A few years ago I read Balzac and the little Chinese Seamstress by Sijie Dai and thoroughly enjoyed it, so when his new book came out I was very excited to read it to. It did not disappoint me.
The first chapter was a bit slow, partly because it jumped a bit in time, but after that I could hardly put the book down. It tells the story of a young woman in China, the narrator, who meets a boy named Toomchooq, who is named after a rare, dead language. His father was imprisoned for life because of a scroll written in that language. On the scroll is half of a story told by Buddha, but one that no one had ever heard..."Once on a moonless night..." Toomchooq's father translated the scroll, then tried to find the end of the story. Toomchooq also takes up the quest. The narrator, who is never named, has her life changed because of the unfinished story.
The real delight in this book is the language itself. The author writes beautifully, each sentence a gem. This was a joy to read.
  | Once on a Moonless Night By Dai, Sijie Author Dai, Sijie Translator Hunter, Adriana 2009-08 - Knopf Publishing Group 9780307271587 Check Our Catalog From the author of the beloved best seller "Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress" comes a haunting tale of love--and the beguiling power of a lost language--in this story that carries readers across the breadth of China's past. …More |
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment