Reviews

The Last Quarter of the Moon by Chi Zijian

Only show reviews with written explanations

junyan's review against another edition

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5.0

Absolutely beautiful.
“我落泪了，因为我已分不清天上人间了。” 女性与女性，女性与自然。

booksafternoon's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective slow-paced

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

3.5

“We don’t need to leave a trail of tree markers anymore when we relocate. There are more and more paved routes in the mountain now. When there were none, we’d lose our way; there are many roads now, but we still lose our way because we don’t know which road to choose.”

A beautiful generational tale following the story of an Evenki woman and her tribe during the 20th century.

This is a slow paced book with magical elements to it. At times it reminded me of the studio ghibli movie, Princess Mononoke, with all the deer, forest forces and spirits elements.

Nature is almost a character on its own. We witness the happy, cheerful moments but we also witness the hardship and the brutal cruel side of Nature. “I’ve already told many tales of death, but it’s unavoidable, because everyone will die.”

My biggest problem with the book, was the pacing and the lack of action. It felt too monotonous at times.