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archytas's review against another edition
4.0
This book was quite different to what I was expecting. For starters, I'd forgotten it was written in French, and the flowing, run-on sentences took me by surprise. Secondly, the book doesn't so much meander through digressions as hurtle down them enthusiastically.
This is never as artless as it seems. In fact, the book is more art than anything else. But the rich, detailed kind. A delicately, painstakingly painted watercolour with details etched in subtly varying wash. Many of the scenarios are hardly plausible, instead carefully posed, but the picture is so beautiful your brain doesn't care. There is a very personal, and Buddhist, core of the book: Characters across time grapple with how to maintain a sense of self, of values and ethics, when stripped of personal control, and then also when they have it. This book simultaneously explores China's history of totalitarian and brutal governance over a culture which celebrates delicacy, precision and finding meaning in the unsaid as well as the said. Which in turn leads us into language and the way it can *be* a culture, a connector and meaning-maker. Then there is Beijing itself, which to use a cliche, is a character itself - one who is, perhaps, ultimately the winner. Or maybe the loser. If that kind of ambiguity bothers you, this book may not be for you. I found the ending underwhelming, and the pace of the "main" storyline varies enormously. The prose is stunning however and the stream of ideas and history and characters compelling.
This is never as artless as it seems. In fact, the book is more art than anything else. But the rich, detailed kind. A delicately, painstakingly painted watercolour with details etched in subtly varying wash. Many of the scenarios are hardly plausible, instead carefully posed, but the picture is so beautiful your brain doesn't care. There is a very personal, and Buddhist, core of the book: Characters across time grapple with how to maintain a sense of self, of values and ethics, when stripped of personal control, and then also when they have it. This book simultaneously explores China's history of totalitarian and brutal governance over a culture which celebrates delicacy, precision and finding meaning in the unsaid as well as the said. Which in turn leads us into language and the way it can *be* a culture, a connector and meaning-maker. Then there is Beijing itself, which to use a cliche, is a character itself - one who is, perhaps, ultimately the winner. Or maybe the loser. If that kind of ambiguity bothers you, this book may not be for you. I found the ending underwhelming, and the pace of the "main" storyline varies enormously. The prose is stunning however and the stream of ideas and history and characters compelling.
ellemnope's review
2.0
Historical fiction, but not my favorite read. A bit of a slow storyline along with a very confusing narration. For the full review: http://erraticprojectjunkie.blogspot.com/2012/02/2012-boty-once-on-moonless-night-by-dai.html
virgi's review
2.0
Tanto quanto "Balzac e la piccola sarta cinese" mi aveva emozionato, questo romanzo mi ha annoiato.
Alcuni pezzi sono interessanti e molto prosaici, ma dopo la prima parte, incentrata su Puyi, il ritmo cede, le motivazioni dei protagonisti si perdono in esercizi di lingua, fino a scivolare in un finale che non si sembra tale. Girata l'ultima pagina, mi sono chiesta: "Tutto qui? Hanno dimenticato di stampare il finale..."
Alcuni pezzi sono interessanti e molto prosaici, ma dopo la prima parte, incentrata su Puyi, il ritmo cede, le motivazioni dei protagonisti si perdono in esercizi di lingua, fino a scivolare in un finale che non si sembra tale. Girata l'ultima pagina, mi sono chiesta: "Tutto qui? Hanno dimenticato di stampare il finale..."
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