Reviews

The Butterfly and Other Stories by Rui An, Wang Meng

jlewr's review

4.0

A very interesting and unique insight into what Communist China, and it's coming to an end, was really like. Wang Meng's stories, compared to other works I've read from the era, are miles ahead in containing actual literary talent and ability to create characters with personality (unlike the painfully simple characters in other author's works). I think The Newcomer in the Organisation Department is in fact the most interesting story as well as best written out of the lot. From that, The Butterfly was okay but takes a bit of time to get into, while the rest are generally average but nothing particularly special.

The reason I rated it 4/5 is because compared to what else was written during the time, it is fantastic. However, by itself, only a few of its stories stand out for their quality.