Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress in Around the World in 80 Books

Dec 30, 2017 Steve rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction

A tight little novel that really delivers. Set during the Chinese Cultural Revolution, the story centers (largely) on two teenage city boys sent to the boondocks to be "re-educated." Both boys come from what would normally be considered the cultured upper-crust, with some exposure to the classics in both literature and music. The re-education involves working the fields with illiterate peasants and humping baskets of shit up the ridges. They are starved for some sort of mental stimulation, which ...more

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Mar 22, 2015 Karen rated it really liked it

Shelves: travel-the-world

I loved this story. I couldn't put it down. Although the book is fiction, the characters and story were so realistic that it seemed autobiographical ( we do find out that the author was sent to a similar village to be "re-educated" in western China after the Cultural Revolution). The main characters of this book, teenagers with only 3 years of education, and considered to be the hated intellectuals that Mao was trying to eradicate, were forced to do menial jobs until they're re-education was com ...more

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Dec 02, 2008 Rachel N. rated it really liked it

Luo and the unnmaed narrator are sent to a remote mountain for re-education. While there Luo falls for the daughter of the only tailor on the mountain. The two also get there hands on a stash of frobidden western books which helps open their eyes to the world. I found this to be an enjoyable story with good humor in parts. I did think the ending was a bit abrupt.

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