stacialithub's review
3.0
This was indeed strange... strange in that I feel much of it went over my head. Like waaayyy over my head.
The first 200 pages, I couldn't follow much of the storyline. There was one (mostly about Madame X and her affair with Mr. Q), but other than that overall idea, the actual sentences were circular &/or nonsensical much of the time (at least to me). It's like there was a frame of a story but not necessarily a story within the frame.
An example from page 82-83:
Um...???
The first 200 pages, I couldn't follow much of the storyline. There was one (mostly about Madame X and her affair with Mr. Q), but other than that overall idea, the actual sentences were circular &/or nonsensical much of the time (at least to me). It's like there was a frame of a story but not necessarily a story within the frame.
An example from page 82-83:
"As the widow was speaking, the crowd noticed that Madam X's face wasn't at all the face they usually saw, but was that of some person they didn't recognize. On that different face were growing two hoary eyeballs without pupils. The eyeballs weren't moving, as if they were dead. Only her long, thin fingers were twiddling incessantly with a tiny mirror on her chest. Her fingers were very expressive, as if giving a mystical performance. She didn't say a word."
Um...???
ninni_pat's review against another edition
challenging
funny
reflective
slow-paced
hotpotatohothot's review
5.0
low reviews for this book - I liked that nothing quite happens, that it is a book about gossip - Chinese style... and I found it really amusing. I actually didn't put it down for days...
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