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A review by not_mike
Cat Country : A Satirical Novel of China in the 1930s by Lao She
4.0
Hardcover, novel.
A good translation of Lao She's text. This version contains a biography of the author, a history of the text, and a brief history of China in the early 20th century. Each chapter begins with a context of the time as footnotes, establishing the context of what Lao She satirizes. Translated for a Western audience, as the whole text (apparently) was not broken up into chapters. While the SF premise is deceiving (man travels to Mars, meets a planet inhabited by cats that has an awful resemblance to the Chinese Republic), the weight of this work is in its a balance of humor akin to Dickens or Swift, the former of which the author was influenced by after reading his novels. While the beginning is lighthearted and comical, about the latter half of the novel (I'd say about 40%) is pretty grim and reads as if the author abandoned the whole Martian premise to tell a period of Chinese history in government change, revolution, and war.
A good translation of Lao She's text. This version contains a biography of the author, a history of the text, and a brief history of China in the early 20th century. Each chapter begins with a context of the time as footnotes, establishing the context of what Lao She satirizes. Translated for a Western audience, as the whole text (apparently) was not broken up into chapters. While the SF premise is deceiving (man travels to Mars, meets a planet inhabited by cats that has an awful resemblance to the Chinese Republic), the weight of this work is in its a balance of humor akin to Dickens or Swift, the former of which the author was influenced by after reading his novels. While the beginning is lighthearted and comical, about the latter half of the novel (I'd say about 40%) is pretty grim and reads as if the author abandoned the whole Martian premise to tell a period of Chinese history in government change, revolution, and war.