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A review by eiderweek
The Wallet of Kai Lung by Ernest Bramah
2.0
I wanted to like this more. I really enjoyed the Max Carrados stories from the same author, and the writing is recognisably similar. Each sentence is about four times as long as it needs to be, which in this case sort of gives the benefit of reading like an overly literal translation (though not so sure what it accomplished in Max Carrados??).
I think the main difference between Max Carrados and Kai Lung, or at least these Kai Lung stories, is that the Max Carrados stories have a clear direction; each sets up a mystery, then resolves it (not necessarily spectacularly). Whereas these stories give no clear purpose to begin with, then tend to meander a lot. There is nothing fundamentally wrong with this, but combined with Ernest Bramah's way of writing, I found myself barely following the plot of most of these.
I'm not sure how big a factor it was to my personal enjoyment, but the Chinese aspect of this is more than a little messy, cultural sensitivity wise. It embraces what Bramah perceives as the Spirit of China, and is all done in pretty good faith, I think, but I don't think anyone British (or equally Western) would do this sort of pastiche nowadays (anyone that would consider attempting something like it would be very unlikely to carry it out in good faith I think). I feel this factor worked as a little bit of a deterrent to me getting too into the stories, though I wasn't really so close to getting too into them anyway.
I did really like Kai Lung as a character though, and the tiny parts where he's actually in it were my favourite bits (I didn't realise beforehand - he's a storyteller who generally narrates the otherwise unconnected stories, and is only explicitly mentioned in the first couple of sentences). I will probably read the other Kai Lung stories at a later date.
I think the main difference between Max Carrados and Kai Lung, or at least these Kai Lung stories, is that the Max Carrados stories have a clear direction; each sets up a mystery, then resolves it (not necessarily spectacularly). Whereas these stories give no clear purpose to begin with, then tend to meander a lot. There is nothing fundamentally wrong with this, but combined with Ernest Bramah's way of writing, I found myself barely following the plot of most of these.
I'm not sure how big a factor it was to my personal enjoyment, but the Chinese aspect of this is more than a little messy, cultural sensitivity wise. It embraces what Bramah perceives as the Spirit of China, and is all done in pretty good faith, I think, but I don't think anyone British (or equally Western) would do this sort of pastiche nowadays (anyone that would consider attempting something like it would be very unlikely to carry it out in good faith I think). I feel this factor worked as a little bit of a deterrent to me getting too into the stories, though I wasn't really so close to getting too into them anyway.
I did really like Kai Lung as a character though, and the tiny parts where he's actually in it were my favourite bits (I didn't realise beforehand - he's a storyteller who generally narrates the otherwise unconnected stories, and is only explicitly mentioned in the first couple of sentences). I will probably read the other Kai Lung stories at a later date.