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krayfish1's review against another edition
3.0
Not the best of satires. It rips into China saying "China is like this" without digging deeper or exploring consequences or taking it to absurd enough levels. Interesting though.
nwhyte's review against another edition
4.0
https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/3256057.html
My old friend Rana Mitter recommended this to me as an early example of the Chinese science fiction tradition which we're now seeing in the works of Cixin Liu and Hao Jingfang (and others, but those are the recent Hugo winners). It's a short read, a very very direct satire on China of the 1930s, portrayed as a country on the planet Mars inhabited by cat people. The narrator is an earthling who arrives in a crashed spaceship just before the story begins and gets away slightly murkily as it ends. I thought it was really interesting to note that the trope of people going to Mars and encountering talking non-humans was already well enough established for a Chinese writer writing in Chinese in 1930s China to just pick it up and run with it. The works of Jules Verne and H.G. Wells were circulating in translation, but neither of them has humans landing on Mars.
The satire is so direct that I wondered if Pierre Boulle might have been partly inspired by this for Monkey Planet/Planet of the Apes. The dates however don't seem to check out - according to ISFDB, Cat Country seems to have been translated into English only in 1970, and to French only in 1981, too late for Boulle's book which was published in 1963. Our unnamed protagonist comes to terms with a fragmented Cat Country, full of weak patriarchal local warlords who are exploited by rich and cynical foreigners, and undermined by subversive students who follow the philosophy taught by Uncle Karl which led to the overthrow of the emperor in the neighbouring country. As satire goes, it's not all that subtle. But it's effectively written, and I found William A. Lyell's translation lucid.
My old friend Rana Mitter recommended this to me as an early example of the Chinese science fiction tradition which we're now seeing in the works of Cixin Liu and Hao Jingfang (and others, but those are the recent Hugo winners). It's a short read, a very very direct satire on China of the 1930s, portrayed as a country on the planet Mars inhabited by cat people. The narrator is an earthling who arrives in a crashed spaceship just before the story begins and gets away slightly murkily as it ends. I thought it was really interesting to note that the trope of people going to Mars and encountering talking non-humans was already well enough established for a Chinese writer writing in Chinese in 1930s China to just pick it up and run with it. The works of Jules Verne and H.G. Wells were circulating in translation, but neither of them has humans landing on Mars.
The satire is so direct that I wondered if Pierre Boulle might have been partly inspired by this for Monkey Planet/Planet of the Apes. The dates however don't seem to check out - according to ISFDB, Cat Country seems to have been translated into English only in 1970, and to French only in 1981, too late for Boulle's book which was published in 1963. Our unnamed protagonist comes to terms with a fragmented Cat Country, full of weak patriarchal local warlords who are exploited by rich and cynical foreigners, and undermined by subversive students who follow the philosophy taught by Uncle Karl which led to the overthrow of the emperor in the neighbouring country. As satire goes, it's not all that subtle. But it's effectively written, and I found William A. Lyell's translation lucid.
lleullawgyffes's review against another edition
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
pure dystopian fiction is just incredibly tedious.
arquero's review against another edition
3.0
A disillusioning story.
While rickshaw boy focused on the personal experience of the protagonist, this one clearly took a truly global view at the misery and decadence of a whole nation. And what a nation!
Wondering how China overcame this.
cf. Penguin island
While rickshaw boy focused on the personal experience of the protagonist, this one clearly took a truly global view at the misery and decadence of a whole nation. And what a nation!
Wondering how China overcame this.
cf. Penguin island
novkap's review against another edition
3.0
Would I read this again? No. However, I can appreciate this for what it is- a biting satire and commentary on political ideology and culture.
azraelblue's review against another edition
dark
sad
medium-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
tolkienist's review against another edition
3.0
Still applicable to China today, as well as many other countries. Like any good satire you can pick and choose quotes and passages that ring true today, even though the book was written in the 1930s.
berryzkobold's review against another edition
4.0
It's a bit of a slog at first, but it really gets going in the second half once everything was all set up. The entire last act was a bit of a punch in the gut.
The final sentence may be one of the my favorite final sentences ever. It was so blunt that I cackled like a middle school kid who just witnessed a sick burn.
It made me sad, made me laugh, and it surprised me. Can't ask for much more than that.
The final sentence may be one of the my favorite final sentences ever. It was so blunt that I cackled like a middle school kid who just witnessed a sick burn.
It made me sad, made me laugh, and it surprised me. Can't ask for much more than that.
kjcharles's review against another edition
A vicious satire of China in the 1930s, taking wide aim at culture and ideology. It's nominally SF but not really: the setting is only developed as it needs to be for satirical purposes. Satire and SF can coexist convincingly (parts of Gulliver's Travels) but at least as it's translated, this is very much the former.
It's pretty bitter stuff, with some moments of horrendous violence, a really bleak world view, and lots of bonus misogyny, both in the Cat Country society and in the narrator voice, so not cheery stuff. Do not buy this for a cute story about cat people, is what I'm saying.
Interesting read, and the last line is one of the best-struck killer blows I've encountered.
It's pretty bitter stuff, with some moments of horrendous violence, a really bleak world view, and lots of bonus misogyny, both in the Cat Country society and in the narrator voice, so not cheery stuff. Do not buy this for a cute story about cat people, is what I'm saying.
Interesting read, and the last line is one of the best-struck killer blows I've encountered.
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