Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress: A Novel
CDN$ 7.27
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress - Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie is a wonderful journey into China during the time of the infamous Cultural Revolution. The story is about two teens that have been sent to the country side for re-education. Both Luo and the unnamed narrator of the book are children from educated families, Luo s dad is a dentist who even worked on Mao Zedong s teeth and the narrator s father was a lung specialist and his mother was a consultant in parasitic diseases. Since both boys had educated parents they were sent to be re-educated. The journey of re-education is harsh and the villagers are untrusting of all the items the two boys bring to the village. They are allowed to keep a rooster alarm clock and a violin. The boys are sent to watch movies in a nearby town with the expectation of when they return that they would act out the movie in its entirety for the whole village. The book is about the power of story telling and mostly about the power of the written word. The boys meet the seamstress daughter and both fall in love with her. Luo has a relationship with her and decides she needs to be educated to better suit him. The two boys read to her western literature and her eyes are opened to many possibilities. The two boys and their cache of forbidden Western literature including, of course, Balzac opens their eyes to a new world. The literature proves to be a double edged sword, however, for the boys lose the one thing that was making their life bearable.
P-U - I see this book is coupled with KITE RUNNER and the only reason I can think of for this is that it s exotic in content and involves two young men. Other than that the similarities end. First of all, I should admit that I bought this book for its cover---something I don t ordinarily do, but the image was so striking that I had to read this. Boy, was I disappointed. BTW, the image of the shoes has absolutely NOTHING to do with the story--a real let-down. While the look into communist China was interesting, the plot, if any, was thin and without drama. At the first of the story there is a bit of movement, but that quickly dies down. Also, some graphic parts I could have done without.As far as the overall publication of the work, I was amazed to find typos and grammatical erros in a book that has been so highly touted and popular.Sorry, but this small story just didn t do it for me. I m giving it three stars because I just don t have the heart to give less. Even a bad book deserves something as none of them are easy to write.
A small book, but a deeply moving one - The power of books to transform the unspeakable into the sublime. Why roses can grow on a garbage heap. How storytelling helped two young men survive Chairman Mao s re-education programme. Lyrical
Simple story--well told - Basically this is the story of China and the struggles that several people go through. I was reminded at times of The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck in that it truly shows the land and people in great detail AND has a good story. Also recommended: Bark of the Dogwood which is longer and more intricate--deals with the Southern United States and family dysfunction.
A well crafted novel with an ironic twist! - Aside from portraying a vivid image of China during the Mao years, this novel is also a very well crafted satire (in the same league as one of my favourite novelists -Somerset Maugham). A young boy (Luo) is exiled to the countryside for ",re-education", along with thousands of the undesirable bourgeois class. Luo subsequently meets and falls in love with a beautiful, simple-minded seamstress. After stumbling upon a suitcase filled with a treasure trove of banned classic english literature, Luo hatches a plan to use the books to educate the little seamstress. In so doing Luo believes he is bringing her up to his level. Her education however, takes a very different turn and young Luo is indeed taught a valuable lesson!