The fortunes have clearly changed for the Jias, in this volume we have calamity after calamity, until our hero the Precious Jade returns to (his) homeThe fortunes have clearly changed for the Jias, in this volume we have calamity after calamity, until our hero the Precious Jade returns to (his) home in the garden of Enchantment, with a better understanding of what it means to be alive, and the emptyness that entails. The novel as a whole, I quite liked. An intricate, intimate, sometimes funny, look into an Ming Dynasty (written during the Qing) family and their servants, with a strong concentration on the women (and Bao Yu). There are over two hundred characters. For the whole novel, I give it Five Stars. This separate volume, loses a star for the slight change in quality. However it still really does earn its place as one of the Four Greatest Novels of China.
The ending does feel a bit rushed. It's recompiled from lost notes, as the original (hand-copied) manuscripts usually ended around chapter 80. The last two "volumes" (in the English edition; the original Chinese is basically just a leaflet) were put together by Gao E, about 20 years after the death of the author. You can see some changes in style, and for this volume there's a lot of calamity and then all the sudden - the war in the south was won so the Emperor declares a general amnesty. Yaay all the family problems are over. Except for Bao Yu, who has Transcended....more
Pretty good, pretty good. This is online oft compared to the other "Boy Wizard" series, but it is nothing like it at all. The magic in this series is mPretty good, pretty good. This is online oft compared to the other "Boy Wizard" series, but it is nothing like it at all. The magic in this series is more Daoist, more illusory, and the world of Earthsea seems to echo philosophies of Idealism (not from ideal but from idea; eg our perception is more part of reality. We got a boy, he finds out he's got an affinity for wizardry. So they send him to a wizard school. An incident at school follows him long after his graduation. "Wizardry", here, isn't hocus pocus wave your wand and things happen magic; but rather contingent on understanding of Things. To know a thing's name is to have power over it. To make a rock look like a diamond is easy, you just ask it to. But when that's done it will return to rock. To change a rock, permanently, into a diamond; that changes its fundamental nature and thus all relationships it has to all other things. Also real dragons. Pet dragons too. Le Guin has created a beautiful archipelago brimming with distinct cultures, all connected by sea...
The Ghibli movie Tales from Earthsea brought me finally to this book. The movie is based on a later book set in the Earthsea world, much later than the events of this book. I'll also call out the movie for having very white characters.... it seems that's a rarity in Earthsea, we only meet 2 speaking roles + 1 barbarian horde of white people. Everyone else especially the hero had much darker skin.
UPDATE:: Ok. So I perused, not watched, there was a SciFi Miniseries based on this series. And wow. It is absolute crap in not only technical but story fidelity, and Le Guin hated it and has every right to, they did not consult her and it seems like no one in the production really gave a damn about the books, so if you saw those miniseries pls don't base the book on that. That's not your ordinary sour "book vs movie" rivalry. I like Lynch's Dune, with all its failings....more
I read this book as a kid, in school. My sister had read it in class a couple of years prior (she's one year older) and I was excited to read it the nI read this book as a kid, in school. My sister had read it in class a couple of years prior (she's one year older) and I was excited to read it the next year (because our school was small and followed the same curriculum year to year), but then we moved. Luckily a little later we did and I enjoyed it. Based on the true story (though there is little to go on, so much of it is made up) of a Nicoleño Native American woman who was inadvertently left alone from 1835-1853 on her island (now San Nicolas) when the rest of her tribe were moved to the mainland ("for their own protection," i.e. put up in a mission), which is now near Los Angeles (when I was a kid I thought she was Polynesian, or Easter Island area). Re-reading it was beautiful, especially now understanding where exactly it is taking place. The Russian Aleuts were from Russian Alaska, and the sea otter they hunted they would eventually hunt to extinction except in some small populations like this this island.
But I always liked the strong girl hero. Completely alone at age 12 she manages to build a home (out of whale ribs as in real life), weaponry, small range vessel, domesticate wolves, strong and self-sufficient, which is a story always lacking. An adventure book but with the hero a girl, a Native American girl at that.
I loved that island. Honestly I'd love to live out isolated on that island (without the modern military base or all the people/pollution from LA). Get a little dog named Rontu-Aru and play with the foxes....more
Cuuuuute! Story A) a college student Haruma finds an old shrine he used to take care of, and cleans it and asks the local god to give him a lover. TheCuuuuute! Story A) a college student Haruma finds an old shrine he used to take care of, and cleans it and asks the local god to give him a lover. The god does just that, and though Haruma was hoping for a girl, he'll have to make due with his new God-Husband. B) Kuro the Dog-God hates humans, for good reason. But when circumstances make him fulfill the wish of a young high-school student (HE'S 18 SO ITS OKAY), will he warm up to humans??! Not as explicit as other mangas, just cute....more
Things I learnt from Japanese Fairy Tales -Never trust a monkey. -Never trust a stepmother. -Never trust a stepmother with your monkey. -Almost every boy Things I learnt from Japanese Fairy Tales -Never trust a monkey. -Never trust a stepmother. -Never trust a stepmother with your monkey. -Almost every boy in Japan is named Taro, or a variant of that name: Kintaro, Urashima Taro, Momotaro... -If an old man wants to wrestle your teenage son in the woods (because the old man was watching the boy earlier and saw that he was big and strong), it's perfectly fine to send your son to the capital alone with the old man. -Take care of your elders. -Something somewhat absent from Western Fairy Tales (unless I'm mistaken), but evil people can change their ways and become good, through character building. Really the dichotomy of good and evil isn't as black and white. -The Dragon King of the Sea lives beyond the sea in a beautiful underwater palace that somehow has air and fish attendants and no monkeys. -When someone with magical powers tells you not to open a box, for the love of Buddha don't open it! -Anything can walk and talk. Even a mortar. -The jellyfish lost his spine because he trusted a monkey.
The translation is interesting. It is clearly written for an early 20th century western audience, who would be only vaguely familiar with Japanese customs. The author's history is an interesting note, she's pretty much precisely half-English half-Japanese, in both genetics and upbringing. She was born to an English mother and Japanese father, who separated soon after birth, so she spent her formative years in England, her teenage years in Japan, and the rest of her life in all place in between. Her marriage story is interesting : She kept on getting some other guy's mail in Japan who had the same last name as her, they eventually met and married. Cute.
I'm not a fan of the bracket translations of common Japanese words, not only are they unhelpful (maybe to a 21st century adult reader though), I mean, Samurai? But they are also strangely inconsistent. In "The Happy Hunter and the Skillful Fisher" we have "Mikoto" translated as "Augustness" (yea, a kid would totally that) almost every time. So the first few times she writes the term she then translates it in brackets, then a few times alone, then goes back to translation. I think we got it the first time!
But all in all, entertaining. It's neat to see folk stories from the other side of the world, and see how different yet how similar they all are. Definitely getting dated, but aren't all fairy tales supposed to be dated?...more
A woefully illustrated tale about a strangely unknown part of Canadian history. Most Canadians know about "Japanese internment" during the war, and thA woefully illustrated tale about a strangely unknown part of Canadian history. Most Canadians know about "Japanese internment" during the war, and that's all they know about it. Also the effects of trauma on the soul, that was poorly understood by me at the time of reading, as I get older I'm understanding it much better...more
A wonderful book, sad that these attitudes still exists in modern small-town America and Canada. The town that I used to live in, I dubbed it Maycolm A wonderful book, sad that these attitudes still exists in modern small-town America and Canada. The town that I used to live in, I dubbed it Maycolm North even while I was there. I guess I could say I learnt to be aware of this sorta thing....more