What do you think?
Rate this book
Levon a
A layered, beautifully wrought story told in reverse chronology, levon a is a celebration of Chinese history, of magic, and, ultimately, of storytelling: ''Still, truth is how I remember it now. In a way, I am changing the past from my desk here in the future as I write. It always happens like this. This is how we all tell our story.''
340 pages, Paperback
Published April 5, 2016
1 person is currently reading
336 people want to read
About the author
J.D. Radke
2 books12 followersMr. Radke was the first American to work for Shanghai’s international airport in Pudong, China. He is a founding member of the Minnesota club of Shanghai and has served as the vice chair of the transportation committee at the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai.
Among his many business ventures, Mr. Radke owned a small tattoo shop in the foothills of the Himalayan Mountains in Southwest China. The tattoo designs were all made in house by locally famous calligraphers.
While working on levon a he collaborated closely with the banned Chinese poet Sheng Xue, a prominent figure in China’s democracy movement today. Together they created a flawed heroine who is unforgettable.
J.D Radke has dedicated this book to his young son to show him through example that we all can be brave.
Among his many business ventures, Mr. Radke owned a small tattoo shop in the foothills of the Himalayan Mountains in Southwest China. The tattoo designs were all made in house by locally famous calligraphers.
While working on levon a he collaborated closely with the banned Chinese poet Sheng Xue, a prominent figure in China’s democracy movement today. Together they created a flawed heroine who is unforgettable.
J.D Radke has dedicated this book to his young son to show him through example that we all can be brave.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
March 24, 2016
I had the good fortune to get to read a pre-publication copy of this book. I packed it as airplane reading, and honestly, I'm not sure that was a good idea: I personally found that the reverse chronology format took some getting used to, so the first couple chapters weren't the kind of light entertainment I normally choose when I'm sitting miserably in steerage. But once I got to a quiet hotel room and could focus a bit more, it consumed my attention until I finished it all up.
In general, I think that experience encapsulates my feelings about this book. It isn't an *easy* book -- it's worth the work, more than worth it, but it isn't a beach read. This is a piece of art. It's a word version of a delicate Asian ink-painting, a few strokes of dilute black on pure white, suggesting trees and lakes and mountains that aren't quite there, or maybe they are. Radke is more than familiar with the culture about which he writes, having studied, lived, and worked in it for years. His love for the culture is the delicately spreading ink; his knowledge of the history is the tool with which he paints; and the backwards morsels with which he feeds the reader this tale are the suggestive strokes that give us the final image.
I never like to summarize plots in reviews, but it's even less important here than usual. On the surface that's surprising, because this story involves emperors, rats, immortality, revolutions, mahjong, and treasure. You wouldn't think so many big plot points could end up completely secondary to the tone and style of the telling, but they really do, and not in a bad way. They simply dissipate into the bigger mood of the tale and leave behind a general satisfaction that doesn't require cerebral analysis. So: there are emperors, and rats, and immortality, and revolutions. There's love and loss and art and delicious food. None of it matters, because it all does.
In the end, I don't know, maybe this *is* a beach read, if it's a lovely abandoned and tranquil beach and your goal is a kind of zen meditation. But it won't be one of the beach paperbacks you leave behind in the hotel room for the next guest. Levon A demands re-reading, a revisitation to a story that is already a return to itself, and personally, I can't wait to get started.
In general, I think that experience encapsulates my feelings about this book. It isn't an *easy* book -- it's worth the work, more than worth it, but it isn't a beach read. This is a piece of art. It's a word version of a delicate Asian ink-painting, a few strokes of dilute black on pure white, suggesting trees and lakes and mountains that aren't quite there, or maybe they are. Radke is more than familiar with the culture about which he writes, having studied, lived, and worked in it for years. His love for the culture is the delicately spreading ink; his knowledge of the history is the tool with which he paints; and the backwards morsels with which he feeds the reader this tale are the suggestive strokes that give us the final image.
I never like to summarize plots in reviews, but it's even less important here than usual. On the surface that's surprising, because this story involves emperors, rats, immortality, revolutions, mahjong, and treasure. You wouldn't think so many big plot points could end up completely secondary to the tone and style of the telling, but they really do, and not in a bad way. They simply dissipate into the bigger mood of the tale and leave behind a general satisfaction that doesn't require cerebral analysis. So: there are emperors, and rats, and immortality, and revolutions. There's love and loss and art and delicious food. None of it matters, because it all does.
In the end, I don't know, maybe this *is* a beach read, if it's a lovely abandoned and tranquil beach and your goal is a kind of zen meditation. But it won't be one of the beach paperbacks you leave behind in the hotel room for the next guest. Levon A demands re-reading, a revisitation to a story that is already a return to itself, and personally, I can't wait to get started.
May 2, 2016
Levon a is not like anything I have read before. I imagine that will be true for most of you as well. Its secret is in its name, levon a. Back up and read it again, backwards this time. That is exactly how this marvel postmodern experimental novel was written. The first paragraph on the first page is the most recent part of the story and that moment in time is held in one paragraph. The first sentence of the next paragraph is a few seconds earlier and the first sentence of the next is earlier again. Each succeeding chapter goes back in time until the final chapter in the mythos from which this story developed—its inception.
But this is not an experiment just for the sake of experimentation. There is a compelling story that draws us in and back into time. We want to know more and the somewhat unreliable narrator makes sure that when things begin to click into place, we are not truly certain they have really clicked.
The story opens at the wedding of Professor6489 (She’s on Twitter!) shortly after she kicked out the disruptive He Song (An evil man we are told.) though his companion The Jade Thief remains. As the story goes back in time, we learn how they came to be there, how their relationships have altered and changed over time. We also learn about The Monkey King, He Song’s son, who died and the child Emperor PiYu, He Song’s childhood friend and companion.
The novel, or should I say levon eht, takes us back through Chinese history, from 2016 to 1906. It takes us from Empire to the Japanese invasion, from the Republic through the many movements of the Communist regime to the new capitalism. And our narrator saw it all.
I know there is beauty and meaning and significance in the complexity of our lives on earth. Otherwise, we are just animals.
I prefer us to be human.
The prose is spare and unadorned, like a shui-mo word painting in ink and letters. There is so much beauty in its simplicity. Wonderful phrases jumped out at me. The “dependable rocks forever stay by the river.” Well, of course they do, they cannot get up and walk, but how lovely that he called them dependable. A child sees a stray hair floating in the air and imagines it is “an almost-invisible dragon visiting the human race.”
The story is fascinating, full of action and great things happening, but it is not easy. Reading backwards is not natural to me and despite the narrator’s assurance that I will get used to it, I only sometimes did. Sometimes I would read it as intended and then go read it forwards from the back for a few paragraphs just to make sure I knew what was happening.
I struggled with this book and sometimes found it slow-going and frustrating, but not all great books are easy. I seldom award 5 stars because I reserve it for books that are original, fresh and unique, not simply a “good read” whatever that is. This is for the books that have not been done before, and sometimes because they are so new, they are a struggle. Learning to read a book backwards, not easy. It’s a strange experiment and yet the story came to make sense. It worked and that is the ultimate test.
I was given a digital advance galley from the publisher through NetGalley.
https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpre...
But this is not an experiment just for the sake of experimentation. There is a compelling story that draws us in and back into time. We want to know more and the somewhat unreliable narrator makes sure that when things begin to click into place, we are not truly certain they have really clicked.
The story opens at the wedding of Professor6489 (She’s on Twitter!) shortly after she kicked out the disruptive He Song (An evil man we are told.) though his companion The Jade Thief remains. As the story goes back in time, we learn how they came to be there, how their relationships have altered and changed over time. We also learn about The Monkey King, He Song’s son, who died and the child Emperor PiYu, He Song’s childhood friend and companion.
The novel, or should I say levon eht, takes us back through Chinese history, from 2016 to 1906. It takes us from Empire to the Japanese invasion, from the Republic through the many movements of the Communist regime to the new capitalism. And our narrator saw it all.
I know there is beauty and meaning and significance in the complexity of our lives on earth. Otherwise, we are just animals.
I prefer us to be human.
The prose is spare and unadorned, like a shui-mo word painting in ink and letters. There is so much beauty in its simplicity. Wonderful phrases jumped out at me. The “dependable rocks forever stay by the river.” Well, of course they do, they cannot get up and walk, but how lovely that he called them dependable. A child sees a stray hair floating in the air and imagines it is “an almost-invisible dragon visiting the human race.”
The story is fascinating, full of action and great things happening, but it is not easy. Reading backwards is not natural to me and despite the narrator’s assurance that I will get used to it, I only sometimes did. Sometimes I would read it as intended and then go read it forwards from the back for a few paragraphs just to make sure I knew what was happening.
I struggled with this book and sometimes found it slow-going and frustrating, but not all great books are easy. I seldom award 5 stars because I reserve it for books that are original, fresh and unique, not simply a “good read” whatever that is. This is for the books that have not been done before, and sometimes because they are so new, they are a struggle. Learning to read a book backwards, not easy. It’s a strange experiment and yet the story came to make sense. It worked and that is the ultimate test.
I was given a digital advance galley from the publisher through NetGalley.
https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpre...
July 6, 2016
Great summer read! Interesting concept.
June 2, 2017
The backwards storytelling format of levon a was unlike anything I'd read before, and I'm still not sure how I feel about it. It was creative, but also took a little getting used to. Set in China, the author's writing style "felt" Chinese (even though he is American). It was the story of He Song, an herbalist with connections to the former Emperor, from 2016 back to his very early childhood, and I definitely became interested in him. So much so that I want to know what happens to him AFTER the beginning of the book (the chronological end of the story- see how that can be a little strange?).
But if you're looking for something a little different, this is it.
But if you're looking for something a little different, this is it.
April 14, 2016
If you like Cloud Atlas, this book is similarly challenging to read. The order of events is told in reverse, starting with 2016 and working backwards. It takes a couple chapters to get used to going back in time with each paragraph, but as you get into the layered story, you want to find out what happened before. Your brain accepts the reverse order and looks forward to learning about events that preceded.
The setting of the book is the other challenge. I learned a lot about China, socially and politically, reading Levon a. I think that is part of Radke's intention, to make the reader think and mull over what he reveals. Some of the stories are funny and endearing, and some are haunting.
The setting of the book is the other challenge. I learned a lot about China, socially and politically, reading Levon a. I think that is part of Radke's intention, to make the reader think and mull over what he reveals. Some of the stories are funny and endearing, and some are haunting.
April 11, 2016
3 1/2 stars
I received this from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This is a really interesting concept - the novel is told in reverse, with each paragraph taking the reader further and further back in time. This constraint could be gimmicky, but it is done well and it is easy to follow along. The story is interesting, although I think at times the plot is second to the 'levon a' concept. Overall, an interesting concept and a good read.
I received this from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This is a really interesting concept - the novel is told in reverse, with each paragraph taking the reader further and further back in time. This constraint could be gimmicky, but it is done well and it is easy to follow along. The story is interesting, although I think at times the plot is second to the 'levon a' concept. Overall, an interesting concept and a good read.
June 14, 2016
I haven't read a book like this before where the story starts at the end and works it way backwards. I received a lovely autographed copy as a give way from the author, and really wanted to like it but have to confess to being confused and not engaging with the story and characters. I enjoyed the challenge of reading something new and different but just wasn't for me.
May 4, 2016
I've seen J.D. Radke read twice from his novel with great enthusiasm!
This novel is like nothing I've read before. It did take a bit of concentration to follow the first few sentences, but after training my brain, twas a-ok. The little box sure keeps one questioning the secret. Read it and find discover what's inside!
This novel is like nothing I've read before. It did take a bit of concentration to follow the first few sentences, but after training my brain, twas a-ok. The little box sure keeps one questioning the secret. Read it and find discover what's inside!
July 18, 2016
A good story! It uses creative storytelling to change my definition of normal by the fourth (or do we say the 16th?) chapter.
This is what novels should do to their readers. Levon a might become a verb someday, you mark my word.
I want to read more books like this one. It turns the world of storytelling on its head, challenging everything , challenging us....
This is what novels should do to their readers. Levon a might become a verb someday, you mark my word.
I want to read more books like this one. It turns the world of storytelling on its head, challenging everything , challenging us....
July 11, 2016
Interesting concept to start the story with the ending and proceed backwards. I tried to get into the story but felt disconnected from the story.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews