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joeytitmouse 's review for:
The Romance of the Three Kingdoms
by Luo Guanzhong
More like Bromance of the Three Kingdoms amirite?!
Three friends swear in a peach orchard to be BEST FRIENDS FOREVER. And they stick to it, avenging deaths and swearing allegiances with their relationship as the prime motivator. Many millions died for Xuande's OT3.
Five pages of Main Characters, a map with 50 cities most of them not the ones mentioned, this was worse than reading a Roman biography getting all the names straight.
The abridgement at first left something to be desired, but I realize in 2019 in the West, the entire book would be unwieldy (it is already 615 pages in English) and many of the repetitive sections would get boring. So it is ok.
The characters turn coat more than they change their underwear. And for petty, petty reasons. "To Protect the Mandate of Heaven!" when everybody is clearly in it for their own gain.
Many, many innocent people died and/or conscripted into, meaningless to them wars.
From a story point of view, it starts out reasonably realistic, though I still can't think about the logistics of raising a trained army of 100,000 men on the fly, in the 1st century.
Then it slowly gets odder and odder - a ghost apparition, Daoist priest does magic, reanimated dead bodies, ghost revenges, Kong Ming has seven grains of rice in his mouth when he is buried so he can stop his star falling from heaven (tipping off the other faction), and he succeeds in pushing the star back (post-mortem), ghosts coming for revenge, and, seasoned warlords, suddenly dropping dead from surprise or shock.
Also gunpowder in the 1st century AD.
A second note to the translation, it is all in present tense. Which does link to the original Chinese being basically tenseless (compared to English grammar), but it makes it very very hard to get a sense of timing. It all feels like it is happening in the now, not over 100 years.
I've reread my review (I generally review asap for freshness) and noticed - The story has so many subplots and biplots and time --- over 100 years and at least as many people to start. It makes me forget the scope of the opening lines:
Steeped deeply in Confucian filial piety, entire clans suffer - mortally - the consequences of almost infantile seeming whims. It's semi-fictional and certainly the shapeshifting Daoist priest and his zombie army is probably fiction, but most people written about here that have lived and died probably did live and die.
From this book, the Chinese have the expression : "Speak of Cao Cao, and Cao Cao arrives", which cognates exactly with our English "Speak of the devil"... which tells you of Cao Cao's nature.
Xuande's a hero mostly because half-way through (spoilers) he has the marvelous idea to not raise an entire city to the ground, with the people. "Don't kill any innocent people!" he orders his army. The wondrous novel idea gains him the hearts of the common people (also there were common people left to give their hearts).
Three friends swear in a peach orchard to be BEST FRIENDS FOREVER. And they stick to it, avenging deaths and swearing allegiances with their relationship as the prime motivator. Many millions died for Xuande's OT3.
Five pages of Main Characters, a map with 50 cities most of them not the ones mentioned, this was worse than reading a Roman biography getting all the names straight.
The abridgement at first left something to be desired, but I realize in 2019 in the West, the entire book would be unwieldy (it is already 615 pages in English) and many of the repetitive sections would get boring. So it is ok.
The characters turn coat more than they change their underwear. And for petty, petty reasons. "To Protect the Mandate of Heaven!" when everybody is clearly in it for their own gain.
Many, many innocent people died and/or conscripted into, meaningless to them wars.
From a story point of view, it starts out reasonably realistic, though I still can't think about the logistics of raising a trained army of 100,000 men on the fly, in the 1st century.
Then it slowly gets odder and odder - a ghost apparition, Daoist priest does magic, reanimated dead bodies, ghost revenges, Kong Ming has seven grains of rice in his mouth when he is buried so he can stop his star falling from heaven (tipping off the other faction), and he succeeds in pushing the star back (post-mortem), ghosts coming for revenge, and, seasoned warlords, suddenly dropping dead from surprise or shock.
Also gunpowder in the 1st century AD.
A second note to the translation, it is all in present tense. Which does link to the original Chinese being basically tenseless (compared to English grammar), but it makes it very very hard to get a sense of timing. It all feels like it is happening in the now, not over 100 years.
I've reread my review (I generally review asap for freshness) and noticed - The story has so many subplots and biplots and time --- over 100 years and at least as many people to start. It makes me forget the scope of the opening lines:
話說天下大勢，分久必合，合久必分。 "For all things under heaven, that long apart must inevitably come together, that long together must inevitable break apart. Thus has it ever been". In truth, this book hits on the transience of all things, empires most absolutely included. (Bromances excluded tho). It's quite an amazing scope.
Steeped deeply in Confucian filial piety, entire clans suffer - mortally - the consequences of almost infantile seeming whims. It's semi-fictional and certainly the shapeshifting Daoist priest and his zombie army is probably fiction, but most people written about here that have lived and died probably did live and die.
From this book, the Chinese have the expression : "Speak of Cao Cao, and Cao Cao arrives", which cognates exactly with our English "Speak of the devil"... which tells you of Cao Cao's nature.
Xuande's a hero mostly because half-way through (spoilers) he has the marvelous idea to not raise an entire city to the ground, with the people. "Don't kill any innocent people!" he orders his army. The wondrous novel idea gains him the hearts of the common people (also there were common people left to give their hearts).
玉可碎而不可改其白，竹可焚而不可毀其節。
Jade may be shattered, but its whiteness remains; bamboo may be burned, but its joints stand straight.
紛紛世事無窮盡，天數茫茫不可逃。
鼎足三分已成夢，後人憑弔空牢騷。
All down the ages rings the note of change,
For fate so rules it; none escapes its sway.
The kingdoms three have vanished as a dream,
The useless misery is ours to grieve.