A review by karenreads1000s
The Dream of the Red Chamber by Tsao Hsueh-Chin

5.0

An epic multi-generational Chinese family saga. About half-way through I finally started to understand the naming conventions. The Chinese cultural and class concepts portrayed were dramatic. That this novel was written in the 1700s makes it all the more fascinating. At only 40 chapters, this seems an abbreviated translation. The Introduction mentions the author left 80 chapters of his novel in finished form before his death. The 40 come from a Kao Ou version and some were criticized as being written by him.