Reviews

Lovers in the Age of Indifference by Xiaolu Guo

forgereads17's review

emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

freddie's review

4.0

The individual pieces are about different things but linked together by a general sense of solitude and loneliness. Some stories are tragic while others feel more like slices of life. They manage to not be melodramatic, despite the content. Very good.

sanmeow's review

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.75

an overall good collection, pretty easy to read. i liked the more romantically tragic ones way better than the rest for some reason. i suppose the author's style resonated with me the most with the sad stories. anyway, personal favorites are the dead can dance, then the game begins, today i decide to die, and address unknown. despite not thematically speaking to me as much, i think an internet baby, beijing's slowest elevator, and beijing morning star are very well written and include some good political commentary. 

emburger's review

2.0

Perhaps I'd set myself up for a meh experience, because I've never gotten satisfaction from shortstories.

But, I chose to read this because I wanted a first taste to author Guo Xiaolu, and this led to go onto reading A Concise Chinese-english Dictionary for lovers. And it is a delight.

sophiavass's review

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

jthhhhhhhh's review

3.0

If you want fiction about contemporary life in China, read Guo -- not Ha Jin or Yiyun Li. (Not that they're bad writers.) Guo writes with a straight-faced, unsentimental (well, except some of her love stories) emptiness that rings true to me. This is my favorite book of hers I've read. It's a short story collection -- mostly very short, and sad. Worth reading.