Reviews

The Dream of the Red Chamber by Cao Xueqin

hannah_go03's review against another edition

adventurous challenging slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

alexeysidoruk's review against another edition

3.0

This is quite a long book, and the quality of writing is not equal along the book. Most of the text is the depiction of the life of a big wealthy family in early modern China. Initial plot line furcate multiple time, adding multiple characters with their tragedies and exploits, which makes it difficult to follow the story, and from the chapter 10 or so my main motivation to keep up reading was ethnological. That does not mean it has no brilliant places: particularly poetry is amazing, poetic description and also witty jokes.

Another peculiarity of the book is that though the author had a clear the programme for his work, he was not able to finish it. It was finished by the editors and the final third of the book is quite different from the rest of the book, and it does not make it better.

The author has deep philosophical and religious motivation, which drives the plot, and I could not describe or rightly identify all the concepts he had in mind. But from my point of view, the tragedies which devastate the family and almost every personage in the book are caused by the principle 'Everybody lies', which they made their main modus operandi.

kkletska's review against another edition

emotional lighthearted reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

bvdelft's review against another edition

lighthearted reflective relaxing medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Imagine a mix between Desperate Housewives, Downton Abbey, set in 18th century China with a bit of mystic Taoism.

I read the Dutch translation of the 120 chapter version of the book. The translation read extremely well, with a well-balanced amount of translator notes helping to understand and contextualise the many references to Chinese history, word jokes and literature.

The "main" story, about the Stone and the Red Room, is mostly in the first 5 chapters and the last 25 or so. In-between there is a lot of episodic-like stories, with infighting between the various families, siblings and their servant staff. It helps to connect to characters, learn about historical China etc, but for a very long time it feels like the story progresses little until around chapter 95, where it really picks up pace when

the Jia family truly starts falling apart

, as foreshadowed throughout the rest of the book. There is a lot of layering in the book, which is hard to catch on a first read, or without reading it in Chinese, I suspect.

There seems to be a lot of the author flexing their poetic muscle through most of the book, with poetry, song, riddles etc. While the translation seems fine, I suspect these parts can only truly be appreciated in original Chinese (seeing how there is often use of homonyms, or Chinese characters looking like other characters). Still, the book, while long, is an easy read. Some parts feel like a matter of endurance on the reader's part, for example when

the characters walk through the Garden naming various parts, twice

. This feeling of some chapters being "stuffing" is endorsed by the very end of the book, where

the reader is basically called a fool for spending their time reading about just absurdities

.

All in all, I did enjoy the book, if only to learn about China in that time period. I'd really suggest to read the book leisurely, and not worry about remembering all the names and relationships right away. Especially if your edition like mine has a list of characters and family trees included.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

Moderate: Murder

jsi's review against another edition

The translation is a kinda clunky and I cannot keep the characters straight

witheredflower's review against another edition

slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

breadandmushrooms's review against another edition

informative relaxing slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

tuufa's review against another edition

So darn boring and way too many characters so confusing

spitzig's review against another edition

2.0

I read this because I'm living in Taiwan, and I should read some Chinese history/classic literature.

I did not like this. It was a soap opera. A lot of it was whining. People killing themselves because they were falsely accused of something(and hadn't even had the penalty applied yet). It was melodramatic-people committing suicide by basically getting sad.

This book might be a major reason being unhealthy and therefor weak is considered physically attractive in manga/anime. Though I'm not sure about its influence on Japanese literature.

federica_'s review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Non ho amato quest’edizione sia per il fatto che gli ultimi 40 capitoli sono riassunti, sia per la trascrizione dei nomi dei personaggi (non è il pinyin classico e mi ha creato confusione).
La storia di per sé è molto piacevole e, nonostante la mole importante di pagine, è stranamente scorrevole.