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A review by yonnyan
The Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee (Dee Goong An) by Robert van Gulik
4.0
The Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee was my very first Chinese detective novel experience. I picked this book up for a class that I am currently taking and I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed it! It is said that in a Chinese detective piece such as this one, the identity of the criminal is automatically revealed (at least to anyone who is vastly familiar with Chinese crime fiction). So, I had to keep that in mind will reading this.
The book consists of three cases that were solved by real-life District Magistrate, Judge Dee during the Tang Dynasty, which eventually led to his promotion. All three stories smoothly transition from one to the next strictly in plot form. So, for example it's not in short story form where he solves one case and then is handed another. It's a bit more realistic than that.
For the first case, as I kept reading I had my suspicions as to who may be the killer, but I didn't really figure it out until it was explicitly stated in the book. I liked it because it at first it seemed slightly complicated. But as I approached the second crime I realize that the first crime was nothing in comparison. Being of Asian descent myself, it didn't take me long to figure out the second case’s criminal. The traditions that I grew up with are extremely similar to that of the Chinese culture as it pertained to the case so that was one reason why I just knew it in the pit of my stomach. It sounds stupid, I know. I'm just doing a horrible job of describing it. The third case completely astounded me. I never would have figured it out. I kept guessing until its end. I believe the third story was my favorite by far (Case of Poisoned Bride).
To sum up my blathering, I found the novel intriguing and liked reading it. I read it in the span of a couple of hours because I couldn't put it down. One of the aspects of the novel that I particularly favored was how it illustrates the Chinese laws and governing system. In China, at the time, a person could not be convicted unless they had confessed to the crime. So keep that in mind while reading. There are scenes of torture that will probably make you cringe, I know that I did at parts.
But overall it is a wonderful historical representation of Chinese history as it pertains to the criminal system and the Confucian way of thinking. It also gives the reader insight one of the nation's greatest Magistrates and his opinion of honor to duty. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in Asian literature or someone who enjoys a good detective novel. It's an easy read and flows so nicely that it became a page-turner, at least for me.
The book consists of three cases that were solved by real-life District Magistrate, Judge Dee during the Tang Dynasty, which eventually led to his promotion. All three stories smoothly transition from one to the next strictly in plot form. So, for example it's not in short story form where he solves one case and then is handed another. It's a bit more realistic than that.
For the first case, as I kept reading I had my suspicions as to who may be the killer, but I didn't really figure it out until it was explicitly stated in the book. I liked it because it at first it seemed slightly complicated. But as I approached the second crime I realize that the first crime was nothing in comparison. Being of Asian descent myself, it didn't take me long to figure out the second case’s criminal. The traditions that I grew up with are extremely similar to that of the Chinese culture as it pertained to the case so that was one reason why I just knew it in the pit of my stomach. It sounds stupid, I know. I'm just doing a horrible job of describing it. The third case completely astounded me. I never would have figured it out. I kept guessing until its end. I believe the third story was my favorite by far (Case of Poisoned Bride).
To sum up my blathering, I found the novel intriguing and liked reading it. I read it in the span of a couple of hours because I couldn't put it down. One of the aspects of the novel that I particularly favored was how it illustrates the Chinese laws and governing system. In China, at the time, a person could not be convicted unless they had confessed to the crime. So keep that in mind while reading. There are scenes of torture that will probably make you cringe, I know that I did at parts.
But overall it is a wonderful historical representation of Chinese history as it pertains to the criminal system and the Confucian way of thinking. It also gives the reader insight one of the nation's greatest Magistrates and his opinion of honor to duty. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in Asian literature or someone who enjoys a good detective novel. It's an easy read and flows so nicely that it became a page-turner, at least for me.