I'm not usually a fan of short stories and this collection of translated stories by the Nobel Prize winning author Gao Xingjian reminded me of why that is.
The thing is, I just don't get drawn into short story collections. As soon as I start to get interested, it ends and I'm left trying to get to know a whole new set of characters or to care about an entirely new set of circumstances.
Those issues in this book were only exacerbated, for one main reason.
"Gao warns readers that his fiction does not set out to tell a story. There is no plot, as found in most fiction, and anything of interest to be found in it is inherent in the language itself."
As a reader who is more interested in the way a story is told than the actual story, this isn't necessarily a problem.
But. It was translated! If the whole point of the work is the use of language, and I can't see that language in the way the author intended, what's the point? I simply don't understand why you'd translate a work that was completely about the writing and not the plot.
That said, a few of the stories were interesting. In the Park in particular struck me. It was the story of a couple spending a lazy day together. Nothing exciting happened, there was no passion, no twists. But it sort of gave you a glimpse into these people's lives in a way that felt very intimate and beautiful.
Overall though, I can't say that I'd recommend it, considering that I'm not really reading Xingjian's work, but that of his translator.
5/10
YTD:
Books read : 18
Pages read : 5,269
Currently reading : Silence of the Lambs - Thomas Harris & The Color Purple - Alice Walker & U.S. Hands Off the Mideast! - Cuba Speaks Out at the United Nations - Fidel Castro and Richardo Alarcon
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