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3.49 AVERAGE
3.49 AVERAGE
I just think this was the wrong book for me at the wrong time.
Too slow. Might return to later.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I’d like to start with a view that dissents with those of some other reviewers, who (in praise, often) claim that this book works outside the rules of fiction, or is unlike all other books, or isn’t even a novel. Of course it is a novel, and a hyperliterary one at that–and it operates within structures of fictional form that are common (even commonplace) in the twentieth century, not to mention in earlier works that share some of its more astonishing features (such as Don Quixote). And Gao got a degree in French literature and appears to have been well acquainted with modernism. So there’s that, to start.
I am not a huge, huge reader of nonlinear and/or nontraditional narrative myself, but the events surrounding this book’s composition in the wake of the Cultural Revolution gave it a fresh interest for me. So to place this book within a literary context is hardly to denigrate it or to take away from what makes it wonderful (on the contrary, I think that that enriches it). Also, if you don’t know where Guizhou or Anhui are, look at a map. I promise that being able to follow the narrator’s travels will increase your reading pleasure.
Additional thoughts here:
http://alisonkinney.com/category/gao-xingjian-soulmountain/
Thanks!
I am not a huge, huge reader of nonlinear and/or nontraditional narrative myself, but the events surrounding this book’s composition in the wake of the Cultural Revolution gave it a fresh interest for me. So to place this book within a literary context is hardly to denigrate it or to take away from what makes it wonderful (on the contrary, I think that that enriches it). Also, if you don’t know where Guizhou or Anhui are, look at a map. I promise that being able to follow the narrator’s travels will increase your reading pleasure.
Additional thoughts here:
http://alisonkinney.com/category/gao-xingjian-soulmountain/
Thanks!
Review at The Lit Pub.
This is not an easy novel to pin down, as it strives to push the boundaries of what constitutes a novel.
Part memoir, part metafiction, part travelogue, part ethnographic exploration, part political, part ecological and environmental, part history of the Cultural Revolution, part the realities of post-Mao China, part folklore, part poetry, part mythology, part nightmares and dreams, part songs and revelries, part seduction, part sexual misadventures, part aphorisms, but, mostly, it’s a profound meditation on life.
This is not an easy novel to pin down, as it strives to push the boundaries of what constitutes a novel.
Part memoir, part metafiction, part travelogue, part ethnographic exploration, part political, part ecological and environmental, part history of the Cultural Revolution, part the realities of post-Mao China, part folklore, part poetry, part mythology, part nightmares and dreams, part songs and revelries, part seduction, part sexual misadventures, part aphorisms, but, mostly, it’s a profound meditation on life.
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Seriously I'm not into the chinese literature/philosophy. It's like torture to me.
"A man fleeing from the repressive social conformity required by China's communist government journeys into the remote mountain regions of southwest China in search of meaning in his life and the elusive Soul Mountain." I wanted to flee the book. Due to severe OCD I had to read it all before discarding it.
"A man fleeing from the repressive social conformity required by China's communist government journeys into the remote mountain regions of southwest China in search of meaning in his life and the elusive Soul Mountain." I wanted to flee the book. Due to severe OCD I had to read it all before discarding it.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
can anyone confirm xingjian has actually met a woman???
I'm definitely missing the point with this book, but the excessive depictions of violence against women and general misogyny eclipses whatever that may be.
I didn't especially enjoy this book and there was a lot of it. Not saying it doesn't have literary or historical value because of course it does. But for various reasons it didn't work for me.