redrikki

Once again, I've mostly been reading fan fiction rather than actual books. I did, however, managed to get my fencing teacher hooked on Naomi Novak's Temeraire series, so I shall count that as a win.

Just Finished

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie which tells the story of the unnamed narrator and his friend Lou as they are re-educated in rural China during the 1970s. It's apparently based off of the author's real life experiences of the same and it's alternately charmingly silly and deeply sad. The narrator and his friends are the sons of doctors and, therefore, class traitors, and have pretty much resigned themselves to a perpetual life of shit, at least until they discover a suitcase full of forbidden Western literature and a hot local girl. They're both a pair of teenage idiots and I found myself alternately charmed and frustrated by them. I kind of wish I'd gotten to see more from the Little Seamstress. Lou basically decides that she's hot, but uncultured and takes it upon himself to fashion her into his ideal woman using Western literature only for it to backfire spectacularly in a My Fair Lady sort of way. I would have loved to see how she felt about it, but since the story is told from her boyfriend's best friend's POV their whole romance feels weirdly distant and detached.

I liked it, but I probably wont be keeping it. I'm trying to get better about not hoarding every book I buy. Only the stuff that really sparks joy, as Marie Kondo would say.

Up Next?

?????? Probably some more unsatisfying Umbrella Academy fanfic before I find another one that really hits the spot. Anyone got any recs?