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A review by erinlcrane
Dream of Ding Village by Yan Lianke
4.0
I learned about events I wasn’t aware of reading this book, which I appreciated. I was pretty engaged throughout even though it was a story that meandered. There was some distance between me and the characters so it wasn’t as emotionally affecting as it might have been, but again, I was still engaged by the events, the dramas playing out.
The Grandpa character had a rough go of it, yikes. What a trajectory. The story is a tragedy in many ways. For the village, for Grandpa, for Hui, Liang, everyone. Quite sad generally.
My one complaint would be that there are some representational issues. Lingling is a little disappointing as a female character. I’ve read worse, but her fulfillment in a man was sad in a discouraging way, not a touching way. Also, it seems like I’m supposed to dislike Lingzi’s daughter for being disabled and epileptic … it doesn’t feel like I’m supposed to disagree with the fact that Grandpa thinks that means she’s not good enough. I understand that unpleasant ideas are in stories for realism, but I need the author to show how those ideas are wrong or let me feel like I can disagree. In this case the characters I’m supposed to root for say/think some of the unpleasant things and it feels like I’m supposed to agree.
I really enjoyed how everyone’s selfishness is highlighted. Often counteracted by kinder moments. They felt like real people.
I’m guessing that if I had more cultural context I’d get even more out of this one!
Favorite quote:
When graves are robbed of treasure,
there’s not enough treasure to go around.
When graves are robbed of coffins,
there are too many coffins to be found.
The Grandpa character had a rough go of it, yikes. What a trajectory. The story is a tragedy in many ways. For the village, for Grandpa, for Hui, Liang, everyone. Quite sad generally.
My one complaint would be that there are some representational issues. Lingling is a little disappointing as a female character. I’ve read worse, but her fulfillment in a man was sad in a discouraging way, not a touching way. Also, it seems like I’m supposed to dislike Lingzi’s daughter for being disabled and epileptic … it doesn’t feel like I’m supposed to disagree with the fact that Grandpa thinks that means she’s not good enough. I understand that unpleasant ideas are in stories for realism, but I need the author to show how those ideas are wrong or let me feel like I can disagree. In this case the characters I’m supposed to root for say/think some of the unpleasant things and it feels like I’m supposed to agree.
I really enjoyed how everyone’s selfishness is highlighted. Often counteracted by kinder moments. They felt like real people.
I’m guessing that if I had more cultural context I’d get even more out of this one!
Favorite quote:
When graves are robbed of treasure,
there’s not enough treasure to go around.
When graves are robbed of coffins,
there are too many coffins to be found.