Balzac and the little chinese seamstress
3 years, 1 month By Allyson
Where to start...Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress is written by Dai Sijie. He actually grew up during the time of Mao's rule and when Mao decided to send the youth of wealthy or educated families off to the rural parts of China to work in fields, on farms, or in coal mines to be "re-educated." Which happens to be the time period that this story occurs. What I find so mind boggling about these occurences in China is that it seems like its something that should have happened about a hundred years ago or even 50 years ago. But no, this was occuring in the 60s and 70s in China. Part of this story is only 2 years before I was born. Can you imagine living in a country that forbade you to read or even own books unless they were books written by the leader of the country? And to be found with such paraphanelia would cost you your freedom?
That's what this story is about sort of. The narrator of the story is the son of a doctor and his friend was the son of a dentist. The 18/19 year old boys get carted off to a small village and have to live in a house that was originally meant for nothing more than storage of grain, and beneath their "home on stilts" is a pig sty with one large noisy sow. During the course of the story the two teenage boys meet a girl who's father is a renowned clothing maker who travels all over China making garments. The daughter is also well versed in making clothing. She knows very little of the world beyond her village. The boys happen to come across another boy who has in his possesion a secret chest of foreign (western) books. Many french authors, classics like the Count of Monte Cristo, the Humpback of Notre Dame, etc, and of course an author by the name of Balzac. The two boys spend every waking moment that they are not working perusing over these books and reading them again and again until they've memorized the stories. They tell the stories to the little seamstress and through this she becomes more "civilized and sophisticated."
The two boys and the girl are the main characters of this story and as I went through the book I really became attached to the characters. I can't say that there is a real easily defined plot to this book except to say that you get a glimpse into a life that is different from anything that we Americans have ever known. And you follow along their life during these few short months that are written about in the book. You get an understanding of the longing that the people had. So much had been shut off from them. They were insulated from learning anything beyond the life that was laid out in front of them. Dreaming of a better life was not an option for these people and they were told to accept what it is or face the consequences which often meant becoming considered an "enemy of the state" and getting humilated in front of everyone you knew or didn't know. But the story is of three young people who take a risk and through a few novels find a whole new world opened up to them and a life that was far different from anything they knew.
Like I said I really enjoyed this book. It was definitely worth reading or in my case listening to. I did the audio book and it was kind of cool because it was read by B.D. Wong which is the guy who plays the psychologist on Law and Order SVU. Heh. But I guess back when he read the book he was only known for the role he played in Madame Butterfly.
I will say this, I was a little disappointed with the ending. It seems like so many authors fizzle out in the end. It wasn't a horrible ending, but I wish more would have happened for some of the characters. And when I reached the end of the book I was wishing there was more to it. I didn't want the story to end, like making it into a series of novels.
~Always Allyson
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