As one of the most glamorous female characters created by Yan Geling, Wang Putao is powerful and aggressive, persevering and charming and her kindheartedness and tolerance makes her surpass all disputes of interests in this world. The novel develops from the gap between Putao's filial piety to father-in-law as a child bride and her strong sexual passion and love affairs with different men as a widow to describe the bright human nature and reflect the real energy and origin of the folk. 中王葡萄是严歌苓笔下最光彩照人的女性角色之一,强大而嚣张、坚忍而娇媚,其浑然不分的仁爱与包容一切的宽厚使其超越了人世间一切利害之争。小蜕从葡萄以童养媳身份掩护公爹尽孝,与作为寡妇以强烈情欲和不同男人偷欢之间的落差展开,写出了人性的灿烂,体现了民间大地真正的能量和本原。
Geling Yan (嚴歌苓) is one of the most acclaimed novelists and screenwriters writing in the Chinese language today and a well-established writer in English. Born in Shanghai, she served with the People's Liberation Army (PLA) during the Cultural Revolution, starting at age twelve as a dancer in an entertainment troupe.
After serving for over a decade with the PLA (including tours in Tibet and as a war correspondent during the Sino-Vietnam border conflict), Ms. Yan was discharged with a rank equivalent to Lieutenant Colonel. She published her first novel in 1986 and ever since has produced a steady stream of novels, short stories, novellas, essays and scripts. Her best-known novels in English are The Secret Talker, published by HarperCollins; Little Aunt Crane published in the UK by Random House affiliate Harvill Secker; The Flowers of War, published in the U.S. by The Other Press and elsewhere by Random House's Harvill Secker; The Banquet Bug (The Uninvited in its UK edition - written directly in English); and The Lost Daughter of Happiness, (translated by Cathy Silber) both published by Hyperion in the US and Faber & Faber in the UK. She has also published a novella and short story collection called White Snake and Other Stories, translated by Lawrence A. Walker and published by Aunt Lute Books.
Many of Geling Yan's works have been adapted for film and television, including internationally distributed films Xiu Xiu: The Sent-Down Girl (directed by Joan Chen) and Siao Yu (directed by Sylvia Chang; produced by Ang Lee). Chinese director Zhang Yimou made The Flowers of War, a big-budget film based on her work set during the 1937 Rape of Nanking, starring Academy Award winning actor Christian Bale; Coming Home 归来, based on her novel The Criminal Lu Yanshi 陆犯焉识, and One Second 一秒钟, also based on that novel.
Ms. Yan has also written numerous scripts based on her own and other authors' work, both in English and Chinese, including a script for a biopic on the iconic Peking opera star Mei Lanfang for director Chen Kaige (released as Forever Enthralled 梅兰芳) starring Leon Lai and Zhang Ziyi. She wrote the script for Dangerous Liaisons 危險關係, a Chinese-language film directed by South Korean director Hur Jin-ho and starring Zhang Ziyi, Jang Dong Gun and Cecilia Cheung. Her novel Fang Hua 芳华 is the basis a film of the same name (English title Youth) directed by Chinese director Feng Xiaogang 冯小刚. Her novel A City Called Macau 妈阁是座城 was made into a film directed by Li Shaohong 李少红, released in 2018.
Geling Yan a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and of France's Société des Gens de Lettres. She is affiliated with the Hollywood screenwriters' union, Writers' Guild of America, west, and is a former member of the Chinese Writers' Association (中国作家协会).
Geling Yan went to the United States at the end of 1989 for graduate study. She holds a Master's in Fine Arts in Fiction Writing from Columbia College, Chicago. To date she has published over 40 books in various editions in Mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, the US, the UK and elsewhere; has won over 30 literary and film awards; and has had her work adapted or written scripts for numerous film, TV and radio works. Her works have been translated into twenty-one languages: Arabic, Bulgarian, Czech, Dutch, English, Farsi, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, Uyghur, and Vietnamese, and her English-language novel The Banquet Bug/The Uninvited was translated into Chinese. She currently lives in Berlin, Germany.
She has been subject to an unofficial but effective ban in China since March 2020, when she wrote and promulgated an essay on the Chinese government's initial handling of COVID-19. Her future Chinese-language work will be published by her own publishing company, New Song Media GmbH.
For non-Chinese language publishing she is represented by Agence Astier-Pécher.
La edición que he leído tiene una sinopsis que engaña un poco. La novela trata principalmente (vamos, yo diría que en un 90%) sobre el momento en el que China pasa al comunismo. No es que no me interesara, pero no es lo que esperaba. Lectura recomendada solo si te interesa esa etapa de la historia de China.
Historia de Want Putao es sorprendente e inspiradora. No sólo narra la vida de una mujer fuerte e inteligente, y un pueblo que ve mil cambios y a la vez ninguno, sino que está hecho de manera sencilla. La lectura es muy fácil de seguir y los detalles que la autora da son necesarios, pero deliciosos. No se explaya en detalles minuciosos que nunca importarán. Si bien la historia a veces se desvía levemente del camino de Putao, es sólo para enriquecer más su historia.
Me encantó totalmente.
Lo único que podría no gustarme es el cambio drástico que se hace a veces, cuando se narra algo en el pasado, y cuando se devuelve al presente.
El resumen de la contraportada te da una idea equivocada del libro. Es la historia de China del nacionalismo al socialismo, contada desde la vida de Wang Putao, una huérfana de ojos grandes, mente práctica y poco convencional.
A fascinating read with a protagonist who manages to stay positive no matter the circumstances - and considering all the difficulties that come up just trying to survive 1900's China, that's saying a lot. Overall the least depressing of this author's books that I've read so far, though more because of the attitude than the events. Definitely worth a read.
Describe como se expandió el comunismo en China, la invasión de los japoneses antes Segunda Guerra Mundial, La caída de Chiang Kai Shek y la subida de Mao Zedong, hasta su muerte
Some stories just need to be told, there is no key takeaway, it is not supposed to teach anyone any lesson, the meaning of it is to be told and be remembered.
Un libro que te traslada en el tiempo y en el espacio, a otra cultura y otra mentalidad, a una época crucial en la historia China. Fácil de leer, interesante para entender algo más de este país.
Tiene ciertos aspectos en los que me confundía por los saltos en el tiempo, que a veces pasan sin esperarlos. Sin embargo, al avanzar la lectura pude percibir más historia y empatía.
Si bien a la protagonista la ponen como una grande sin tantos sentimientos, también muestra está parte de ella tierna y sentimental, se nota un vínculo con su padre que al final llega a respetarlo de una gran fonda.
Está llena de simbolismos y se desarrolla en un contexto histórico, por ende, hubo cosas que no comprendí demasiado hasta que avance con la lectura. Aún así me parece una novela buena.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
My absolute favorite among all her novels. If you only read one book by her, I'd recommend this one. Just re-read it for the second time. Liked it as much. Very anti-communist government; hence, was very surprised they made this book into a tv series. After watching it, understood --- they change the entire time frames of the novel, and placed lames elsewhere. Still, a big step, since I thought this book would be banned there.
Geling Yan crea a un personaje, Wang Putao hermoso y que se crece conforme se va desarrollando la historia. Ayuda mucho a comprender una cultura tan lejana para Latinoamérica, como es la china. Impresionante la descripción del hambre que pasaron muchos años. El otro personaje central es Sun Huaiqing, padre-suegro de Putao, que le da grandes lecciones a Putao y de paso al lector atento. Muy recomendable.
vividly telling a story of a woman in the special period of time in the history of China, I got so touched about how cruel the situation it could be, and based on the stories my mother told me, they are all true, so much touched and admire the way writer describe all the details.
Una novela bien lograda, original y que narra la historia de 9 mujeres jóvenes en una pequeña aldea de China. El trasfondo es darnos a conocer la historia reciente de ese país, un país que se debate entre dos mundos y que la propia autora vive