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dina_b's review against another edition
3.0
Esta história mostra o poder dos livros, liberta a mente e vontades das pessoas mesmo em sociedades onde o pensamento não pode ser individual mas colectivo. O livros fazem sonhar em mudança.
luchacabra's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
mdevlin923's review against another edition
3.0
During the Cultural Revolution of China, two well-off teenage boys are sent to a mountain village to be "re-educated". While working various manual labor jobs, they befriend two people: the young, beautiful seamstress from a neighboring village and another boy being re-educated. The two boys learn that their friend has a secret stash of forbidden novels and manage to steal them. They pour over the books, ecstatic to read something and have stories to share. They also share the stories with the little seamstress (who they hope to cultivate so one of them can marry her). But the stories do more than just cultivate the little seamstress...she becomes so enamored by the books that she wants to live in the city and eventually runs away from her father and abandons her friends in effort to make her dream come true.
my_platonic_thirst_trap's review against another edition
3.0
Overall p good except for that one chapter
nealagrace's review against another edition
3.0
A TWIST OF AN ENDING I WOULD SAY. IF U GIVE A WOMAN A BOOK SHE WILL LEAVE YOU FOR THE CITY. anyways ….. carry on……
arrrjae's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
phoenix2's review against another edition
3.0
The book wasn't as good as I've expected it to be. The story was nice, but it seemed like it was dragging and it took me more time to read it than it should for a short book like this. However, there were some nice ideas in this one, like youth and the magic effect of books. It was nice also to read about China back in the day and what those young people felt being forced to leave their homes and loved ones behind.
lidotchka's review against another edition
4.0
★★★★☆ - A very nice book, but it was missing something to make it truly perfect.
In this enchanting tale about the magic of reading and the wonder of romantic awakening, two hapless city boys are exiled to a remote mountain village for reeducation during China's infamous Cultural Revolution. There they meet the daughter of the local tailor and discover a hidden stash of Western classics in Chinese translation. As they flirt with the seamstress and secretly devour these banned works, they find transit from their grim surroundings to worlds they never imagined.
You guessed it: I wrote an entire thesis about the Chinese Cultural Revolution, I know this book existed and I really wanted to read it.
It did not disappoint even if I feel like a little something was missing to make it a truly perfect book, a five-star read.
However, I really enjoyed reading it (even if sometimes I had little problems with the narrator and did not always enjoy the writing style. But that's another story).
Do I think you need some knowledge about Cultural Revolution to understand it?
Yes and no. You can perfectly read it with having only a vague idea of what it is since everything is quite well-explained, but you might miss a few things. But you also don't need to be an expert about this time period to understand what's going on: this book isn't centered on the Cultural Revolution, it's only the background of the story. This isn't a history book, don't worry.
Honestly, I'm looking forward to reading some other books by [a:Dai Sijie|5836922|Dai Sijie|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1380212066p2/5836922.jpg] and if anyone has some recommendations, I would be glad to hear them.
To conclude, this novel is very great, very well-documented, very accurate, very romantic, and you should totally read it.
In this enchanting tale about the magic of reading and the wonder of romantic awakening, two hapless city boys are exiled to a remote mountain village for reeducation during China's infamous Cultural Revolution. There they meet the daughter of the local tailor and discover a hidden stash of Western classics in Chinese translation. As they flirt with the seamstress and secretly devour these banned works, they find transit from their grim surroundings to worlds they never imagined.
You guessed it: I wrote an entire thesis about the Chinese Cultural Revolution, I know this book existed and I really wanted to read it.
It did not disappoint even if I feel like a little something was missing to make it a truly perfect book, a five-star read.
However, I really enjoyed reading it (even if sometimes I had little problems with the narrator and did not always enjoy the writing style. But that's another story).
Do I think you need some knowledge about Cultural Revolution to understand it?
Yes and no. You can perfectly read it with having only a vague idea of what it is since everything is quite well-explained, but you might miss a few things. But you also don't need to be an expert about this time period to understand what's going on: this book isn't centered on the Cultural Revolution, it's only the background of the story. This isn't a history book, don't worry.
Honestly, I'm looking forward to reading some other books by [a:Dai Sijie|5836922|Dai Sijie|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1380212066p2/5836922.jpg] and if anyone has some recommendations, I would be glad to hear them.
To conclude, this novel is very great, very well-documented, very accurate, very romantic, and you should totally read it.