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Kim
Rating:
Review
I picked up this little book because the cover had a pair of red shoes on it. Not really my style of shoes, but shoes nonetheless. I enjoyed the story inside too. Set in China in 1971, the nameless narrator and his friend, Luo, are two of thousands of boys exiled to the countryside for “re-education” during Chairman Mao’s Cultural Revolution. Beside the fact that both boys are miles away from their families, they must work hard and obey the village headman or risk being turned over to the authorities. Finding another friend’s secreted books and meeting the village tailor’s daughter change their lives dramatically, and not all for the good. I recommend this book because it was a quick, fun read, though it’s not one of my favorites.
Best Line:
“She said she had learnt one thing from Balzac: that a woman’s beauty is a treasure beyond price.”
Suzanne
Rating:
Review
This little novella shows how reading can open up whole new worlds for you, but also how new ideas can lead to bittersweet results. This is especially important for the two teenaged boys in the story because their own world, that of Mao’s Cultural Revolution in China, is so awful. Branded as enemies of the state, thanks to their educated, urban parents, the two friends are taken from their families and sent to a harsh, remote mountain village to be “reeducated” by the peasants. Life becomes a punishment as they are forced to do the most humiliating jobs in the village. The discovery of another boy’s secret stash of banned Western literature, translated into Chinese, brings joy and imagination into their narrow world, but also conflict, as they scheme and negotiate to read more of the books. Likewise the tailor’s clever, good-looking daughter brings both love and conflict their way, as they try to teach her the Western classics and ideas. This is a simple coming of age story that makes you think.
Best Line:
“During the whole month of September following our successful burglary we were seduced, overwhelmed, spellbound by the mystery of the outside world, especially the world of women, love, and sex as revealed to us by these Western writers day after day, page after page, book after book.” (page 109)
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