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A review by elenavarg
The Last Quarter of the Moon by Chi Zijian
3.0
(3,5 stars)
This book definitely isn’t for readers who like a plot-driven story, as nothing really happens. Then again, the story is a exploration of one woman’s life from beginning to end, so in one sense *everything* happens. Before picking up the novel, I read up on the author and as I suspected, she isn’t Evenki herself but has studied Evenki and other Native cultures. I can’t presume her writing is completely accurate, but at least the Evenki aren’t described as neither noble nor backwards ”savages”: the Evenki are written as a complex group of people with both ”good” and ”bad” people and customs.
The author’s writing style made reading about the most mundane and everyday things highly enjoyable. The title of the English translation is different from the actual title, ”The Right Side of the Argun”. The original title makes more sense for the story, which makes me wonder why it was changed. The English title suggests the Evenki are on their last quarter, dying down, but the original title eludes more to the reality of Evenki people having their land split between Russia and China along the Argun river. The title change is already affecting the international reading of the novel, as at least the Finnish translstion was made from the English one.
This book definitely isn’t for readers who like a plot-driven story, as nothing really happens. Then again, the story is a exploration of one woman’s life from beginning to end, so in one sense *everything* happens. Before picking up the novel, I read up on the author and as I suspected, she isn’t Evenki herself but has studied Evenki and other Native cultures. I can’t presume her writing is completely accurate, but at least the Evenki aren’t described as neither noble nor backwards ”savages”: the Evenki are written as a complex group of people with both ”good” and ”bad” people and customs.
The author’s writing style made reading about the most mundane and everyday things highly enjoyable. The title of the English translation is different from the actual title, ”The Right Side of the Argun”. The original title makes more sense for the story, which makes me wonder why it was changed. The English title suggests the Evenki are on their last quarter, dying down, but the original title eludes more to the reality of Evenki people having their land split between Russia and China along the Argun river. The title change is already affecting the international reading of the novel, as at least the Finnish translstion was made from the English one.