Product Description

Coral and her frisbee-obsessed boyfriend, Red live on the ground floor of a cramped tower block in the megalopolis that is Beijing. The very epitome of disaffected, unfulfilled youth, their already fragile existence is shattered by the arrival of a mysterious fishy package - as the smells of the sea flood her home, Coral is transported back to a traumatic childhood dominated by solitude, fear and shame. Born on a boat during a storm, and orphaned soon after, Coral was raised by silent grandparents amongst the stern and superstitious fishermen of the remote Village of Stone. Shunned from birth as a bringer of ill fortune, and exposed to the malevolent, threatening forces of a closed-off-society. Coral immersed herself in the minutiae of the landscape around her. At fifteen, she escaped to the big city and shut the door on the darkness of her past. As the narrative darts between the manic sprawl of Beijing and the hypnotic rhymes of a tiny coastal village, our narrator struggles to navigate a path through painful and hidden memories of a time of shame, and a loss of innocence. But when an old, sick man appears on Coral's doorstep, the past and present shockingly converge, and she is forced to confront the secrets of her history in order to realise her dreams for the future. Beautifully poetic and lyrical, haunting yet infused with a quiet and gentle humour, "Village of Stone" is a startling and bewitching novel about memory, loss and the search for redemption, from one of contemporary China's freshes voices.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #65853 in Books
• Published on: 2005-08-04
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 192 pages

Doris Lessing
...What could have been a misery of a story has the mysterious charm of a fairy tale or a legend.

From the Publisher
'Reading it is rather like finding yourself in a dream: "once upon a time..." People are going to like this book very much' Doris Lessing

About the Author
Xiaolu Guo was born in a fishing village in the south of China in 1973. She was awarded an MA in Film from the Beijing Film Academy in 2000 and has worked as a novelist, essayist, screenwriter and filmmaker. Having studied documentary film at the National Film and Television School in London, she now lives in Berkshire and is working on a new novel.

Customer Reviews

Superb Read
I was made aware of this author when I listened to Women's Hour on BBC Radio 4. Yes, I do listen to such programs now and again! Not only the fact that the author is Chinese but she has the family name "Guo", which is the same as my wife's (Lixin Guo).

It's probably understandable that I have a particular curiosity about all things Chinese but when the author is serialised on Radio 4 and has the same name as my wife, I just had to read her works.

Even if you have no direct connection with China this book makes a beautiful read. It has its tragic parts but despite them it is just so optimistic. Written in an autobiographical style, although I don't know how much of the story is biographical, it was none the less a book I really enjoyed reading.

Moving, simply told story of suffering and survival in China
This is a fast-moving, deeply affecting tale of childhood suffering and survival on the fringes of modern China - a fishing community on a remote island, in fact - interwoven with the love between the young adult survivor and her Western frisbee-obsessed lover living in a Beijing basement apartment. Told with elegant simplicity at a fast clip, the novel is never dull and has a strong narrative drive, into which is woven Chinese culture and history along with a good dose of self questioning.

Striking
At first glance this book seems dull and sentimental - a novel about a village.

It is in actual fact extremely enjoyable. It features the female narrator's memoirs about her childhood in the village, interspersed with passages in her present life.
The chapters dealing with the village offer fantastic views and a panaorama of life in a fishing village, if perhaps a little long in places.

The parts featuring her present life are funny due mainly to the character Red, her partner, and their banter. Guo renders their shared life in a high rise flat with great wit and charm.

This is a special novel that simply leaves a good feeling.