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mldias's review against another edition
5.0
I have read quite a bit of Chinese and Chinese-American fiction involving Mao Tse-tung, but none has driven home the cruelties and absurdities of the Cultural Revolution better than Gao Xingjian's dreamlike narrative. His two conflicting personalities--one entrenched in Cultural Revolution intrigue and the other reflecting upon it years later--hash it out in the second- and third-person points of view. This novel showcases absolute power corrupting absolutely and unveils an era during which anything you said could--and would--be used against you.
mxethanollan's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
I think my thoughts on Gao's literature has changed dramatically in the past year. Well a part of me definitely liked him for his rebel against the Chinese government (to which I resented way too much at the time). Well I think now I am able to see the politics better, I can assess his stuff more objectively.
One Man's Bible is one of my favorites of his, the scale isn't as large as Soul Mountain, but it's close. The 2 perspectives, representing past and present, were really nicely crafted. Their split and eventual joint is an extremely powerful metaphor for one's coming in terms with their trauma. Gao's anti-authoritarian sentiment throughout his oeuvre is almost too obvious in this book. One may read this semi-autobiographically, and I don't blame them. The narrator has too much in common with Gao and as I've mentioned... it's almost painfully obvious, which definitely contributes to his ban in China.
My reading from Gao's work comes back to his social liberalist beliefs. He is very strongly pro freedom of expression, which does not align with the current political climate in China. The sentiment is always good, but it does bother me now more as a lot of narrators in his books are quite hedonist and nihilistic. I think this sort of moral relativist message from his works do make them quite morally flawed... like how the existentialists are widely critiqued because of their pro-pedophilia arguments.
Regarding Gao's writing style... oh how I have come to here. His idea of a cold literature is... interesting. I think One Man's Bible is in nowhere "cold" as he liked it to be. I guess it may have occurred in bits so I think interpreting them as a sort of post-traumatic stress response is perfectly great. I would definitely say the non-fiction collection "Buying a Fishing Rod for My Grandfather" is way "colder". And it just doesn't work (for me... but for most people I would imagine). I can read one or two smaller scale work in that writing style, but oh fuck no. His idea about conveying the beauty of the literary art through language itself just does not work for me. Everything's fine but when he said he does not want to tell stories one would wonder... what is writing for then? I cannot accept I am essentially reading a piece of visual art through words (I guess the best image I can find is as if you're reading a Jackson Pollock painting). He has the ability to write very good stories, but he just chooses not to, and often in seemingly pretentious ways.
One Man's Bible is one of my favorites of his, the scale isn't as large as Soul Mountain, but it's close. The 2 perspectives, representing past and present, were really nicely crafted. Their split and eventual joint is an extremely powerful metaphor for one's coming in terms with their trauma. Gao's anti-authoritarian sentiment throughout his oeuvre is almost too obvious in this book. One may read this semi-autobiographically, and I don't blame them. The narrator has too much in common with Gao and as I've mentioned... it's almost painfully obvious, which definitely contributes to his ban in China.
My reading from Gao's work comes back to his social liberalist beliefs. He is very strongly pro freedom of expression, which does not align with the current political climate in China. The sentiment is always good, but it does bother me now more as a lot of narrators in his books are quite hedonist and nihilistic. I think this sort of moral relativist message from his works do make them quite morally flawed... like how the existentialists are widely critiqued because of their pro-pedophilia arguments.
Regarding Gao's writing style... oh how I have come to here. His idea of a cold literature is... interesting. I think One Man's Bible is in nowhere "cold" as he liked it to be. I guess it may have occurred in bits so I think interpreting them as a sort of post-traumatic stress response is perfectly great. I would definitely say the non-fiction collection "Buying a Fishing Rod for My Grandfather" is way "colder". And it just doesn't work (for me... but for most people I would imagine). I can read one or two smaller scale work in that writing style, but oh fuck no. His idea about conveying the beauty of the literary art through language itself just does not work for me. Everything's fine but when he said he does not want to tell stories one would wonder... what is writing for then? I cannot accept I am essentially reading a piece of visual art through words (I guess the best image I can find is as if you're reading a Jackson Pollock painting). He has the ability to write very good stories, but he just chooses not to, and often in seemingly pretentious ways.
krista_the_tsundoku's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
zebraglia's review against another edition
emotional
informative
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
souljaleonn's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
astroneatly's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
ohmandy94's review against another edition
3.0
I think I wanted to like this more than I actually did. It almost seemed like a chore to read, like I was making myself read it. It had its moments of simple beauty or human cruelty that made it interesting, but the rest of it was somehow lacking.
graywacke's review against another edition
55. One Man's Bible by Gao Xingjian
published: 1999
format: 450 page Hardcover
acquired: 2003 from a 75% Off Books (do they still exist?)
read: Dec 14-24
rating: 4
Another dusty book on the shelf, this one has been hanging around for some 14 years with my eye on it, but with my never having any clue what it contained. After reading a few pages, I looked up a few reviews and found some really critical, especially in comparison to [b:Soul Mountain|45961|Soul Mountain|Gao Xingjian|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1388243382s/45961.jpg|45123] (which led to his Nobel prize). These negative reviews were a bit unfair but perfect for lowering my expectations and allowing me to really enjoy this.
It's a lightly fictionalized memoir of Gao's experiences in the Chinese Cultural Revolution (roughly 1966 to Mao's death in 1976). He mixes in a life as a Chinese exile in the present (1996-1998) obviously based on him, but likely heavily fictionalized, or he was quite the promiscuous one. He is, I imagine, playful with the truth in many ways.
His life in and memories of the Cultural Revolution are insane. It's not clear to me how political involved he was, but he experienced purges that flipflopped on themselves and purge the purgers. There was no right answer except to learn to mimic everyone around you with full emotional commitment. Anything that stood out brought suspicion, which brought a lot of suffering or worse. He says that it was almost easier to try to rebel than not to, since he craved independent thought and expression. Gao is an artist in different ways, visually, in play writing and as a novelist. The cover of the book is his own art work.
There is a sophistication to how the book is presented. First in how he mixes the present and past so that they are distinct but become a whole. Part of this distinction is in how his younger self is always described in third person, but his (fictional?) current self is addressed directly always as "you". Second is in how he strives to create atmosphere. A lot of this stuff is beyond words, he has to create the experience in the text to really express it, and he does this really well. And third is the pacing. There is weak narrative drive as the each section, each chapter generally closes a story, with some notable exceptions. But it paces nicely and continuously so that it becomes a really nice to book to get lost it, and pick up anytime. It comes apart at the end where he ties off the past and then spends a lot of time about his fictional present and all his love affairs. He tells how content he is, but the impression is the opposite as it all comes out empty, and I'm not sure that wasn't his intention.
All this together made for a really enjoyable reading experience and I think a fine book that leaves the reader with a lot to think about. A writer and artist's book. And it makes me really want to read [b:Soul Mountain|45961|Soul Mountain|Gao Xingjian|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1388243382s/45961.jpg|45123].
Long review, but here’s the stuff I still want to mention:
-Rural Anhui
-The marriage
-The regional political leader
-reform through labor and the escape
published: 1999
format: 450 page Hardcover
acquired: 2003 from a 75% Off Books (do they still exist?)
read: Dec 14-24
rating: 4
Another dusty book on the shelf, this one has been hanging around for some 14 years with my eye on it, but with my never having any clue what it contained. After reading a few pages, I looked up a few reviews and found some really critical, especially in comparison to [b:Soul Mountain|45961|Soul Mountain|Gao Xingjian|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1388243382s/45961.jpg|45123] (which led to his Nobel prize). These negative reviews were a bit unfair but perfect for lowering my expectations and allowing me to really enjoy this.
It's a lightly fictionalized memoir of Gao's experiences in the Chinese Cultural Revolution (roughly 1966 to Mao's death in 1976). He mixes in a life as a Chinese exile in the present (1996-1998) obviously based on him, but likely heavily fictionalized, or he was quite the promiscuous one. He is, I imagine, playful with the truth in many ways.
His life in and memories of the Cultural Revolution are insane. It's not clear to me how political involved he was, but he experienced purges that flipflopped on themselves and purge the purgers. There was no right answer except to learn to mimic everyone around you with full emotional commitment. Anything that stood out brought suspicion, which brought a lot of suffering or worse. He says that it was almost easier to try to rebel than not to, since he craved independent thought and expression. Gao is an artist in different ways, visually, in play writing and as a novelist. The cover of the book is his own art work.
There is a sophistication to how the book is presented. First in how he mixes the present and past so that they are distinct but become a whole. Part of this distinction is in how his younger self is always described in third person, but his (fictional?) current self is addressed directly always as "you". Second is in how he strives to create atmosphere. A lot of this stuff is beyond words, he has to create the experience in the text to really express it, and he does this really well. And third is the pacing. There is weak narrative drive as the each section, each chapter generally closes a story, with some notable exceptions. But it paces nicely and continuously so that it becomes a really nice to book to get lost it, and pick up anytime. It comes apart at the end where he ties off the past and then spends a lot of time about his fictional present and all his love affairs. He tells how content he is, but the impression is the opposite as it all comes out empty, and I'm not sure that wasn't his intention.
All this together made for a really enjoyable reading experience and I think a fine book that leaves the reader with a lot to think about. A writer and artist's book. And it makes me really want to read [b:Soul Mountain|45961|Soul Mountain|Gao Xingjian|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1388243382s/45961.jpg|45123].
"You know you are certainly not the embodiment of truth, and you write simply to indicate that a sort of life, worse than a quagmire, more real than an imaginary hell, more terrifying than Judgement Day, has, in fact, existed."
Long review, but here’s the stuff I still want to mention:
-Rural Anhui
-The marriage
-The regional political leader
-reform through labor and the escape
More...