I was so charmed by this story. I felt I was in the hands of a master storyteller, one who know how to take her time, how to entrance me, how to make I was so charmed by this story. I felt I was in the hands of a master storyteller, one who know how to take her time, how to entrance me, how to make me see the story in my mind's eye, how to delight me and keep me turning the pages. It took its beautiful elegant time to tell me a beautiful, elegant story, one that captivated me. In some places I felt--and this is a good thing--that I knew what was going to happen next--and the anticipation what I knew was coming was such a pleasure, like hearing a wonderful old tale told once more by a master storyteller, or hearing a song you know by heart performed by someone who has been practicing that song her whole life. Wonderful. I read the book while simultaneously listening to Choo's narration which was such a treat....more
What a fascinating read. The audiobook was absorbing. I loved the choice made by the narrator to read the characters' names with proper Chinese inflecWhat a fascinating read. The audiobook was absorbing. I loved the choice made by the narrator to read the characters' names with proper Chinese inflections. The book made historic figures come alive and put 20th century China history into a vivid human framework, where I felt enlightened in a different way from straight history/nonfiction, which is committed to being accurate and doesn't allow for speculation. The novel also felt different from fictional representations I've read about this swath of history, too, in that it rendered familiar historic figures with plausible humanity and believable quirks. I'd never imagined, for example, Mao being a 'skirt-chaser,' or Zhou Enlai being a dapper ballroom dancer--but now have no trouble imagining these things. Ha Jin is such a careful writer and his approach was exactly what was needed to breathe life into human beings who have long since become static iconographic statues of themselves in our idea of their place in history....more
I loved the exuberant, tumble-forward narrative voice. I loved the libidinous mix of bawdy sex and passionate revolutionary fervor. I loved the sex wrI loved the exuberant, tumble-forward narrative voice. I loved the libidinous mix of bawdy sex and passionate revolutionary fervor. I loved the sex writing, and beyond the sex writing, I loved the physically sensual nature of the narrator's description of all things: nature, life, revolution, obligation. I think it must be a masterful translation, because on nearly every page I felt breathless and surprised by a given allusion or sentence or image. I loved the parts of the novel more than the whole, and I loved the ending most of all--it was so surprising and yet so satisfying. For me this is a book that relies more on verbal inventiveness than it does on storytelling, but the verbal inventiveness kept me so continuously off-balance and delighted that the novel held my interest from beginning to end....more
With Can Xue I need to let go of my normal requirement that sentences need to make sense or be related in any way to what came before or after them, aWith Can Xue I need to let go of my normal requirement that sentences need to make sense or be related in any way to what came before or after them, and further, I need to let go of any expectation that I am an equal partner in this particular writer-reader relationship; instead, I'm a toy dachshund being led along a broken sidewalk, a little too fast and with a collar that's a little too tight, and all I can do is to run along on my stumpy legs, tip-tip-tip-tip-tip, until I get to the end, where I might be fed a little treat if I did my best to keep up, and if I didn't stop to sniff feces or flowers, either one, along the way....more
Reading this novel is exactly like listening to someone tell you their dream, where it takes them about four hours to tell you the whole thing, and itReading this novel is exactly like listening to someone tell you their dream, where it takes them about four hours to tell you the whole thing, and it is a well known fact that listening to someone tell you about their dream is never quite as interesting dreaming it yourself....more
I was sitting here trying to figure out how to describe the experience of reading this novel and here is what I came up with: Reading this novel is liI was sitting here trying to figure out how to describe the experience of reading this novel and here is what I came up with: Reading this novel is like watching a game of Go when you don't know any of the rules. Or maybe, it's like playing Go yourself, but you make up your own rules, and your partner makes up a different set of rules, and you don't tell each other the rules of your game and then you go ahead and play that way together until the board is filled with small stones and you have a grand old time.
Both this novel and the game of Go are from China but that is purely coincidental. The novel is not like Go in the way of: "this is a very Chinese novel, like Go is a very Chinese game." No. The novel is like Go in that there are distinct patterns in the prose, black, white, black, white, and as I read along the words make patterns, but the patterns I perceive are made up in my own head, and I can't say for sure what it means, or who won, even when the game is over.
Can I say how much fun it was, though? How much it delighted me? There. I've said it....more
Mo Yan's cordial relationship with the Chinese government made his Nobel win a controversial one but it's not clear to me why books should be judged bMo Yan's cordial relationship with the Chinese government made his Nobel win a controversial one but it's not clear to me why books should be judged by their author's politics. I took the book on its own terms, without trying to discern the nature of the author's views, and found the book to be full of humility and humor and sadness, well worth reading....more
One of the things I admire most about Loving Sabotage was that the author has imagined children of such extraordinary meanness, and has allowed this rOne of the things I admire most about Loving Sabotage was that the author has imagined children of such extraordinary meanness, and has allowed this reality about children to be expressed on the page. The book feels like a layered meditation, from an adult perspective, on the egoism of young children, as well as a lovely tribute to the despair of first love. ...more
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