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Liked It “Buddhism personified, all in one, one in many, honesty to a fault...” see full review » see other reviews » |
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“Buddhism personified, all in one, one in many, honesty to a fault...”
Stendhal666 wrote this review Monday, September 21 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“This is my review from Facebook; just a heads-up to any interested parties (if there are any):
Ria A wrote this review Wednesday, September 9 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
This book is difficult to review due to its nature. It's very nonlinear; past, present, and future sometimes fuse and sometimes are indefinable or perhaps nonexistent; there are no named characters and the identities of the characters who are th...ere is a puzzle in itself. It is a mishmash of semi-autobiography (Gao, in real life, was misdiagnosed with lung cancer and decided, proverbially, to go on a soul-searching journey in the wilderness of China; that is the best plot synopsis I can give), myths and legends, folk songs and tales, narrative and dialog, poetry and prose. It reads like one of those old Chinese poems and is very hard to pin down. What is it about? The beauty of nature, the problems and the mysteries of individuality, the meaning of life. Yeah. This isn't a very good review. But I suppose it's better than my "Medea" review. In any event, if you want something a little different, and you can stand a little tricky Daoist-esque philosophy, check this out. You will be transported to another place.”“As engaging as mysterious. A through-the-looking-glass journey, left me both enriched and scrounging. ”
absurditzy wrote this review Friday, June 12 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“Undertaking its own Odyssey, this tale provides a detailed account of a modern journey. The main protagonist takes crowded trains, hitchhikes and travels on foot. He travels the hard way into the interior of China, often blown off of his path or staying longer than necessary in one place.
Wendy B wrote this review Wednesday, July 29 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Further complicating the journey, the protagonist has a series of short-lived relationships with a series of women, always referred to as "she." The relations range from ephemeral to platonic to carnally real. Yet the sexuality that Xinjian explores in Soul Mountain has overtones of misogyny. Xinjian described one of the "she"s as a "struggling wild animal" who "suddenly turns docile" with him. In Soul Mountain the understanding of women’s sexuality remains undeveloped and so every "she" is objectified and thereby distorted.
Many images are culled from the protagonist’s consciousness: "Ponds with floating duckweed, small town wine shops, windows of upstairs rooms overhanging the street, arched stone bridges, canopied boats passing under arched bridges and a dried up old well." In order to enhance his consciousness of his origins, he gains a sense of wisdom through childhood memories and through the collection of traditional lore, ranging from tales of bandits to an account of a monastery raid.
Just as the protagonist visits the past, he also ponders his fate. An enlightening encounter with death resonates with a personal crisis in Xinjian’s past. In 1982, Xinjian was falsely diagnosed with cancer, which compelled him to reevaluate his life, seeking solace in the classic Confuscianist text I Ching or The Book of Changes. With personal insight, Xinjian vividly captures his protagonist’s fearful wait for a fateful X-ray: "While awaiting the pronouncement of the death sentence, I was in this state of nothingness, looking at the autumn sun outside the window, silently intoning Namo Amitofu, over and over in my heart." The emotional and spiritual upheaval Xinjian underwent pushed him to question the very nature of his existence and the fruits of this journey are displayed in Soul Mountain.
Many stories collected along this journey involve cruelty. The first woman that he comes across describes her nausea before love, her constant suffering and her desire for a death that will cause others to pity and admire her, a martyrdom. Hostile encounters in the novel seem to allude to Xinjian’s experiences with the Chinese government. One story that directly addresses the Cultural Revolution involves the savage execution of political enemies of the radicals. However, the underlying currents of violence are oddly juxtaposed with the theme of spiritual growth, and the author never resolves whether any character can ever truly move beyond these atrocities. By refusing to tell his own story and simultaneously trying to relate universal themes, Xinjian exceeds the limits of his fiction. Constantly wavering between a quest for an individual enlightenment and an attempt to stir social consciousness, the story seems adrift. The journey, taken by the author, the book and the reader, regardless of whether it is through harsh reality or a fractured psyche, rewards and disconcerts the reader before it recedes, hidden in the leaves of the book.
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“I kept it sitting on a shelf for a couple of months before I finally read it in a week. It was hard to believe that something so utterly long could result in something as beautiful as this travel'sl memoir. The book brought me into the mythical and traditional of China landscape and culture. It is also quite rich in spiritualilty and tells the dicotomy of community and individuality in Chinese's soul.
Elisabeth B wrote this review Tuesday, March 17 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
A glorious lyrical read with no-plot, only sentences written like melodies and paragraphs translated into miniaturiste eastern pictures.
I quite enjoyed this long book, even though the narrative is in first-person but the events jump among chapters. For instance, the author got lost in the mountain and he leaves the reader without a continuity. How did he manage to find the return's path?
A relaxing, quiet reading experience for anyone who loves relishing on descriptions of landscape, all mist and mountains that bring the whole region to life.”
“Another journey novel, a fleeing into the mountains, tons of detail of Chinese countryside life, but still , enough mist. It was a unique read, Il'll be reading it again this summer: my theme this summer is "novels in translation".”
Scott P wrote this review Thursday, June 26 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“This book was really hard for me to get through, but ultimately worth it. ”
Brandlynn wrote this review Tuesday, May 13 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“Beautifully written. ”
Colleen D wrote this review Saturday, February 2 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
