Mark Salzman "The Laughing Sutra"

Mark Salzman has lived and taught English in China in 1980s. He is best known for the autobiographical book "Iron and Silk" describing this period of his life. "The Laughing Sutra" is a fiction novel following the adventures of Hsun-ching - a Chinese orphan turned monk turned Red-guard-against-his-will turned vagabond - who travels to United States to retrieve a mythical "Laughing Sutra" for his old teacher/adoptive-father. The book is easy and fun to read, but does not pack a lot of punch. The adventures are too lightweight to make it an action novel. The deliberations about China and USA and their culture are too well-known and stereotypical to make it a treatise about the two cultures and societies. The fun elements are too infrequent to make it a funny book. The references to Buddhist teachings are mixed bag: some deep insights in the beginning coupled with what-was-he-thinking Laughing Sutra ending. The only truly interesting character is Colonel Sun, but even he is not fully developed, since he plays a secondary role. Fun light read, but not more. 6/10.