thereadingmum's reviews
776 reviews

It takes 18 years for Lin Kong to divorce his long-suffering wife, whom he felt forced to marry, and marry the woman he believes he loves. Almost every year, he takes his wife to the court near their country home. Every year she says she will divorce him and yet at the court she changes her mind. Meanwhile, Manna, his girlfriend, waits first impatiently, then with determined resignation. Bear in mind, they are not allowed to consumate their love, nor even touch with affection or see each other outside of the hospital where they both work. Such are the strictures of communist China in the 1980s. 

You would think that this makes for a tedious story where nothing much happens for a long time and you would be right about the latter. Yet it is not tedious and the few things that happen are significant and add enough flavour to keep the reader going. I enjoyed the detailed insight into Lin Kong and Manna's thoughts and feelings. 

Ha Jin manages to make an almost alien culture that I've only had brushes with, into something familiar. He shows as that people in a communist culture are just like people anywhere else. He writes with a simplicity that is refreshing and matches the story perfectly. He also kept it short, which increased its poignancy. 

I loved how environmentally-friendly China used to be. Hospital workers, and I assume elsewhere as well, kept their own eating utensils in the cafeteria to use and wash after meals. I was reminded, however, how far from my ancestral culture I am and made me think again, what really constitutes racial belonging. 

I think perhaps this was a case of overhyped expectations fell short plus not a fan of man-bashing. I get that men are often horrible to women, particularly in the past. However, it's a bit much when 80% of them are and very stereotypically so. 

Plot was ok. Characters were ok. Narrator was all wrong. 

I almost gave up on this one because I did not like where I thought it was going. Then it took a very weird, but wonderful turn and I was right back with Mr Pratchett. Teppic is not his usual hapless hero. He's a prince who is also a newly minted member of the Assassin's Guild of Ankh-Morpork when his father commits suicide and his diety passes on to his son. Teppic returns to his city trapped in its past with an unhealthy obsession with gods and pyramids. He tries to enact change, but the priest, Dios, thwarts him and he gives in to the building of the biggest, grandest pyramid for his recently deceased father who is haunting his embalming. 

This was where I started to hear the ringing of the "I'm going to be really annoyed" bells. So I skimmed. Then things go a bit crocodile-shaped with the almost completion of the pyramid and the party really got going. 

With every Pratchett book you are guaranteed lots of dry humour, lots of creatively moulded side-characters and a domineering inhuman sidekick (it was a camel here). This is one of the standalone books in the verse and can thus be safely read on its own. 

I had to restart this book twice before I felt I wasn't swimming in names and places. It switches between four POVs. Using direction to tell us which one it is does not help. Sure the voices are different and I know when it's Wulf, but between Glorian and Dumai there was little difference. 

I didn't have this problem with The Priory of the Orange Tree, which I listened to on audio as well. I didn't enjoy the world as much this time around. 

Writing superb but couldn't take the gruesome tension. Stopped when the first character got eaten.