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ekevka's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
carol26388's review
3.0
One aspect of books and reading that I don’t often consider is the extent to which storytelling is a cultural form, often arising out of long-standing tradition. Modern American writing has such an emphasis on telling a good story as well as innovation in characterization and world-building that I forget about traditional forms. The manuscript of Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee is the product of an extensive tradition in Chinese detective storytelling. It was discovered by a Westerner in the 1900s, then translated and published again in 1949. In the translator’s Preface, Van Gulik discusses the background of Chinese detective fiction, transitioning into novel form in the 1600s and reaching their most sophisticated forms in the 18th and 19th centuries. Interestingly, although the author is clearly extremely literate and familiar with Chinese law, he remains anonymous due to the cultural consideration of the detective novel being a ‘frivolous’ form of literature.
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Since Goodreads hasn't clarified whether users should abide by the 2010 Terms of Service listed on site, or by Kara and Emily's comments in the Feedback Group threads, I'm keeping full copies of my reviews at:
http://clsiewert.wordpress.com/2013/12/26/the-celebrated-cases-of-judge-dee-dee-goong-an-translated-by-robert-van-gulik/
AND
at Booklikes http://carols.booklikes.com/post/739483/the-celebrated-cases-of-judge-dee
***********************************************
Since Goodreads hasn't clarified whether users should abide by the 2010 Terms of Service listed on site, or by Kara and Emily's comments in the Feedback Group threads, I'm keeping full copies of my reviews at:
http://clsiewert.wordpress.com/2013/12/26/the-celebrated-cases-of-judge-dee-dee-goong-an-translated-by-robert-van-gulik/
AND
at Booklikes http://carols.booklikes.com/post/739483/the-celebrated-cases-of-judge-dee
antij's review
4.0
This is a very interesting book in how much its unlike modern western detective stories. Seeing as how its a translation of a book originally written in 18th century China about real cases solved by the Real 7th century Judge Dee, one could begin to see how this could showcase some really intriguing differences. However, reading this book in an ongoing series or other books very similar to you, could be difficult to get behind. Primarily the quickness Judge Dee moves to torture is a bit uncomfortable, especially since it rushes straight to beat him so much that he's bleeding everywhere, whether or not the person is an actual criminal or not. There's a lot of information in this addition to show that the Judge doesn't act this way lightly, for various legal reason, and it was a very different time and place, but it still makes him it fairly difficult for me to get behind him as a character.
jameseckman's review
5.0
The Chinese have a long tradition of detective novels, Van Gulik was one of the first translators of Judge Dee, both this one and the ones he created are great reads. Some libraries file these under Gulik, check both names.
yonnyan's review
4.0
The Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee was my very first Chinese detective novel experience. I picked this book up for a class that I am currently taking and I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed it! It is said that in a Chinese detective piece such as this one, the identity of the criminal is automatically revealed (at least to anyone who is vastly familiar with Chinese crime fiction). So, I had to keep that in mind will reading this.
The book consists of three cases that were solved by real-life District Magistrate, Judge Dee during the Tang Dynasty, which eventually led to his promotion. All three stories smoothly transition from one to the next strictly in plot form. So, for example it's not in short story form where he solves one case and then is handed another. It's a bit more realistic than that.
For the first case, as I kept reading I had my suspicions as to who may be the killer, but I didn't really figure it out until it was explicitly stated in the book. I liked it because it at first it seemed slightly complicated. But as I approached the second crime I realize that the first crime was nothing in comparison. Being of Asian descent myself, it didn't take me long to figure out the second case’s criminal. The traditions that I grew up with are extremely similar to that of the Chinese culture as it pertained to the case so that was one reason why I just knew it in the pit of my stomach. It sounds stupid, I know. I'm just doing a horrible job of describing it. The third case completely astounded me. I never would have figured it out. I kept guessing until its end. I believe the third story was my favorite by far (Case of Poisoned Bride).
To sum up my blathering, I found the novel intriguing and liked reading it. I read it in the span of a couple of hours because I couldn't put it down. One of the aspects of the novel that I particularly favored was how it illustrates the Chinese laws and governing system. In China, at the time, a person could not be convicted unless they had confessed to the crime. So keep that in mind while reading. There are scenes of torture that will probably make you cringe, I know that I did at parts.
But overall it is a wonderful historical representation of Chinese history as it pertains to the criminal system and the Confucian way of thinking. It also gives the reader insight one of the nation's greatest Magistrates and his opinion of honor to duty. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in Asian literature or someone who enjoys a good detective novel. It's an easy read and flows so nicely that it became a page-turner, at least for me.
The book consists of three cases that were solved by real-life District Magistrate, Judge Dee during the Tang Dynasty, which eventually led to his promotion. All three stories smoothly transition from one to the next strictly in plot form. So, for example it's not in short story form where he solves one case and then is handed another. It's a bit more realistic than that.
For the first case, as I kept reading I had my suspicions as to who may be the killer, but I didn't really figure it out until it was explicitly stated in the book. I liked it because it at first it seemed slightly complicated. But as I approached the second crime I realize that the first crime was nothing in comparison. Being of Asian descent myself, it didn't take me long to figure out the second case’s criminal. The traditions that I grew up with are extremely similar to that of the Chinese culture as it pertained to the case so that was one reason why I just knew it in the pit of my stomach. It sounds stupid, I know. I'm just doing a horrible job of describing it. The third case completely astounded me. I never would have figured it out. I kept guessing until its end. I believe the third story was my favorite by far (Case of Poisoned Bride).
To sum up my blathering, I found the novel intriguing and liked reading it. I read it in the span of a couple of hours because I couldn't put it down. One of the aspects of the novel that I particularly favored was how it illustrates the Chinese laws and governing system. In China, at the time, a person could not be convicted unless they had confessed to the crime. So keep that in mind while reading. There are scenes of torture that will probably make you cringe, I know that I did at parts.
But overall it is a wonderful historical representation of Chinese history as it pertains to the criminal system and the Confucian way of thinking. It also gives the reader insight one of the nation's greatest Magistrates and his opinion of honor to duty. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in Asian literature or someone who enjoys a good detective novel. It's an easy read and flows so nicely that it became a page-turner, at least for me.
torimc's review
3.0
I’m not sure how I feel about this book. I think I didn’t enjoy it as much because I kept reminding myself about how this was an assigned reading for school. However in my history class we’ve been learning about the several kinds of philosophies that arose during ancient China, such as Confucianism and Legalism, and it was interesting to see how much of an influence those beliefs had on this story.
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