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agiali's review against another edition
1.0
I don't think a five-star prediction has ever gone so badly. I can't tell if this book flew over my head because it's a classic and I generally don't get along with them much, or if it's because it's a collection of short fiction and I'm in the mood for a novel I can connect to, or if the book was just lost in translation, but I did not have a good time. Not a single story stood out for me and this is the first book in this entire month I've given under three stars. I've been reading this 312-page book for 11 days and it was not worth my time.
helenairui's review against another edition
5.0
Hay tantas cosas de las que quiero hablar, como todas las historias van sobre destrucción, las dos pri.eras para mí han sido las mejores y de como la única qie no es sobre autodestrucción es sobre la destrucción de la ciudad. Como todos se destruyen por su versión de amor o de deber y se fuerzan a no amar. El lenguaje es maravilloso y quiero meterme por el culo cualquier cosa qie esta mujer escriba. Esos personajes femeninos de la primera historia. El descenso a la locura qie es el pensamiento del segundo protagonista. Las expectativas de los hombres d esas últimas, las intrincadas relacio es familiares o como tú odio propio envenena a tus familiares todo a sido fantástico, las dos historias del centro. Me han gustado. Menos por eso no puede ser un 5 estrellas de.corazon pero muy cerca... qie digo esa segunda da historia aún me deja helada.
audreychiao's review against another edition
5.0
4.5/5 stars. 張愛玲’s writing is gorgeous and romantic, but her stories are cruel and heart-wrenching. She has a very bleak, and often times realistic, view of the world. She is able to pull at the reader’s heartstrings. I rooted for many of her characters, but the trauma and the social-political environment won over the characters. The story I will remember the most is “Jasmine Tea,” not because it was my favorite. In fact it was the one I hated because of the horrific mental and physical violence. The other stories were depressing yet beautiful. I want to read her essays, watch movies that have been adapted from her stories, and learn more about her life.
apersonfromflorida's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug abuse, Bullying, and Violence
Moderate: Child abuse, Infidelity, and Toxic relationship
book_concierge's review against another edition
4.0
This is a collection of short works of fiction, ranging from 15 to 70 pages in length. The setting is the China of Chang’s youth and young adulthood, 1930-1945. The connecting thread is that they all deal with love – enduring, passionate, unrequited – and longing, and pit the traditional values of Chinese culture (honoring family, filial devotion) against the increasing influence from the West to “modernize.” The stories are fraught with sexual tension, moral ambiguity, and pangs of conscience. While they are distinctly Chinese stories, they are universal in their themes.
I particularly liked the title story, set in Shanghai and Hong Kong just before (and during) the Japanese attack in 1941, and Red Rose, White Rose, contrasting one man’s divided loyalties between his “spotless wife” (white rose) and his “passionate mistress” (red rose).
Chang is one of the most well-known and celebrated authors in modern China. Born in 1920 to an aristocratic family in Shanghai she studied literature at the Univ of Hong Kong until 1941, when the Japanese attack on that city forced her to return to Shanghai. Eventually she immigrated to the United States in 1952, where she held various posts as writer-in-residence. In 1969 she obtained a more permanent position as a researcher at Berkeley. Despite a resurgence of interest in her work beginning in the 1970s in Taiwan and Hong Kong (and eventually moving to mainland China), she became ever more reclusive. She was found dead in her apartment in 1995.
The edition I read is translated by Karen S Kingsbury and published by New York Review Books.
I particularly liked the title story, set in Shanghai and Hong Kong just before (and during) the Japanese attack in 1941, and Red Rose, White Rose, contrasting one man’s divided loyalties between his “spotless wife” (white rose) and his “passionate mistress” (red rose).
Chang is one of the most well-known and celebrated authors in modern China. Born in 1920 to an aristocratic family in Shanghai she studied literature at the Univ of Hong Kong until 1941, when the Japanese attack on that city forced her to return to Shanghai. Eventually she immigrated to the United States in 1952, where she held various posts as writer-in-residence. In 1969 she obtained a more permanent position as a researcher at Berkeley. Despite a resurgence of interest in her work beginning in the 1970s in Taiwan and Hong Kong (and eventually moving to mainland China), she became ever more reclusive. She was found dead in her apartment in 1995.
The edition I read is translated by Karen S Kingsbury and published by New York Review Books.
kjboldon's review against another edition
4.0
Beautiful written, vivid colors, strong characters, fascinating shifts in POV. Devastating portraits of men and women in the changing China of the mid 20th century.
jnelsontwo's review against another edition
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
catlislibrary's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
As someone with a Chinese heritage, I am ashamed to have not read Eileen Chang’s works earlier. I found her stories to be an eye-opening (even if fictitious) recollection of the preoccupations and circumstances that governed the lives of “Chinese” people in the 20th century. Especially interesting were her insights and commentary on the effects of colonialism on a foreign occupied China and Hong Kong.
Side Note: Read this collection of short stories and novellas on my flight to Shanghai - the timing couldn’t have been better except for maybe reading it while I explored the city.
Individual ratings:
Aloeswood incense - 4
Jasmine tea - 3.5
Love in a Fallen City - 5
The Golden Cague - DNF (my problem tho, don’t have enough cultural understanding to truly grasp the story)
Sealed Off - 3
Red rose, white rose 3.75
Short story collection score: 3.75