Reviews

I really struggled through this one. In fact, I took me the whole month to make myself finish when I usually read at least two or three books a month. I should have left it unfinished and moved on but my bookclub was reading Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, also by Sijie, which I had already read, and I wanted to read something by the same author to contribute. Then I missed the meeting! Balzac was much better.

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slow-paced

3.0

Mr. Muo’s Travelling Couch (Le Complexe de Di) by Chinese author Dai Sijie is the story of a devotee of Freud and Lacan who after over a decade aboard on scholarship in France returns to his homeland of China. Mr. Muo embarks on train or bicycle along with attempts at likewise traveling the unconscious of himself and a motely list of others he meets.

Although it can read like it may be missing the mirth in the same way translated English title loses the pun. See my blog for an in-depth review.

Content Warnings