back and read it for the first time again.

A beautiful and emotionally written novel highlighting themes of grief, forbidden love, cultural heritage and survival, told through various characters' perspectives (although written in third person). I'm not usually a fan of third person present tense prose, but here it helps to create a vivid setting in a theatrical or almost cinematic way (pardon the pun), with the workers' cinema at the very centre of the stage. For this reason, I think I liked the first part of the novel the most, where the setting characters and back stories are introduced.

I did start to lose interest at times from the middle onwards, but that's also partly on me, because this is the type of book where you saviour every word, and I haven't particularly been in that kind of a reading mood for a while. Because of this writing style, the book did feel a lot longer than it was, but maybe I will reread the book sometime in the future when I can appreciate it more.

Thank you to John Murray Press for this arc!
This debut novel is a remarkable piece of historical/contemporary queer fiction. Using the infrastructure of Manhattan’s Chinatown to navigate the immigrants’ memories and experiences, Tang crafts a story that is tightly packed, but wonderfully crafted. Full of deliberate contradictions and a cast of characters that, though it took me a while to feel attached to, are lively yet melancholic, Tang has written a book that I flew through.
3.75/5!

certainly expansive and compelling but i found the self-awareness to be distracting, in some ways it was fitting as it felt cinematic, especially in terms of introducing us to the cast of characters and so on

A moving and tender, almost in an aggressive way, debut spanning decades in both China and New York. A very impressive piece of fiction.

Cinema Love has confirmed that I'm generally not a fan of literary fiction - although the writing was excellent, it was overshadowed by the feeling of overwhelming depression I got reading this book. It was like reality was trying to punch me in the face with the rawness of the stories told with the overarching themes of homophobia and racism. As a queer Chinese person who would likes being in denial when reading fiction, I was feeling quite down with there not being a sliver of hope to be found in this book. Moreover, I thought the descriptions were at times unnecessarily gruesome, but I understood why these stylistic choices had been made.

I didn't think it would be right to rate this at all as I think this is objectively a good book, but I didn't enjoy it purely based mostly off my subjective feelings.

Thank you to NetGalley and John Murray Press for providing a copy of this book for review. All opinions are my own.

This was a pleasant book to read. I was expecting to read about the lives of the gay men who frequented the cinema but actually the book is mostly told by from the point of view of the women that were impacted by the cinema and the men who used it. That was a refreshing take. It didn't always come together for me but I enjoyed it nevertheless.

What a gorgeous and captivating book about the men and the women whose lives are forever changed by how they interacted inside the cinema. While the cinema showed films, it was really a place for men to come and connect with each other in a sexual and sometimes romantic way. Tang's prose is so luscious and inviting, and I never wanted the book to end. The book brings to mind the films, Goodbye Dragon Inn & La chatte à deux têtes and how the cinema could be a way for people to connect in places where those connections are fraught with danger and possible violence.

Liang's novel is in a way a type of ghost story. It's about a literal ghost, but also ghosts of the cinema, ghosts of the workers and the men who who want to the cinema, and ghosts of what could have been. This is an exciting debut by Jiaming Tang, and it's one of the best debut novels I've read recently. A definite recommendation.

This has a lovely theme, the beginning was intriguing, but sadly I kinda lost interest around 40%, the pace is slightly too slow for me.

Thank you netgalley for the advance copy.

This is a title I highlighted at the start of the year. It was certainly a debut novel which grabbed my attention from its pre-publication description.
The first thing that really impresses is the quality of the writing. The author describes himself as a queer immigrant who lives in New York and the cross-cultural elements and LGBTQ+ sensibility is evident. Central to the novel is a location- The Workers’ Cinema in Mawei City in post-Socialist China at some point in the 1980s. This is a down at heel venue frequented by (often married) men in order to pick up other men whilst a small selection of (often war) films play continuously which nobody (with the exception of the Projectionist) is interested in. The novel features characters who frequented the cinema, worked at it or were affected by the behaviour of the men searching for love in the darkness.
This shadowy world is beautifully conjured up by the author who would surely have been too young to recall such venues (I did keep having the image of the Scala in King’s Cross from around the same time period creeping into my mind).
Some of the key characters from this section move to New York and struggle to adapt with poverty amongst apparent plenty, unemployment and exploitation, racism and green card marriages to deal with but over the decades the Workers’ Cinema still maintains a hold over these characters as guilt, ghosts, lust and loss permeate their daily lives.
Things do shift around a bit time-wise and there was the odd moment when I wasn’t sure when things were happening but we very clearly move towards a section set during the Pandemic and afterwards. There’s a short piece of first-person narrative but it’s predominantly third-person and increasingly features two women, Yan Hua and Bao Mei who briefly encountered one another at the cinema.
Writing is strong, plot-wise I felt it tailed off just slightly towards the end when I wasn’t sure about some of the older character’s motivations and it felt we were slightly being taken around in the same circles but this is an impressive debut with the author thoroughly impressing on this occasion and showing much potential for the future.
Cinema Love will be published in the UK by John Murray Press on 9th May 2024. Many thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for the advance review copy.

A slow burner but a beautifully written book about love finding its way to flourish when it is not. allowed or accepted
It’s atmospheric and emotive and genuine and a book to make you think and feel gratitude
A good read

Thank you to the publishers and to NetGalley for allowing me to read this book ahead of its release.

Cinema Love is a gorgeous LGBTQ+ literary novel that will take your breath away with its stunning prose and beautiful imagery. The emotion in this book jumped off the pages and really hit me full force in the gut. I adored and devoured each sentence and I know that this book will stick with me for a long long time to come.

I really enjoyed the love story we are witnessing in this book, it feels real, poignant and heartwarming, definitely recommend it.

Cinema Love was a really beautiful, tender portrait of LGBT relationships in a widely unaccepted time/culture, and the kind of relationships which stemmed from this - wives, siblings, friends. It created believable characters and really built a world you could immerse yourself in (Chinatown, the workers cinema etc). I think some of the characters in the latter half of the book based in America were introduced quite quickly and sporadically, and I might've liked some more back story. I also would've found myself more interested, and dare I say slightly more convinced, if the portion set in China had some more socio-political backstory and I understood the atmosphere slightly better. I did find it to be quite a slow paced book, and with it being very story-heavy this made it take a while to read, but on the whole it was very meaningful and I think could easily be a favourite with many readers.

This book covers a big chunk of time and follows a group of characters. They start out at the cinema of the title and end up in the USA.
It was a really interesting story which covered a range of experiences.
I did find that the story didn't quite hit the spot for me. I seemed a little unclear sometimes
However, I think the author shows a lot of promise.

Cinema Love is a novel like no other. Completely different to anything I’ve ever read before, and one that I very much enjoyed. I am constantly on the look out for books which offer brand new perspectives and stories, and this one certainly ticked that box!
This book itself is very ambitious, depicting both the queer-immigrant experience and the complexities of love and relationships in just a mere 300 pages. It is narrated by numerous characters (Old Second, Bao Mei, Yan Hua), all of whom you come to empathise with, and all the stories become intertwined and connected by the end which I really loved - (I will say however that this can get a little confusing at times).

There is no doubt that Jiaming Tang is a brilliant writer. The style of this novel is certainly beautiful and poetic, and I loved it for the most part, although there were a few times where I felt that the writing kind of took away from the storytelling, and so certain chapters almost felt they were lacking in something - I’m not entirely sure what exactly, maybe depth or explanation of certain events.

However, as whole, Cinema Love is an exquisite novel, and I’m so glad I discovered it. Highly recommend keeping an eye out for this one in 2024!

Cinema Love is a novel spanning decades that explores the relationships of gay men, and their wives in China and in Chinatown in New York. Old Second and Bao Mei live in New York City, in an ever changing Chinatown, but they first met in China, at the Workers' Cinema that had become a cruising spot for gay men and where Bao Mei worked selling the tickets. After tragedy there, they married and came to America, but the ghosts of the past followed, and in modern day New York during the pandemic, they must face it all.

This is a sweeping, epic novel that captures the everyday sadnesses and intimacy of human relationships, particular those born out of forbidden circumstances. It is told from multiple perspectives, weaving together a range of central characters with entangled relationships and showing the choices that can have great impact on each other. Particularly intriguing is the way that the book explores both gay men and the women they marry, and the complexities of love and human emotion that can occur in different circumstances. The cinema, though central to the plot, doesn't actually feature that much, making it almost feel like a lost ideal, despite being run down, and throughout the book there's a constant yearning for things, people and places.

This kind of decades-spanning epic novel can be confusing or meandering, but in Cinema Love Tang uses vividly-drawn characters to hold the heart of the novel together and tells an unseen story of both gay and immigrant experience.

This book is amazing and captivating. The characters linger in your thoughts even after you've put it down. It tells a story about men concealing their identities to survive. The novel explores themes like forbidden love. The setting shifts between contemporary New York, late 1980s Chinatown, and post-socialist China. The language is beautiful, making it a touching read that resonates with many hearts.