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Jul 10, 2008

treehugger rated it:

HOLY CRAP THIS BOOK SUCKED! I couldn't even MAKE myself finish it. Full of ridiculous psycho-babble, with a main character (or perhaps an author??) who is FAR too impressed with his own intellectual feats to make a coherent story. Didn't even make it halfway with this one. Dumped like a rotten date back into the library dropbox.

4 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jan 09, 2008

Tung rated it:

The second book by the author of the acclaimed Balzac and the Tiny Chinese Seamstress. Balzac was one of my top books from 2003. The Chicago Tribune book cover quote stated that “Fans of Dai Sijie’s Balzac will adore this enchanting adventure story.” The Tribune writer of this quote should be burned on top of a pile of this book, because in my view, fans of Balzac will be the exact ones who will find this book excruciating to complete. The book’s main character (Mr. Muo) is a Chinese scholar More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Mar 09, 2010

Gail rated it:

FROM AMAZON:
Dai Sijie now produces a rapturous and uproarious collision of East and West, a novel about the dream of love and the love of dreams. Fresh from 11 years in Paris studying Freud, bookish Mr. Muo returns to China to spread the gospel of psychoanalysis. His secret purpose is to free his college sweetheart from prison. To do so he has to get on the good side of the bloodthirsty Judge Di, and to accomplish that he must provide the judge with a virgin maiden.

This may pr More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 18, 2007

Zoe rated it:

I have to agree with many of the other reviews of this book. Dai Sijie does a great job of taking the reader to modern day China and immersing us in the realities of everyday life, but the book jumps around a lot and does drag on a bit. None of the characters are very endearing. The plot is slow going and not particularly entertaining, but does have its quirky moments which can keep you going if you stick with it. The whole ambiance of the book is pretty grungy and dark, but Sijie does do a More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 23, 2008

Stephanie rated it:

I picked this up since I had enjoyed Dai Sijie's previous book Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress but this was nowhere near as good. There were a few unexpected entertaining twists that kept me from giving up but it felt like a short story that had been drawn out unnecessarily long... leaving the ending up to your imagination. I did enjoy being transported along with Mr. Muo from life in France back to life in China and the initial culture shock that went with it... and to see how the w More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 16, 2009

Lisa rated it:

This is a book that I had to make myself give a chance. It starts out a bit rambling, leaving the reader confused. But once you get to the heart of the story it begins to make more sense. Mr. Muo has returned to his homeland to come to the rescue of his unrequited love, a jailed former university student imprisoned for her political views and photographs shared with western journalists. Muo, a freudian devotee and psychoanalyst, learns that he may be able to secure her freedom thorough bribe More...

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Jan 08, 2011

Doron rated it:

I think it's a book about the need to get what your heart desires. The hero is a virgin Psichiatrist who wants to release his beloved women from jail. On his way he needs to tranlate dreams of women and men to find what the evil judge seeks. The rel meaning of the story is to show us that faith has its own misterious ways and that nothing stands in front of ones will.
The book is full with psychological terms and analisys based on Froid's theories. It suits the plot well as the hero is com More...

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Mar 05, 2009

Julie rated it:

I'd give this book a 3.5 rating. I enjoyed it for its humor and some of the just-plain-ludicrous situations the narrator gets himself into. However, I was disappointed by the book's conclusion. I'm ok with the fact that the narrator hasn't learned anything about himself or his world as the book ends. (Plenty of books have narrators like that.) But if the reader hasn't gained any larger understanding either, then the book seems like a waste of time. Arguably, it could be said that the reader More...

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Oct 19, 2011

chucklesthescot rated it:

Yeuch! Mr Muo the creepy little pervert slithering along the train to try and fondle a girl's ankles gave me the horrors! I'd have smacked him in the personables if he came near me. It started bad and got worse with embalming women and washing machines that eat clothes while creepy boy hunts down a virgin to sell. Shudder!

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Nicole marked it as to-read

I am about to starting reading this b-natch on tape. This could change the way I roll. Anyhow, it's by the same author who wrote the book Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress. Although I didn't read the book and only know the story from the lovely movie, I am into it. I'll let you know how things shape up.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 05, 2009

Bookmarks Magazine added it

This comic novel encompasses huge themes__not just political repression in China, but also love, sex, the commodification of women, and the twisting, winding roads one must take to gain self-knowledge. Reviewers concur that Sijie's second novel is something of a picaresque; it meanders as it follows the hapless Mr. Mou's adventures and missteps and enters into the terrain of the absurd. What reviewers don't agree on is whether or not the novel succeeds as a whole, particularly compared to the el

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0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 17, 2011

Dot rated it:

A comic novel with an endearing set of unusual characters. Mr Muo is a Chinese man who has been living and working in Paris where he has trained as a Freudian psychoanalyst. He returns to China to free his sweetheart, charmingly named 'Volcano of the Old Moon', who has been imprisoned by an evil judge ...the price for her freedom is that Mr Muo must bring him a virgin to deflower. Mr Muo travels across Southern China in search of a virgin, along the way interpreting dreams to earn money.
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Dec 08, 2008

Louise rated it:

I could not connect with the character or the story. It was just a bit too offbeat for me -- and I usually enjoy offbeat. I ended up not finishing it; most of my fellow book club members did the same.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 10, 2009

Ferris rated it:

Audiobook...............What a romp! Travel along with Mr. Muo, China's only registered psychoanalyst as he seeks a virgin in China to offer as a bribe to a crooked judge, in order to free his friends, "The Embalmer" and "Volcano of the Old Moon" from wrongful imprisonment. Along the way, you will roar with laughter at the dry wit of the author as he offers such tidbits as popular children's songs from the Revolutionary Re-Education period which laud the joy of Communism. More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Oct 17, 2009

Sarah rated it:

I have a bit of a conundrum with this book. I love the author’s style of writing...there’s something lyrical about the structure of his sentences that just engulf the reader. Balzac and the Little Chinese seamstress hypnotized me with some of its passages. That being said, Mr. Muo’s Traveling Couch is written with the same artful style, and yet somehow never struck the same chord with me. I like quirky books, so the whole approach of the main character being a Chinese scholar who traveled to Fra More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 12, 2009

Karen rated it:

If this novel had not been so short and such a fast read, I probably would have given up on it. I really enjoyed Dai Sijie’s “Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress,” so I was looking forward to reading his latest book.
My biggest problem with it, is it was simply too wacky to be believable. I didn’t buy into any of the scenarios or characters. Every time I felt like I was connecting, the story took off in a totally different direction. The writing felt unfocused. It did not keep me eng More...

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Feb 13, 2010

Gladia rated it:

I'm finally done with 'Mr Muo's Travelling Couch'! This is easily one of the books I liked the least of all of those that I read lately. I have a good memory of Sijie's first novel: 'Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress'. Not sure what happened in between the two books but the quality dramatically dropped.

You can tell that Sijie tried to keep the same 'light' style that payed so much in his previous work but this time the result is just a lot of rambling.

The thing tha More...

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Jul 23, 2010

Phong rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

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Jul 10, 2009

Don rated it:

How shall I describe this book? Take Freud, a Chinese immigrant to France who has returned to China, a journey in search of a damsel in distress (actually in prison), and constant flashes (interruptions?!?) of dreams, day-dreams, fantasies and perhaps a few hallucinations – many sexual in nature – and put them all in a blender, but don’t blend them together too much, and you have an idea of the story. Hum… the language of the text is superbe, but Mr. Muo, the main character, provoked me many tim More...

2 comments like

Nov 06, 2008

Stacie rated it:

* Originally published in France as Le complexe de Di by Gallimard, Paris, in 2003.

I’ve truly grown to love Asian writers. This writer happens to be Chinese-born but lives and works in France. Either way, the culture and wit of Asia and its artists have overwhelmed and enthralled me. Mr. Muo’s Travelling Couch included.

Dai Sigie’s second novel Mr. Muo’s Travelling Couch follows the experiences of the title character as he goes back to China after studying psychoanalysis More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 21, 2008

Mazola1 rated it:

This book is a surrealistic trip through China told by a most improbable protagonist. Muo, a Chinese psychoanalyst trained in France, takes a bizzare trip across China looking for a virgin to sate the jaded appetite of a sadistic judge, a former executioner of Chinese prisoners who took an unseemly pleasure in his job, and who now holds the keys to the freedom of his childhood love.

If this novel were a painting, it would be a twisted dreamscape by Dali and if it were a play, it wou More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 25, 2010

Elizabeth B. rated it:

Dai Sijie is channelling Vladimir Nabokov in this book. It is as if he writes about Mr. Muo with a copy of Pnin next to him, mining for inspiration. Of course, Nabokov is such a Jupiter of literature that being in his orbit cannot be unpleasant! This is a very readable and entertaining story about a Chinese interpreter of dreams who seeks a "nymphet" to deliver to a man with power to release his true love from prison.

2 comments like

Feb 13, 2009

Luciana rated it:

This book is a highly imaginative account of a Chinese French psychoanalyst who returns to China to save the love he left behind, a political prisoner whose only chance out is if the psychoanalyst can find a virgin to satisfy the cravings of a lecherous judge who has the power to release her. Although many of the book's critics try to make him out as a hero, I think Mr. Muo is a disgraceful character who has been completely brainwashed by Western culture and I cannot find an ounce of sympathy fo More...

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Sep 06, 2011

Jenny rated it:

Another interesting book set in China. I didn't like it as much as his other book--Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress. Mr. Muo has studied psychology in Paris and has returned to China to free his unrequited love. He has a lot of adventures in the process. I did get a bit confused sometimes, but it was always interesting to learn about China.

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Jan 10, 2009

Claudia rated it:

This was a little hard to get through but at the end it got better. It is a wacky story in general but it was ok to pass the time with. I like the author because he wrote the Little Seamstress or something like that I will get the name right later.

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May 15, 2009

Erin rated it:

I enjoyed Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, but didn't like this title by Sijie as much. I had a lot of trouble connecting with the protagonist, and the story just has some weird/icky elements that just didn't do it for me.

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Jun 15, 2011

Kathy rated it:

reviewed at : Mama Kucing Meow :Mr Muo's Travelling Couch by Dai Sijie

I give up. Maybe will try again a few months later

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Apr 25, 2008

Ruth rated it:

this book was disappointing (spelling?) after reading Balzac and the little chinese seamstress which I enjoyed very much. There's none of the beautiful prose and charming descriptions I was hoping for but a dark lumbering drag.

The book is a satirical story about modern day China although from the simplicity of the descriptions it's hard to believe that it's not set a hundred years ago. I found the characters very stupid and unbelievable. The chronology of the story keeps jumping b More...

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May 13, 2009

Kate rated it:

What a disappointment. I truly loved Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, and I eagerly awaited the next work from Dai Sijie. For several years, I scanned new fiction displays in the hope that Sijie would treat me to another magical tale. As time wore on, I forgot to look for the author's sophomore effort and was surprised to come upon this volume in a used book store. I forced myself to read half of the book before I finally had to admit defeat. The first volume's lyricism receives hollow More...

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Dec 08, 2008

Carla rated it:

I had read this author's "Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress" and just adored it! This is another slim volume that packs a wallop in terms of character development. It takes you through the tribulations of "China's first psychotherapist". The thing is, I didn't really like this book as much because it was hard to empathize with Muo. He is kind of Mr. Magoo-ish and his scrapes got a little tiresome. What I was fascinated by was the very gritty portrayal of "modern d More...

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