A review by but_then_you_read
The Mountain Whisperer, by Jia Pingwa
2.0
Oh how desperately I wanted to fall into this book. It was my first Pingwa, and from the moment I read the summary I was itching to start it. And then I did start it, and it went downhill from there.
To put it simply, I just don’t understand the purpose of this book. I realize that most likely stems from me, but hey, it’s my review. The four stories felt so disjointed, and I couldn’t understand what any of them were trying to convey. Yes it was a nice look into some lesser known parts of Chinese history, and while historical fiction is my go to, if a mediocre history lesson was all I was looking for I would’ve picked up a textbook. I was hoping for a sort of mythical, folklore-esque telling of Chinese old wives’ tales, mixed with fiction. I realize that this expectation is a key factor in the letdown that it ended up being, but honestly even if I didn’t have any expectations this would’ve had a hard time maintaining my interest.
Considering I speedread three quarters of this book, I don’t deny that I may have missed some intricacies that would add some depth to it. But honestly, it was running a high risk of landing on my did-not-finish shelf, so speedreading it was. The only reason it’s not a 1 star for me was the excitement I had for starting what I thought would be an excellent read, and that it did offer real perspectives of certain moments of Chinese history.
A miss for me.
To put it simply, I just don’t understand the purpose of this book. I realize that most likely stems from me, but hey, it’s my review. The four stories felt so disjointed, and I couldn’t understand what any of them were trying to convey. Yes it was a nice look into some lesser known parts of Chinese history, and while historical fiction is my go to, if a mediocre history lesson was all I was looking for I would’ve picked up a textbook. I was hoping for a sort of mythical, folklore-esque telling of Chinese old wives’ tales, mixed with fiction. I realize that this expectation is a key factor in the letdown that it ended up being, but honestly even if I didn’t have any expectations this would’ve had a hard time maintaining my interest.
Considering I speedread three quarters of this book, I don’t deny that I may have missed some intricacies that would add some depth to it. But honestly, it was running a high risk of landing on my did-not-finish shelf, so speedreading it was. The only reason it’s not a 1 star for me was the excitement I had for starting what I thought would be an excellent read, and that it did offer real perspectives of certain moments of Chinese history.
A miss for me.