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A review by mana_elena
Soul Mountain by Gao Xingjian
4.0
I wish this book had footnotes like some copies of Brothers Karamazov explaining what literature was being referenced and giving brief explanations of cultural phenomena. I feel like my ignorance of Chinese culture and history made it so I didn't experience the book completely - sometimes I would look something up and Soul Mountain would be the first result without explaining what it was I wanted information on.
I picked up the book bc I thought a story written by someone who's been given a second shot at life, looking to find a meaning and reconcile his need for human society would help with my existential dread, and many chapters did do that, and many provided interesting perspectives, but I wish I had been warned about the amount of sexual violence present in the book. I think a solid third of the chapters contained at least one mention of SA.
Luckily I have no personal experience with the matter, so I could read the book in its entirety; nevertheless, the frequency and attitude with which it is mentioned is exhausting. Although I figured there must be a reason it kept getting brought up the way that it was, I didn't feel inclined to try to figure it out. Probably I am biased and simply don't have the right headspace to read the book, but it felt somehow like an intimidation tactic, like reading those chapters was the price I paid for picking up the book.
There were quite a few chapters that made a positive impression on me, like chapters 52, 53, 76, and 81. I feel like I missed a lot and there was a lot of good content in the book, but in many ways I feel like I will never get everything out of the book that it has to offer.
I picked up the book bc I thought a story written by someone who's been given a second shot at life, looking to find a meaning and reconcile his need for human society would help with my existential dread, and many chapters did do that, and many provided interesting perspectives, but I wish I had been warned about the amount of sexual violence present in the book. I think a solid third of the chapters contained at least one mention of SA.
Luckily I have no personal experience with the matter, so I could read the book in its entirety; nevertheless, the frequency and attitude with which it is mentioned is exhausting. Although I figured there must be a reason it kept getting brought up the way that it was, I didn't feel inclined to try to figure it out. Probably I am biased and simply don't have the right headspace to read the book, but it felt somehow like an intimidation tactic, like reading those chapters was the price I paid for picking up the book.
There were quite a few chapters that made a positive impression on me, like chapters 52, 53, 76, and 81. I feel like I missed a lot and there was a lot of good content in the book, but in many ways I feel like I will never get everything out of the book that it has to offer.