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Silk Road: A Novel of Eighth-Century China
Set during the Tang Dynasty of eighth-century China, a sweeping fantasy tale of Greenpearl, kidnapped by Tibetan raiders, chronicles her dual quest--to learn the language of humans, and to find her long-lost mother
434 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1989
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews
January 18, 2016
If you've ever been interested in Chinese mythology, this is the book to read. This book follows one female character, who has many names, through a life that leads her from one celestial world, through our world, and eventually to another. Every chapter is something different, and every story in it is enthralling. The fact that this isn't a more popular and talked about book is mind boggling to me.
February 23, 2010
A neglected classic, especially recommended to any who have enjoyed the Feng-Shen Yen-I and wished for a modern novel, with more modern narrative sensibilities, but possessed of the same imaginative breadth.
Read
June 2, 2013Silk Road is indeed a magical tale of the orient. It is also a wondrously prodigiously imaginative work of fantasy, fiction, and history.
Jeanne Larsen, herself a Chinese scholar and poet tells the tale of a young girl, most often known as Parrot. It begins with Parrot stolen and sold as a slave. In following the path before her, as well as the path drawn by her longing to meet her mother, Parrot becomes an educated lute player and mistress of seduction as a concubine, an itinerant hustler dressed as a man, a swordswoman, and a silk maker, until finally she becomes a story teller telling her own tale. Larsen draws on Chinese folk stories, poetry and song, and the myths of the spectacular deities, from the Dragon Monarch under the water, the goddess Nu Wa, creator of humans, the tiger toothed and tiger tailed Western Mother Queen, Xi Wang Mu, the Moon goddess, and Guan-Yin. This heady mixture is told in the most wonderfully devious and cunning manner mingled with poetry, folk tales, and tiny side comments from the 1980’s (the book was published in 1989) about history, the place of women, and most especially about the love of words.
I stand in awe at Larsen’s imagination. It is entirely equal to the imagination of those who created the wondrous goddesses of Asia.
An early version of the tiger toothed and tailed Western Mother Queen from Shan Hai Jing (400 BC)
A later version of the Western Mother Queen with her Jade Maidens
(Both of these images are from: http://www.suppressedhistories.net/go...)
I stand in awe at Larsen’s way with words. She herself, is like Nu Wa, creating a world which is real and illusory. Listen to her description of Nu Wa just before she creates humans:
This book is a riot of imagination to equal the breath taking imagination of the Chinese myths, held together, as I suppose such a book should be, with a wonderful circular structure: A masterpiece or should I much more precisely say, a mistresspiece.
I’m trying to think of a movie director who might like a prod into creating it. Peter Jackson with his wondrous skills with animation and images in Lord of the Rings comes first to mind, but I think it should be a woman. If you know of a female director, please let her know. This story would make the most stunningly visual feast. The only problem I see is putting all of this world into 1 hour 30 minutes.
Jeanne Larsen, herself a Chinese scholar and poet tells the tale of a young girl, most often known as Parrot. It begins with Parrot stolen and sold as a slave. In following the path before her, as well as the path drawn by her longing to meet her mother, Parrot becomes an educated lute player and mistress of seduction as a concubine, an itinerant hustler dressed as a man, a swordswoman, and a silk maker, until finally she becomes a story teller telling her own tale. Larsen draws on Chinese folk stories, poetry and song, and the myths of the spectacular deities, from the Dragon Monarch under the water, the goddess Nu Wa, creator of humans, the tiger toothed and tiger tailed Western Mother Queen, Xi Wang Mu, the Moon goddess, and Guan-Yin. This heady mixture is told in the most wonderfully devious and cunning manner mingled with poetry, folk tales, and tiny side comments from the 1980’s (the book was published in 1989) about history, the place of women, and most especially about the love of words.
I stand in awe at Larsen’s imagination. It is entirely equal to the imagination of those who created the wondrous goddesses of Asia.
An early version of the tiger toothed and tailed Western Mother Queen from Shan Hai Jing (400 BC)
A later version of the Western Mother Queen with her Jade Maidens
(Both of these images are from: http://www.suppressedhistories.net/go...)
I stand in awe at Larsen’s way with words. She herself, is like Nu Wa, creating a world which is real and illusory. Listen to her description of Nu Wa just before she creates humans:
And then there is Nu Wa. Who gets bored.
She switches her divine and snaky tail. She hums a tune sweet and nasal as the flutings of reed pipes. Heaven and Earth, and the ten thousand things that litter them have now been born … She has just finished repairing the cracks in the sky-dome and is resting in her Snail Grotto Mansion far beneath the Yangzi River, grooming her long hair and polishing her scales. After such a wearisome task, Nu Wa, tugging petulantly at a knot in one of her cloudy sidelocks, feels she deserves a treat.
This book is a riot of imagination to equal the breath taking imagination of the Chinese myths, held together, as I suppose such a book should be, with a wonderful circular structure: A masterpiece or should I much more precisely say, a mistresspiece.
I’m trying to think of a movie director who might like a prod into creating it. Peter Jackson with his wondrous skills with animation and images in Lord of the Rings comes first to mind, but I think it should be a woman. If you know of a female director, please let her know. This story would make the most stunningly visual feast. The only problem I see is putting all of this world into 1 hour 30 minutes.
November 15, 2009
Silk Road is a beautifully written, richly descriptive, meandering story of a young woman who is trying to find her family and who, along the way, finds her own power. It weaves together history, story, mythology, and poetry. Interspersed with the story (the chapters named "Parrot Speaks") are a number of fragmentary 8th-century Chinese texts, translated by the author, along with prose poems that address the reader directly.
The story itself and its writing style kinda scratched the same itch for me that Little, Big by John Crowley does. I'm failing to come up with the right words to describe the similarities, though.
In Silk Road's descriptions of the life of a courtesan I am reminded a bit of the popular Memoirs of a Geisha (which was written quite a while later). But Memoirs of a Geisha is in the end a thoroughly conventional romance novel. Silk Road isn't conventional and isn't a romance-genre novel at all.
I don't know very much about Chinese culture, history, or mythology, except what I learn from watching Yimou Zhang (House of Flying Daggers) and Jet Li movies. I expect people who know more about those things would get more out of this book.
Finally, I'm going to describe how I found out about this book, because it amuses me. I am involved with a Buddhist sangha called Insight Meditation Center. A frequent guest speaker at this sangha is Thanissaro Bhikkhu, abbot of Metta Forest Monastery in California. I really like his dharma talks. So I was reading about him on the Web one day and I came across this interview with him in the Oberlin alumni magazine:
http://www.oberlin.edu/alummag/spring...
In the interview, he was asked whether he reads for pleasure and he said that the only fiction he reads is Jeanne Larsen and Harry Potter. That seemed like a good reason for me to check out Jeanne Larsen's books!
The story itself and its writing style kinda scratched the same itch for me that Little, Big by John Crowley does. I'm failing to come up with the right words to describe the similarities, though.
In Silk Road's descriptions of the life of a courtesan I am reminded a bit of the popular Memoirs of a Geisha (which was written quite a while later). But Memoirs of a Geisha is in the end a thoroughly conventional romance novel. Silk Road isn't conventional and isn't a romance-genre novel at all.
I don't know very much about Chinese culture, history, or mythology, except what I learn from watching Yimou Zhang (House of Flying Daggers) and Jet Li movies. I expect people who know more about those things would get more out of this book.
Finally, I'm going to describe how I found out about this book, because it amuses me. I am involved with a Buddhist sangha called Insight Meditation Center. A frequent guest speaker at this sangha is Thanissaro Bhikkhu, abbot of Metta Forest Monastery in California. I really like his dharma talks. So I was reading about him on the Web one day and I came across this interview with him in the Oberlin alumni magazine:
http://www.oberlin.edu/alummag/spring...
In the interview, he was asked whether he reads for pleasure and he said that the only fiction he reads is Jeanne Larsen and Harry Potter. That seemed like a good reason for me to check out Jeanne Larsen's books!
July 25, 2008
My college professor.
December 16, 2008
Loved it, the fantasy like reality of China.
December 31, 2010
Really enjoyed this book! Writing style was unique (at least to me) but lent itself well to this book. Thoroughly enjoyed the characters and the tales.
March 5, 2014
I really wish I could give this book more stars as I, oddly enough, liked a great bulk of it. Not really because I approved of many of the strange ideas the main character and her companions had and what they did (some messed up people in this book, just saying), but because they were frightening real at times. The main character goes through some serious hardship. She's sold off into prostitution, forced to miscarry, abused, abandoned... it just plain sucks to be her, but she keeps her head up. She keeps going, changing, adopting no matter how bad things get. And they defiantly get bad. Then there are a bunch of "gods" who are either very bored or very out of their element in dealing with her and all the horrible evil that tends to follow her around. There's a quest, dreams, finding who you are and what you really want out of life, and it's all written in a beautiful poetic form that brings into light how women were (and still are in some places) seen and judged by others and each other.
Then there's the weird chapters. The ones that are pure information that I don't need in the slightest. Usually it's a description, a chapter long description mind you, of a place. Its history, people, you name it. All dry and really only giving a backdrop. After forcing myself through two or three, I started to skim them or skip them entirely. I missed nothing in doing so. That's what took a star off up there. This book really didn't need that kind of weight.
Overall, I find this an interesting read. Though, the content has some reeeeeally inappropriate stuff in it. All over it. So it's not a book I go around recommending to many.
Then there's the weird chapters. The ones that are pure information that I don't need in the slightest. Usually it's a description, a chapter long description mind you, of a place. Its history, people, you name it. All dry and really only giving a backdrop. After forcing myself through two or three, I started to skim them or skip them entirely. I missed nothing in doing so. That's what took a star off up there. This book really didn't need that kind of weight.
Overall, I find this an interesting read. Though, the content has some reeeeeally inappropriate stuff in it. All over it. So it's not a book I go around recommending to many.
November 23, 2009
I don't get it. Had to look up 'official' reviews after I read this book. All discuss how beautifully written it is, poetic, and irresistible. I'll agree that it was beautifully written, but the schizophrenic feel to it really put me off. Stuck with it for all the 434 pages but it was weird. Was it a fantasy based on Chinese mythology, a fiction book about a character’s life or an informative book about Chinese culture and history?
My biggest issue is that if relationships are key, then the people close to this main character (she has at least four names so I’ll stick to Parrot) leave her and not a blip in the story line. Just a waved good bye and never say her/him again.
Could go on but think I’ll stop here.
My biggest issue is that if relationships are key, then the people close to this main character (she has at least four names so I’ll stick to Parrot) leave her and not a blip in the story line. Just a waved good bye and never say her/him again.
Could go on but think I’ll stop here.
April 8, 2016
I really enjoyed this book which reminded me of Barry Hughart's excellent Chronicles of Number Ten Ox and Master Li. Complex heirarchies of gods, impossible quests, inkstones, seduction, aspirations to holiness, journeys across forbidding and uncomfortable landscapes, what is not to love? The narrative style is self-aware and will please those who enjoy post modern multi layered texts, but the story can be enjoyed without needing to know much about this.
November 27, 2016
An amazing and complex story. In Joseph's Campbell's mythology, a true hero's journey.The author intertwines, multiple levels of creatures, earth beings, celestial beings, sea people, dragons, the goddess and a hungry ghost. Many beings shift into other forms. The hero has multiple names as she moves from one level to another in search of her mother. Poems and ancient Chinese legends are interwoven between chapters.
February 17, 2008
I really enjoyed this book, totally captured another time, place both on earth and in heaven, merging the two together so beautifully, it is a book that I continue to remember as there are not very many books like this - unique, original and memorable
November 18, 2008
Always a good read! I've read this book about 8 times now, picking it up once a year just because. A fantastic blend of mysticism, fantasy, gender play and lush Orientalism that is never overdone or pretentious.
May 5, 2009
Usually when I read a book, it takes me a while to get in the proper mind set for reading. However, with this book I feel like it automatically draws me in and I never have to worry about not feeling like reading it.
May 22, 2015
I loved this! It started out as a historical novel"," with the ghosts"," dragons"," and gods of Chinese mythology acting in the background"," and"," about two thirds of the way through"," morphed into a full-blown fantasy adventure.
August 4, 2011
enjoyable...very imaginative
January 2, 2024
3.5 stars. I don't really know what I think of this book. I mostly enjoyed it. The most fascinating thing for me was looking through the open window on to a very different culture. The oddness, to one from of a European cultural background, of Chinese mythology and afterlife beliefs. So, very different.
September 29, 2020
Started out slow but I decided to give the book due diligence because I've been recommended it for about 10 years now. After about the 25% mark, the novel begins to open up and much of the traditional (and often magical) Ming Dynasty Style story telling begins.
March 14, 2018
I cannot recommend Jeanne Larsen enough to anyone. She still teaches at Hollins University just down the road from me, and I am fortunate enough to have an addressed copy of Silk Road.
February 14, 2020
8th century China complete with myths that read absolutely true.
September 20, 2023
Finely written, with a huge scope and dizzying plot. Very literary and poetic. Hard to follow, I will need to reread this one in a few years.
March 28, 2024
I felt completely immersed in this world--the descriptions are beautiful.
April 6, 2024
So hard to get through, ugh!
June 15, 2024
One of the few books I have read over and over.
dnf
December 15, 2025DNF at 27%
July 16, 2019
Such a beautiful, and intricate story, unlike anything I’ve read before! The highest praise I can give a book is by rereading it, and I just know that I’ll have to visit these mountains, rivers, and celestial planes again! Hoping some talented soul stumbles across this gem and makes a visual masterpiece for the ages!!
February 9, 2016
Greenpearl, daughter of a Chinese general, is abducted and sold into slavery while still only a child. She never forgets the family she came from, however, and is determined to find her way back to her mother and rescue her from captivity in the Dragon Monarch's realm. Greenpearl travels across China, assuming many different names and roles, becoming a courtesan, a warrior, and a poet. Her progress is watched closely by various gods, who have taken a special interest in her plight and help or hinder her by turn.
Silk Road is about women, their relationships to each other and their roles in society. It's been called feminist, but that gives one the idea that the author, Larsen, is pushing an agenda. It is, merely, the story of a woman from a woman's perspective and, if anything, champions only the idea that women can and should be in charge of their destinies. I liked seeing the strong bonds between women in this book -- many female characters in fantasy are limited to romance with men and rivalry with other women, neglecting the supportive, loyal friendships that women can have with each other (and with men too).
The book is an experimental collage of different literary forms. Parts of the story are in first person, from Greenpearl's perspective as she recounts her adventures, but other parts are in third person, looking in on various other characters. Interspersed with these narratives are poems, historical texts, a storyteller's performance, even recipes -- the mishmash of elements is odd, and it slows down the narrative with apparently irrelevant detours. I like it for being so unusual and daring, but others may be frustrated or confused by it.
Larsen throws in just about any bit of Chinese culture and history that takes her fancy, mixing together Taoist, Confucian, and Buddhist traditions: Nu Wa, Guan-yin, the King of the Underworld, the Motherqueen, Empress Wu, Yang Kuei-fei, the monk traveling to India with 3 disciples, and dozens more. The book is so deeply immersed in all things Chinese that people completely unfamiliar with the culture will find lots of details passing right over their heads. You don't need to be an expert on China to enjoy the book -- after all, I'm not -- but it will entice you to learn more. Even the merest passing familiarity with China will add an additional level of pleasure in recognizing legendary names and places.
Although labeled as fantasy, Silk Road feels more like a folk tale, or magical realism, so people who don't normally read fantasy may like this anyway. Fans of fantasy will appreciate it as a welcome break from humdrum Tolkien ripoffs.
Note: This book is not appropriate for children, as it features sex, rape, and prostitution. Homosexuality is also present.
Silk Road is about women, their relationships to each other and their roles in society. It's been called feminist, but that gives one the idea that the author, Larsen, is pushing an agenda. It is, merely, the story of a woman from a woman's perspective and, if anything, champions only the idea that women can and should be in charge of their destinies. I liked seeing the strong bonds between women in this book -- many female characters in fantasy are limited to romance with men and rivalry with other women, neglecting the supportive, loyal friendships that women can have with each other (and with men too).
The book is an experimental collage of different literary forms. Parts of the story are in first person, from Greenpearl's perspective as she recounts her adventures, but other parts are in third person, looking in on various other characters. Interspersed with these narratives are poems, historical texts, a storyteller's performance, even recipes -- the mishmash of elements is odd, and it slows down the narrative with apparently irrelevant detours. I like it for being so unusual and daring, but others may be frustrated or confused by it.
Larsen throws in just about any bit of Chinese culture and history that takes her fancy, mixing together Taoist, Confucian, and Buddhist traditions: Nu Wa, Guan-yin, the King of the Underworld, the Motherqueen, Empress Wu, Yang Kuei-fei, the monk traveling to India with 3 disciples, and dozens more. The book is so deeply immersed in all things Chinese that people completely unfamiliar with the culture will find lots of details passing right over their heads. You don't need to be an expert on China to enjoy the book -- after all, I'm not -- but it will entice you to learn more. Even the merest passing familiarity with China will add an additional level of pleasure in recognizing legendary names and places.
Although labeled as fantasy, Silk Road feels more like a folk tale, or magical realism, so people who don't normally read fantasy may like this anyway. Fans of fantasy will appreciate it as a welcome break from humdrum Tolkien ripoffs.
Note: This book is not appropriate for children, as it features sex, rape, and prostitution. Homosexuality is also present.
April 13, 2021
I did not expect my interest in Chinese history (and the Tang Dynasty era in particular), long-lasting general fascination with myth and legends from around the world, and recently revitalized interest in fantasy to all come together in only one book. But lucky me, here I am. Historical fiction, folk Daoism and Buddhism, and Chinese mythology combine here beautifully in a tale that was so rich and such a delight to get fully absorbed into that even before I was able to return my finished library copy, I was already looking to purchase a copy of my own to enjoy and get lost in again and again.
October 17, 2015
I was never really comfortable with the fantasy aspect of this book, for some reason I kept expecting it to be a normal historical drama. Therefore, whenever the viewpoint became magical, I would get a little frustrated.
For some reason, I never really caught on to the main character. She was supposed to be on this epic quest to free her mother, but I felt like she didn't know about her journey, or didn't care.
For some reason, I never really caught on to the main character. She was supposed to be on this epic quest to free her mother, but I felt like she didn't know about her journey, or didn't care.
June 27, 2010
I got about halway through the book and decided that perhaps I'd placed a little too much faith in it. It's not a terrible book, please don't misunderstand; it just wasn't something that could hold my interest long enough for me to finish it. I had a similar problem with the Twilight series. lol
Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews