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westwords's review
1.0
In Two Lives A Yi tells seven stories with life, love and crime as their central themes. His writing has been described as on the dark side and he’s known for his “bizarre literary style and utterly unsentimental worldview”.
Two Lives is the manifestation of these comments. Having read a fair amount of writing from Chinese, Japanese and Korean authors, I thought I knew what I was letting myself in for. One can expect a certain amount of quirkiness, stripped down prose and a different worldview from your own. However, this was a whole other cup of tea.
Brace yourself for a fair amount of profanity, graphic detail, violence and ample sexual references to anatomy. This being said, I’m not shocked easily, but I did find this, in combination to the depiction of women, offensive. Yi’s world is a grim reality and this coming from someone who reads crime novels on a daily basis and grisly Nordic Noir before bedtime.
Unfortunately I couldn't finish Two Lives. I managed to read the first three stories, but the violence depicted in them was just too much for me to digest. Yi is an acquired taste, one I’m OK to pass along for someone else to experience. Nonetheless, his style of writing and choice of subject matter will appeal to a certain demographic.
Two Lives is published by Flame Tree Press and is the first in the new Flame Tree Press series, Stories from China. This review copy was kindly provided by the publisher via NetGalley for an honest review.
Two Lives is the manifestation of these comments. Having read a fair amount of writing from Chinese, Japanese and Korean authors, I thought I knew what I was letting myself in for. One can expect a certain amount of quirkiness, stripped down prose and a different worldview from your own. However, this was a whole other cup of tea.
Brace yourself for a fair amount of profanity, graphic detail, violence and ample sexual references to anatomy. This being said, I’m not shocked easily, but I did find this, in combination to the depiction of women, offensive. Yi’s world is a grim reality and this coming from someone who reads crime novels on a daily basis and grisly Nordic Noir before bedtime.
Unfortunately I couldn't finish Two Lives. I managed to read the first three stories, but the violence depicted in them was just too much for me to digest. Yi is an acquired taste, one I’m OK to pass along for someone else to experience. Nonetheless, his style of writing and choice of subject matter will appeal to a certain demographic.
Two Lives is published by Flame Tree Press and is the first in the new Flame Tree Press series, Stories from China. This review copy was kindly provided by the publisher via NetGalley for an honest review.
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