Product Description

Now a major motion picture

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #280985 in Books
• Published on: 2006-08-03
• Binding: Paperback
• 176 pages

Le Figaro
'If you can only read one novel, choose this one, it's worth a hundred'.

The Spectator
'An enchanting tale from a pernicious period in Chinese history. Sijie has written a jewel of world literature.'

The Scotsman
'Wholly delightful, intelligent, funny and unexpected. A remarkable book, offering sheer delight.'

Customer Reviews

Testament to the struggle for intellectual freedom
Based on a true story, this beautifully written little book is a testament to the struggle for intellectual freedom.
Written in a very descriptive , and living way, it tells of the story of two 17 year old boys in Mao's China who are among the millions of Chinese youth, forced to undergo 'Re-education' , a type of deathlike existance in China's re-education camps , carrying excrement up and down a mountain.

Their life is given meaning by their meeting up with a pretty , young seamstress , and the discovery of a book full of 19th century novels, in the intellectually stifling climate of Mao's China , where all litereature , other than Communist propaganda, is banned on penalty of death!

Based on a true story, it is a testament to the risks one will take for the life-giving force of free thought, and discovery , in an enviroment of the spiritual death of communist dictatorship.

I don't think there is anything more evil than Communism -I can think of no other form of government so certain to produce -slowly and steadily, like soil erosion, or the action of the tides-an erosion and corrosion of the human spirit. It cuts man off from all nourishment, from his metaphysical roots, from religious experience, from any feeling of in and as one with the world. It produces a dehydration of the soul , spiritual death.
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Books, Who Knows Where They Will Take You?
During the Cultural Revolution in China any boy or girl who had finished high school was labeled an intellectual and was sent to the countryside to be re-educated and this fate falls on young Luo.

He brings an alarm clock shaped like a rooster with him and since the villagers had never seen one before, they turn it into an idol. Luo takes advantage of that by changing the time now and then to gain an extra hour's sleep from a headmaster who depends upon the clock to tell him when to send him out to work. The work he does for the "good of the revolution" is grinding, filthy labor for which he's not paid. It's no wonder he tries to escape from it now and then.

No one being re-educated is permitted to read anything except Mao's book of sayings, but Luo gets a hold of a book written by Balzac and the world of ideas opens. He wants other books. Then he meets the beautiful young seamstress and shares Balzac with her and now she too, wants books.

Luo falls in love and wants to get them for her, not only to please her but also to raise her up from her lack of education to become something other than just a peasant girl. In his desire to "re-educate" the girl he loves, resides lies their ultimate future.

This is a wonderful five star story that will take you to a place you've never been and will perhaps teach you a little about relationship and love. In my opinion you should get this little book, it'll capture your heart.

Review submitted by Captain Katie Osborne

Just perfect
Wonderful writing, beautiful passion amidst hardship and cultural extremes. This was a fabulous little read - not a 'big' book by any means. The perfect bedtime reading with just enough of absolutely everything to mould it into one of my favourite books of 2007. I'd hate to have missed out on this one.