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kamela's review against another edition
challenging
informative
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
I hate to say it, but I largely found this book dull. I adore Ken Liu's stuff, so I was looking forward to a really luminous translation from him. It's nigh-impossible to judge the quality of a translation if you don't know the original language, but I'm guessing he did a really good job, and that the odd flatness of the prose is reflective of either the author's style, a translation difficulty with the Chinese, or both.
In the beginning, I almost put it down because of how brutal the opening scenes in the Cultural Revolution were. If it had gone on much longer, I wasn't going to be able to deal with it - I didn't want to spend all that time in a world where these intensely violent and head-twisting things were being depicted one after the other. But it did cause me to feel attached to Ye Wenjie, and I was quite disappointed when the rest of the book didn't focus on her. Her every appearance in the book added intrigue and pathos, but I truly wish Liu had made her the protagonist, to the extent this book has one.
Because honestly...it really doesn't. It mostly has a bunch of characters whose purpose it is to react to huge, physics-related happenings that are difficult to feel much about. There's an incredible underlying thread here, about the way systematic brutality and having your mind beaten down repeatedly(and your father murdered in front of you in the public square) can cause a person to become hardened toward the fate of the entire human race, and when given the opportunity, to arrange with an alien civilization for their wholesale destruction and bring about untold vengeance, however long it takes. To me, this journey of Ye Wenjie is the beating heart of the book, but unfortunately the author decided to put that heart in the book's big toe or something. I got through it, but it left me cold.
In the beginning, I almost put it down because of how brutal the opening scenes in the Cultural Revolution were. If it had gone on much longer, I wasn't going to be able to deal with it - I didn't want to spend all that time in a world where these intensely violent and head-twisting things were being depicted one after the other. But it did cause me to feel attached to Ye Wenjie, and I was quite disappointed when the rest of the book didn't focus on her. Her every appearance in the book added intrigue and pathos, but I truly wish Liu had made her the protagonist, to the extent this book has one.
Because honestly...it really doesn't. It mostly has a bunch of characters whose purpose it is to react to huge, physics-related happenings that are difficult to feel much about. There's an incredible underlying thread here, about the way systematic brutality and having your mind beaten down repeatedly
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Alcoholism, Murder, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Torture
Moderate: Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, and Trafficking
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