From the Bookshelf of The Reading Challenge Group…

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress

Dai Sijie

Start date: December 1, 2015

Finish date: December 31, 2015

Discussion: Group Read Archive 2014-16

Why we're reading this: World Lit Group Read #2 - December 2015
[close] World Lit Group Read #2 - December 2015

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Showing 2 of 139 topics — 2,834 comments total

Group Read Archive 2014-16

Genre Group Read (Humour) - December 2016 - You Are Not So Smart
By Allison , Quest Hound · 11 posts · 30 views

last updated Dec 28, 2016 04:05PM

Alternate Group Read (Classics) - December 2016 - Mansfield Park
By Allison , Quest Hound · 5 posts · 18 views

last updated Dec 04, 2016 09:34AM

showing 10 of 12 topics view all »

What Members Thought

Feb 10, 2014 Chinook rated it really liked it

Shelves: asia, the-literary-exploration-challenge

I read this book in the course of a single day, with the interruption of a nap leaving me to finish off the ending on the bus to work. Sure, it's not long, but the last book I read was shorter and I still wasn't driven to read it all in a day.

It's a sweet, sad tale of two teenagers making the best of their reeducation in the villages in China, and I loved the literature aspect. I also loved that the girl showed a lot of courage at the end, especially after Luo's rather condescending reasons for ...more

3 likes · Like · see review

Jun 07, 2022 Elle rated it liked it

3.5 stars.

A short and somewhat emotional tale that feels a little like folklore. The plot provides a good insight to the Communist regime in China and the plight of youth who were "reeducated" under the control of the government.

There is development of friendship and some romance, but overall this is a bit of a coming-of-age tale wherein each individual must consider their own futures separate of everyone else.

The writing is decent and the story comes together at a comfortable pace, but the en ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Jul 27, 2014 Elise rated it it was amazing

Beautiful book, truly echanting! I couldn't put it down, so I read it in one sitting. In it, Dai Sijie really packs a powerful punch in just 200 lyrical pages. I was transported to late 1960s and early 1970s Communist China during the Maoist re-education campaign to the remote mountain village of Phoenix of the Sky, so named for its terrifying altitude that was said only to be reachable by "mighty, mythical, and solitary" winged creatures (12). But on this precipice, we meet our narrator and his ...more

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Oct 02, 2012 Nancy Brady rated it liked it

Shelves: bookcrossing-bookring

Literature changes people, and this novel is a good example of this. Two young men are sent away to a rural area to be re-educated in the time of Mao. Through a friendship with another young man, also being re-educated, they get a copy of one of the novels of Balzac. This sets off a chain of events in which many other novels fall into their hands. All are forbidden in China, but does not deter these men from reading them. Introducing this literature to the "Little Seamstress" changes her, too.

...more

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Jan 08, 2024 Sean Harding rated it really liked it

Shelves: sijie-dai

I spent five weeks in China in 2010 and one thing I noticed was the shadow that was there that had been caused by Mao's cultural revolution. It was so real and emotionally affected people, and this was in tension with the still total reverence held for Mao by many people, whether they thought it was the right thing to do or not, even your people that had not been there when Mao was alive.
Having said all that this was a great little time set in a horrific time in the recent history of a grand old ...more

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