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dukegregory's review against another edition
2.0
This book is a five-hundred page representation of the grand platitude, "The journey is greater than the destination," a claim that any novel explores on a certain level. But wow wow wow the journey here is made up of eighty-two faux-destinations. Every chapter is its own concept, its own town, its own legend, its own country gazette, its own folk song, its own dream, its own memory, everything being amorphous in a manner that seems implausible due to the clarity that the minimalist prose affords. The first two-hundred pages were interesting to me because of the unorthodox structure, if a complete lack of structure can even be referred to as "unorthodox." There are three major characters: I, you, and she, three characters that are refractions of I's self. This is outlined explicitly for the reader around chapter fifty-two (which is not really a shocking tactic: explicit explanation, for Xingjian when he begins to make comments about the form of the novel within the novel, the hodgepodge nature becoming acknowledged diegetically), and reading it felt like pseudo-psychological games, like Xingjian has outed himself as penning a novel that is utter navel-gazing for so many pages, but he, instead of playing into the pretension, calls it out to show that he is in on the pretension. He almost makes it ridiculous. The dilemma here is that the book is lengthy, yet a throughline of any kind is nonexistent. This is beyond not knowing how to get from Point A to Point B. This is a situation during which you move from chapter to chapter having no concept of where the narrators will be or what they are doing there except for the vague expedition. Sometimes Xingjian offers specific monuments, relics, historical references, ethnic group names, etc. which allowed me to look at a map and restore some semblance of mental order, but many times he simply places you into a recollection of a folk tale, or the narrator argues with she, or whatever the hell we go through. Which, what the hell DID I go through? I enjoyed quite a bit: discussions of the traditions of China's ethnic minorities to the South, a subtle portrayal of the Cultural Revolution's echoes in the late twentieth-century in major metropolises and the farthest reaches of rural communities, and a dreamlike representation of loneliness and a search for one man's self within his own being as well as in the context of a grander culture that is constantly shifting around him. He seeks an authentic form of living through an introspective sense of self while realizing the beautiful necessity of community. But it's all so messy and incomprehensible. I was able to read this so quickly because of the diction, a style that finds its beauty in clarity, in its own unique notion of transcendentalist modernism. I also just cannot excuse Xingjian's use of women. I say use, because so many women in the tales told are raped or attacked in some way, and the only major female character, she, is a sexual object, a woman tethered to you through Xingjian's narrative trick. She is tortured by a vague past and can't really find reprieve in the version of the narrator with whom she is associated. It's all just so banal and yet beautiful and yet so insightful into certain cultural traits that only the outskirts of China beholds and yet it is so utterly begging for an edit and yet it had moments of spiritual heft and yet it feels supremely nihilistic at times and yet I can't stop thinking about this dumpster fire and yet. And yet it's only worth two-stars and a healthy bout of introspection no matter how performative.
kinosthesia's review against another edition
3.0
It took me long enough to read this, but I finally finished it. Its a very interesting book about his travels, a way of avoiding the authorities as well as dealing with the personal journey and 'new life' that he was given are a misdiagnosis. The sights of China, its customs, hospitality and the sense of its vastness are beautifully done and the unusual use of 2nd person perspective is well done.
I enjoyed reading it one chapeter a day as the chapters seemed able to stand up alone as small snap shots of story.
I enjoyed reading it one chapeter a day as the chapters seemed able to stand up alone as small snap shots of story.
mjhorn's review against another edition
4.0
An unusual book, one I found quite difficult to read, largely because of its complete lack of forward momentum. There is no strong narrative running throughout, and the characters are similarly muddled. I felt like the book could be equally well enjoyed reading the chapters in random order.
But this muddling is clearly all deliberate, and in small doses it can be wonderfully enjoyable.
The writing is always very good and often really quite beautiful.
In the end, I was left mainly with the feeling that something had probably been lost in translation, and that the story in the original Chinese was likely much richer.
But this muddling is clearly all deliberate, and in small doses it can be wonderfully enjoyable.
The writing is always very good and often really quite beautiful.
In the end, I was left mainly with the feeling that something had probably been lost in translation, and that the story in the original Chinese was likely much richer.
charsiew21's review against another edition
This was a clash of expectations as I was in the mood for travel journalism and Soul Mountain is decidedly more literary and slow moving.
ocurtsinger's review against another edition
4.0
I've just finished a long, deeply surreal and sometimes frustrating journey (but I guess most long journeys are) through Soul Mountain, the incredibly shifting narrative of Gao Xingjian. The first thing YOU will notice about this journey that I was on is how the narrative shifts from first person to second person between every chapter. At first it seems to create two separate threads of plot, both involving travelers; the first person I seeking enlightenment at Lingshan, the second person (is he really speaking to me?) seeking (and sometimes not seeking) some sort of compensation for a romance with a fellow traveler.
I really enjoyed the first person thread more than the second person. The first person narrative is a lot more lush and interesting to follow; Gao takes us to real places and meets people who share with him the rich natural and social history of a place. The second person narrative is too often a stark and repetitive back-and-forth dialogue between the lovers similar to the long romantic bantering and bickering that Hemingway was famous for creating between Freddy Henry and Catherine Barkley in A Farewell to Arms.
An interesting part in the middle (or the peak?) of Soul Mountain is a chapter when Gao (in the first person) comes across another traveler who looks like a scrappier version of himself. He sits down to share a smoke with him but is cautious and guarded and barely exchanges a few words. They seem to mirror each other but aren't respectful or welcoming to each other. I feel like this interaction at the apex of the novel is an interesting little play upon the double narrative; the two threads seem to be passing each other by in the progression of the plot and choose not to reveal anything about themselves to each other. This is how the structure of the novel eventually winds up; there's no 'aha!' moment of the two threads becoming one. They each settle quietly into their own territory on opposite sides of the mountain that is this novel, and the reader is left to come up with his or her own conclusions.
Man Zou.
I really enjoyed the first person thread more than the second person. The first person narrative is a lot more lush and interesting to follow; Gao takes us to real places and meets people who share with him the rich natural and social history of a place. The second person narrative is too often a stark and repetitive back-and-forth dialogue between the lovers similar to the long romantic bantering and bickering that Hemingway was famous for creating between Freddy Henry and Catherine Barkley in A Farewell to Arms.
An interesting part in the middle (or the peak?) of Soul Mountain is a chapter when Gao (in the first person) comes across another traveler who looks like a scrappier version of himself. He sits down to share a smoke with him but is cautious and guarded and barely exchanges a few words. They seem to mirror each other but aren't respectful or welcoming to each other. I feel like this interaction at the apex of the novel is an interesting little play upon the double narrative; the two threads seem to be passing each other by in the progression of the plot and choose not to reveal anything about themselves to each other. This is how the structure of the novel eventually winds up; there's no 'aha!' moment of the two threads becoming one. They each settle quietly into their own territory on opposite sides of the mountain that is this novel, and the reader is left to come up with his or her own conclusions.
Man Zou.
isrightthefirm's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual violence
mldias's review against another edition
5.0
Be patient with this book. You will not walk away empty-handed.
konain's review against another edition
2.0
In a nutshell, I doubt if he hadn't run away from communist China they would have given this a Nobel prize.