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carley's review
3.0
I received this book through Goodreads FirstReads.
I've said this before, but I really don't like rating books on a five-star scale. While it makes things easier, I find it really difficult to rate books of all different genres on the same scale. Having said that, a medium-high 3 is probably what I would give this book.
I Am China is a novel that centers around three characters and jumps time and place with each "chapter." Kublai Jian and Mu are a Chinese couple whose lives have diverged and their writings, letters, and diary entries have found their way into Iona's hands. Iona is a young translator of Chinese writings living in London. She begins to translate the writings of these two individuals and becomes deeply invested in their lives.
If you are a fan of books that are organized into letters or found documents, this is a must read for you. The story was interesting, but moved slowly until the end, when if felt a bit rushed. I liked learning about three different characters and, overall, the character development was pretty strong. However, I feel like I spent a lot of the novel getting to know Iona without really getting to know her. She wasn't as well defined a character as Kublai and Mu.
Overall, I enjoyed this book.
I've said this before, but I really don't like rating books on a five-star scale. While it makes things easier, I find it really difficult to rate books of all different genres on the same scale. Having said that, a medium-high 3 is probably what I would give this book.
I Am China is a novel that centers around three characters and jumps time and place with each "chapter." Kublai Jian and Mu are a Chinese couple whose lives have diverged and their writings, letters, and diary entries have found their way into Iona's hands. Iona is a young translator of Chinese writings living in London. She begins to translate the writings of these two individuals and becomes deeply invested in their lives.
If you are a fan of books that are organized into letters or found documents, this is a must read for you. The story was interesting, but moved slowly until the end, when if felt a bit rushed. I liked learning about three different characters and, overall, the character development was pretty strong. However, I feel like I spent a lot of the novel getting to know Iona without really getting to know her. She wasn't as well defined a character as Kublai and Mu.
Overall, I enjoyed this book.
balancinghistorybooks's review
4.0
The novel is so well written. The letters between Jian and Mu are often filled with such beauty, and the third person perspective works wonderfully with the unfolding story. I really liked the use of several different tales mixing with one another, each of them coming to the forefront of the novel at intervals. The use of different cultures, and the way in which Guo outlined them, were so strong.
kimsly's review
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
sookieskipper's review
5.0
I will read this book again in coming months. There is so much I feel, so much to retrospect...its absolutely overwhelming.
Samadrita's review sums up everything I felt, feel and agree with. Brilliant review. I don't think I can add anything more.
Samadrita's review sums up everything I felt, feel and agree with. Brilliant review. I don't think I can add anything more.
jooniperd's review
3.0
what did i think? i am not finished processing the read in my mind yet, but i wanted to get some thoughts down in this space while it's fresh.
so... i found much about this novel fascinating. i have read very little fiction that shines a light on post-tiannamen square china. so the cultural insights were very interesting. as well, i liked the format of the novel: a translator based in london receives a mess of letters and journals and it's up to her to not only translate the work from chinese to english, but to also makes sense of the papers and get them into some coherent order. the papers alternate voices between jian - a punk singer and political activist, and mu - a poet and jian's partner. the translator - iona - gets much time in the novel too. she becomes completely immersed in jian and mu's relationship, but while she is working, we learn a bit about her life and her past. so this format, alternating between the different writings of different characters, coupled with iona in the present, does give a bit of disjointed feel to the work. and i think that helps to reinforce the tone of the novel which is fairly melancholy through lack of physical connections. though it's clear jian and mu had a deep love at one time, life is complicated and life in china is portrayed as adding even further challenges, especially for those who are creatively inclined - poets, musicians, painters... does art only exist as a prop for political beliefs?
guo has a lovely style to her prose. some of her sentences are just beautiful. at other times though, i felt they were a bit overwritten. but the odd experience for me is that i felt kept at a distance while i read. for all the potential in the story, i was never fully immersed, the way iona was. now this may be intentional on guo's part. several times in the book characters are protecting themselves from love. or loving. they want to remain protected. they don't want to be vulnerable. so i get that about the story. but it leaves a bit of an emotional void. i also felt iona wasn't quite as fully realized as she could have been.
having said that, though, i was keen to turn each page and follow guo, wherever she was going. i am still debating the ending... it wasn't surprising, but i find it questionable. so... i think that this is quite an ambitious novel that almost succeeds. while there is much i appreciated, the things that niggled at me became too hard to overlook, to tip this into 4- or 5-star territory.
oh - should note that this book was longlisted for the 2015 bailey's women's prize for fiction. i think it is a good inclusion on the list, and i am curious to see whether it will advance to the shortlist. this it the 5th book (out of 20) which i have read from the longlist. so far... i haven't been in love with any of the five, though they have all been alright. (ringing endorsement... i know! heh! but i am still quite optimistic i will find a gem in the 15 remaining reads.)
edited to add: new interview with xiaolu guo: http://penguinblog.co.uk/2015/03/27/interview-xiaolu-guo-author-of-i-am-china/
so... i found much about this novel fascinating. i have read very little fiction that shines a light on post-tiannamen square china. so the cultural insights were very interesting. as well, i liked the format of the novel: a translator based in london receives a mess of letters and journals and it's up to her to not only translate the work from chinese to english, but to also makes sense of the papers and get them into some coherent order. the papers alternate voices between jian - a punk singer and political activist, and mu - a poet and jian's partner. the translator - iona - gets much time in the novel too. she becomes completely immersed in jian and mu's relationship, but while she is working, we learn a bit about her life and her past. so this format, alternating between the different writings of different characters, coupled with iona in the present, does give a bit of disjointed feel to the work. and i think that helps to reinforce the tone of the novel which is fairly melancholy through lack of physical connections. though it's clear jian and mu had a deep love at one time, life is complicated and life in china is portrayed as adding even further challenges, especially for those who are creatively inclined - poets, musicians, painters... does art only exist as a prop for political beliefs?
guo has a lovely style to her prose. some of her sentences are just beautiful. at other times though, i felt they were a bit overwritten. but the odd experience for me is that i felt kept at a distance while i read. for all the potential in the story, i was never fully immersed, the way iona was. now this may be intentional on guo's part. several times in the book characters are protecting themselves from love. or loving. they want to remain protected. they don't want to be vulnerable. so i get that about the story. but it leaves a bit of an emotional void. i also felt iona wasn't quite as fully realized as she could have been.
having said that, though, i was keen to turn each page and follow guo, wherever she was going. i am still debating the ending... it wasn't surprising, but i find it questionable. so... i think that this is quite an ambitious novel that almost succeeds. while there is much i appreciated, the things that niggled at me became too hard to overlook, to tip this into 4- or 5-star territory.
oh - should note that this book was longlisted for the 2015 bailey's women's prize for fiction. i think it is a good inclusion on the list, and i am curious to see whether it will advance to the shortlist. this it the 5th book (out of 20) which i have read from the longlist. so far... i haven't been in love with any of the five, though they have all been alright. (ringing endorsement... i know! heh! but i am still quite optimistic i will find a gem in the 15 remaining reads.)
edited to add: new interview with xiaolu guo: http://penguinblog.co.uk/2015/03/27/interview-xiaolu-guo-author-of-i-am-china/
holmesstorybooks's review
5.0
First of all, let me say that this is a beautiful cover.
Second of all, let me say that I didn't pick it up because of the cover. I picked it up because I read Guo's UFO in Her Eyes earlier this year and loved it. And if I loved that book, I adored this one even more.
The premise really intrigued me. A young Scottish translator reading a jumble of letters and diary entries between two lovers -- Mu and Jian. I love the structure of this novel, the translator (Iona) picks up a page and starts to translate and gets completely absorbed in the story. All throughout the book I had questions. I was hungry to read this book, hungry for the answers.
I love Guo's writing style. She's witty and hopeful and a little bit of a romantic and a cynic all at once. This book is steeped in politics but it isn't dry, for even a minute. I love that this book explores identity and immigrants and migrants and everything in between.
I loved Iona's backstory and how Xiaolu wrote her story like a dealer laying out her cards. This is an incredible feat of a novel and I feel like I was so invested in it, in the story within the story, from the very beginning. I loved that some parts and some words were untranslatable. I loved that this book had so many little pictures and photographs of Jian's writing -- that of an angry, drunken calligrapher.
I loved the massive plot points and the tiny details, all slowly unfurling like a blooming tea ball, petals uncurling and to reveal a red centre.
I read this book's acknowledgements. I didn't want it to end.
Thank you, Xiaolu Guo. This book will stay with me for a long time.
Second of all, let me say that I didn't pick it up because of the cover. I picked it up because I read Guo's UFO in Her Eyes earlier this year and loved it. And if I loved that book, I adored this one even more.
The premise really intrigued me. A young Scottish translator reading a jumble of letters and diary entries between two lovers -- Mu and Jian. I love the structure of this novel, the translator (Iona) picks up a page and starts to translate and gets completely absorbed in the story. All throughout the book I had questions. I was hungry to read this book, hungry for the answers.
I love Guo's writing style. She's witty and hopeful and a little bit of a romantic and a cynic all at once. This book is steeped in politics but it isn't dry, for even a minute. I love that this book explores identity and immigrants and migrants and everything in between.
I loved Iona's backstory and how Xiaolu wrote her story like a dealer laying out her cards. This is an incredible feat of a novel and I feel like I was so invested in it, in the story within the story, from the very beginning. I loved that some parts and some words were untranslatable. I loved that this book had so many little pictures and photographs of Jian's writing -- that of an angry, drunken calligrapher.
I loved the massive plot points and the tiny details, all slowly unfurling like a blooming tea ball, petals uncurling and to reveal a red centre.
I read this book's acknowledgements. I didn't want it to end.
Thank you, Xiaolu Guo. This book will stay with me for a long time.
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