Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress in MHSHS Reading Group

Apr 20, 2010 Monica Hernandez rated it it was amazing

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This book was truly amazing. Signing it out in English class due to the fact we were assigned to read it, I looked at it thinking, “Ugh, this is going to be super boring.” Determined to read this though, I went on goodreads, and looked up reviews. I quickly decided to give this book a chance, and now I’m proud to say that Balzac & the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie is one of the best books I’ve read in a while. I quickly devoured this book, consuming it word by word and learning so much This book was truly amazing. Signing it out in English class due to the fact we were assigned to read it, I looked at it thinking, “Ugh, this is going to be super boring.” Determined to read this though, I went on goodreads, and looked up reviews. I quickly decided to give this book a chance, and now I’m proud to say that Balzac & the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie is one of the best books I’ve read in a while. I quickly devoured this book, consuming it word by word and learning so much about the Chinese culture through the 60’s and 70’s. This book was all about the freedom two “city youths” found through the banned books in their friend, Four-Eye’s, secret suitcase. During this time period, Chairman Mao the dictator of China started “re-educating” those seemed as intellectuals. Luo and his best friend, the narrator, had come from the city. Lou’s dad was a famous dentist who was thought to be a threat to society so he was banned from his profession while the narrator, who stayed nameless all throughout the novel, his father was a doctor. I inferred that due to this, these boys where sent to re-education. Re-education for these boys was done on a mountain called, “The Phoenix of the Sky” and there they had to be educated on peasant life by working amongst them with no pay. They had to work paddy fields, handle wastes (human and animal) and whatever else the peasants did. I found this to be making China more barbaric due to the fact that the Chinese would not advance through education. Everything “western” is banned such as books, movies and even ideas. If you went against this you would be sentence to such things as death or imprisonment. One day while they visited their friend Four-Eyes who lived on the lower side of the mountain they encountered his secret suitcase, they inferred inside were books and they guessed right. They get a hold of the French novel, Balzac and reading this book changed everything for these young boys and the Little Chinese Seamstress. The Chinese Seamstress was the most beautiful girl on the mountain and through Luo’s encounter with malaria they get closer. Luo and she fell in love and all throughout the novel they copulated. The narrator which I viewed as the sidekick, envied this attraction between the two and wanted her badly, although their love never flourished. The Chinese Seamstress was not educated and new how to read and write because of her fathers teachings. Luo and the narrator devised a plan to steal the suitcase. Though they only had a three in one thousand chance of leaving of leaving re-education, their friend Four-Eyes was a great writer and was allowed to leave, on his last day they stole his suitcase. I found this to be very mischievous and Four-Eye’s could not do anything because then he could be killed. Through these banned books Luo educated his beloved Seamstress and the narrator discovered love and the sweet taste of freedom. Luo’s educating of the Little Chinese seamstress has an ironic ending in which she leaves for the city because she was tired of peasant life. Her last words were “She said she had learnt one thing from Balzac: that a women’s beauty is a treasure beyond price” (184). This I interpreted as several things. This could have been that she misinterpreted Balzac’s saying and thought that she was going to get through life with her beauty and that her beauty was wasted here. I also thought that through the narrator reading her Balzac and trying to spice it up she got a different meaning from the novel and therefore it was his fault she left. I found it to be ironic that in the end they burned all the books. This was ironic because I came to the conclusion that the freedom they acquired from reading these books had changed their life in a foreign way and now they don’t want that freedom. ...more

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Jun 10, 2010 Karol rated it really liked it

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Jan 04, 2011 Samantha Sun rated it really liked it

This book is told from the narrator's, Ma, point of view of how life was like during Mao Zedong's reign as a kid. He lived in a village with his dear friend, Luo; their bond was more than what it seemed, they developed a brotherly bond over the course of their life time. They worked together and lived together, they even had dissident parents and thus the reason why they were sent to the re-education villages. I feel that this book was very moving because during just a despairing time these two ...more

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Jun 06, 2010 Robert rated it really liked it

This is a tale of two city boys, Ma and Luo, who are forced to relocate to a re-education zone in order to learn the ways of agriculture. Along the way, they meet the Little Seamstress, a beautiful Chinese seamstress who attracts both of the main characters. Together, these three learn about western civilization through the books that they stole from another character, called Four-Eyes. This indirectly causes different struggles among all three characters collectively, and as individuals. This b ...more

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May 02, 2010 Shyiem rated it really liked it

As soon as I read those first couple of pages and saw the word “Violin” I knew that this book was going to be better than any book that I have ever read, but sadly, I was wrong. The book had a great started, but it was not well rounded. I understand that Dai Saijie book was filled with morals that were seemingly ok to understand. The only part that I liked was shenanigans the boys got up to in order to get western novel out of that snotty little brat were hilarious.I do not think I would recomme ...more

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Apr 20, 2010 Christian rated it did not like it

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Sep 09, 2010 Rinchen Dolma rated it it was amazing

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress was an interesting book. The book definetly was very straighforward about its story line, though there were a lot characterizations and themes. I had learned most about how China was when it was under Mao's rule from this book and because of this book, it made that history very, very easy to understand.I would definetly recommend it to people who love history well, specifically Chinese communism history. ...more

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Apr 25, 2010 Winnie Pimentel rated it did not like it

I'm reading this book for English class and if it wasn't an assigment i would never ever in my right mind read this. I have no idea what is going on in this book. Its confusing and it doesn't even say the main characters name but it says the best friends name. ...more

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May 03, 2010 Matthew Li rated it it was ok

This book was better than I expected, but still didn't satisfy me. The ending was sad, with what happened to the Little Seamstress and Luo. I don't really have much thoughts on the story, in my opinion I've read much better books. ...more

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Apr 26, 2010 Zumana rated it really liked it

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Jun 20, 2010 AnicahaJohnson added it

It was a difficult book to read if you ask me. But if you reread the book and read it at loud, you could understand it better. Well aleast I did. But other than that it was a great book to read.

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May 10, 2010 Saymon rated it really liked it

We read many books in class together and this is another book I liked after the Kite Runner. It had and interesting plot and it was different and I got to learn more things about the Chinese culture. It was not confusing to read and it could get the reader engaging from the first page if you read carefully. This was a book where you could learn and get entertained at the same time. Thus, many might not like it but many others will find it engaging and fascinating to read.

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