Barefoot Doctor

by Can Xue, Karen Gernant (Translator), Zeping Chen (Translator)

A profound, poignant story of a village healer and her community, from one of the world’s great contemporary novelists

In rural Yun Village, herbalist Mrs. Yi lives with her husband in a cottage at the foot of Niulan Mountain, where she gathers herbs to treat the ailments of the villagers by day and studies medicine by night. Sickness and herbs are lovers, she tells her patients, rejoicing when they recover, comforting them when they do not. All the while, she hopes to find a worthy successor to take up her mantle. As curious younger villagers observe Mrs. Yi and begin imitating her work—planting gardens and studying the art of healing—they soon discover that the line dividing life from death is porous, and the mountain is more mysterious than they ever knew.

Drawing on her experiences as a barefoot doctor in her youth, Can Xue returns with a transporting novel that alights in the in-between spaces: between the living and the dead, healer and sick, nature and us.

Genres: Fiction, China, Novels, Contemporary, Green, Asia

272 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 2019

About the author

残雪

Can Xue (Chinese: 残雪; pinyin: Cán Xuĕ), née Deng Xiaohua (Chinese: 邓小华), is a Chinese avant-garde fiction writer, literary critic, and tailor. She was born May 30, 1953 in Changsha, Hunan, China. Her family was severely persecuted following her father being labeled an ultra-rightist in the Anti-rightist Movement of 1957. Her writing, which consists mostly of short fiction, breaks with the realism of earlier modern Chinese writers. She has also written novels, novellas, and literary criticisms of the work of Dante, Jorge Luis Borges, and Franz Kafka. Some of her fiction has been translated and published in English.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Elyse Walters · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is a spiritual quality to this book — a little spine-chilling voodoo mysticism… but also sweet & charming…..
— with a purpose — in my opinion — of making our lives and bodies a little lighter. (or maybe I’m just in hope)

Barefoot doctors were healthcare providers who underwent basic medical training and worked in rule villages in China. They included farmers, folk healers, rule healthcare providers, and middle or secondary school graduates who received minimal basic medical and paramedical education.
The author, Can Xue, was a barefoot doctor, and draws on her experience in writing this novel.

In this story we meet Mrs. Yi, the barefoot healer. She lived with her husband in a cottage at the foot of Niulan Mountain, where she gathered herbs to treat the ailments of the villagers by day and practiced medicine by night.
She was a junior high school graduate. And for a villager, this was almost as good as graduating from college. She studied traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine on her own and learned about women’s genitalia, studied the treatment methods for different pedal positions, memorize a variety of herbal properties, and practice acupuncture, cupping, etc.

To Mrs. Yi the most beautiful scenes were the herbs which grew in lonely spots for the sick. “The invisible link between herbs and people have existed since ancient times”.

Here’s an excerpt from a villager— [people loved and respected Mrs. Yi — almost on blind faith]
“I kept thinking that if one only had hope, one would live well. I was waiting for you to bring me the medicine. That was my hope. Now that I’ve swallowed the medicine, I feel much better. Mrs.Yi, I watched you grow up. You’re not an ordinary person”.
“I am an ordinary countrywoman. As a barefoot doctor I know some herbs, that’s all”.
”You don’t just know the herbs, you actually command them. I’ve heard them talking inside me”.
“Grandma Mao stood up on crutches. She was all smiles”.
”Mrs. Yi, you can bring the dying back to life!”

The story started out interesting—but somewhere along the way it started to lose a little something for me.

A solid PLUS-AVERAGE rating: 3.5
The premise of this story is inspiring.

[Roman Clodia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Everything in this world is connected to your heart. I want to visualise life the way you do... I think there are many things in the mountains that we have never seen... That's why you're inspired. The mountains are actually ourselves.

This is a consolatory fable set in a small village called Yun at the foot of the Niulan Mountain. It seems realist, if without a time setting, at first but the more we read, the more we realise this is actually more akin to a fairy story for adults as Mrs Yi uses her 'inspiration' to find herbal remedies for the ailments, both physical and emotional, of the inhabitants.

There's an increasingly spiritual register, though this never becomes pompous or preachy, and is closer to Buddhist than traditional Western religion, especially in the way everything is connected and the boundaries between flowers, animals, human and the landscape become increasingly porous, as do the categories of life and death.

In some ways, this is a counterweight to Otessa Moshfegh's recent Lapvona: that is a pessimistic fable set in a mock-medieval theatrical-set which exposes the timeless inhumanity of people, the entrenched power differentials and inherent injustices which may have different names in history but which are apparently self-sustaining - in Can Xue's take, there are pleasures and joy in simple things: community, flowers, a roasted sweet potato, family, and the fundamental unity of life even in death.

Thanks to Yale University Press for an ARC via NetGalley

[Lee van der Kamp · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my third outing with Can Xue, and my sure favourite so far. For those unaware, Can Xue does not write conventional fiction - she doesn't even write unconventional fiction. She is in her own category. I found this novel's surrealism doing what the most accomplished surrealism does: lifting feelings I can't name, and rewiring my perception. It's organic and suggestive in the way ancient writing often is. You can't explain it, or justify it I suppose, on any single plane of interpretation. On the most basic level, it's the luminous portrait of a utopia built upon principles of spiritual care, community, and the reciprocity of deep ecology. That's already enough for me!

[Zach Tarr · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mrs. Yi is the local barefoot doctor for her broke ass village. That's just a professional title for rural folk healers. They're the people who make your doctor roll his eyes every time you start talking about how you were recommended some 'holistic treatments' to cure your most recent medical condition. But, she ain’t the type of person to just lay out some magic crystals while smearing essential oils all over your diseased little body (though she would still think that’s a well intentioned idea). Ya gurl is state motherfucking trained and she even has talents as a midwife. Her skills may only pay as much as a farmer and they usually take up all of her time, but she still loves it. She takes joy in the learning and discovery of how herbs help and nurture the body. She'd say, "People and herbs tacitly help each other and share the happiness of living in this world", and villagers eat that up, believing she was born to heal, but that’s not really proof of anything, maybe it’s really just because she has strong hands, but then again so do the other locals. Anyways, I don’t know where I was going with this. Oh yeah, the point, the point is that there is no real proof of anything, especially when it comes to herbal remedies. What really matters is that you’re trying to help people in all the ways that you know how, using what works and discarding what doesn't. Hey yo, there's our theme.

Now Mrs. Yi is getting on up there in age, so she needs to apprentice some new bloods who can take over when she's gone. That's where Mia and Gray come in, they're the lucky students selected to learn the ancient secrets of the mountain, so that they can help their fellow villagers when the time comes. But how are these fools curing sicknesses without prescriptions? Well.... They aren't. You need money to keep from dying. But that doesn’t mean that death and disease can’t bring happiness. That sounds crazy, but it’s cray cray in a good way. Being sick can be brutal, both physically, mentally, and especially financially. And life is the biggest terminal illness, you’re going to get sick and die, it’s a fact, sorry. The hopelessness of death is overwhelming, particularly for broke folks with no insurance. Like the rural Chinese villagers in this book, but also like the majority of Americans. Which helps them to realize that every extra day without pain feels like the greatest gift there is.

Poor people seek solace in comfort when they’re not supposed to have any. Sure, when the herbs don’t work, you should go to a hospital, but if you can’t afford that medical bill, well, then you’re probably gonna fall back onto whatever you can get your hands on. People will look for cures wherever they can get them, often from people they trust. Mrs Yi is someone trustworthy who's trying to help people that can’t afford help. She uses the resources and knowledge that she possesses for good, it doesn't really matter to villagers if her remedies work or not. It's all about trying to maintain dignity and peace of mind. Death with dignity costs money. It’s sad that people have to seek healers like Mrs. Yi. But needing a barefoot doctor is a sign that you can’t get a real doctor. Mrs. Yi doesn’t care about wealth, she devotes every second of her life to healing, as she believes the world is willingly trying to do for us. But we’ve commodified the resources of our world, leaving people to find other ways of turning their hopelessness into happiness. There’s an honest wisdom to this book, which states that we should all help with good intentions, even if we are not actually helping. It's the gesture that comforts, it’s the effort that reassures people, and helps them to push harder to survive.

Now, I want to caution you beforehand. Because Can Xue is ‘different’ as far as writers go. She literally writes sequentially, page to page, without ever taking the time to plan the entirety of her books. On top of that, she casually drifts her narratives, which start out rooted in realism, only to transform into the fantastically surreal. You’ll get lost along the way, it's a guarantee, just go with it. This chick is a vibe, a good one too. One meant to add a little yin to your yang, only to suddenly yang on your yin. She was actually a barefoot doctor before becoming a writer. So she's speaking from the heart as to what she believed her purpose was. This story is all about your willingness to open up to things you know to be preposterous, the transference of the power of herbs from nature onto people, and some crazy beyond. This world holds more secrets than you know. Each new discovery is like a discovery of the self. People that don’t love plants or animals can’t know their importance. If you ignore the world, it may ignore you too. You have to find your own inspiration to participate and interact. The world is endlessly communicating with us, simply by existing. Be it the ground that kisses our feet as we walk across it, the water we drink, or the herbs that make us better. They are eye witnesses to our history and support us along the way. Have a good weekend, you weed eaters.

[Mandel]

I have mixed feelings about this novel. For the first half or so, I found it enchanting. Its prose oscillates with the rhythms of a folktale, yet one that meanders dreamily. Its atmosphere reminded me of nothing so much as the films of Apichatpong Weerasethakul, who is perhaps my favorite living director - meditative calm punctuated by moments of uncanny yet gentle strangeness.

After a while, though, I found myself wondering where it was going. Usually, plot doesn't matter to me much: most of my favorite books are utterly plotless. Yet, in the case of Barefoot Doctor, I kept hoping a plot would coalesce. Its oneiric directionlessness began to wear on me, and although there were still moments of poignant wonder - Spoon breaking up with Gray by escaping in the jaws of a passing tiger, for example - eventually I was just forcing my way through it just to get it over and done with.

Still, though, there is enough here to make me want to dip into Xue's other books. I keep thinking to myself: not even all of Apichatpong's films work for me, so perhaps I just happened to dive into Xue's body of work in the wrong place.

[Sarah Cavar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Soft and strange and unreal. Hard to get my hands around but somehow also hard to put down. I’m eager to read more Can Xue.

[Marisa Bantjes · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book. The blurb on the back of the book tells me that the story takes place in a small village in a remote Chinese mountain area and it follows the herbalist and barefoot doctor Mrs Yi. Young villagers admire her and start imitating her work, planting medicinal herb gardens and studying medicine. As they do so they discover that the line dividing life and death is porous and the mountain is mysterious. Can Xue explores the in-between spaces: between the living and the dead, healer and sick, nature and us. This is all the stuff I really love, so my expectations were high. Yes, it's all there, but I found the novel very flat, the characters and the descriptions of the mountain, nature, nothing came alive for me. The action was very repetitive, boring. Everyone was so good and hardworking and so amazed about everything, I could hardly bear it. Some chapters left me completely puzzled, I didn't understand what was going on. Especially one chapter about the immanent end of the world... I am going to discuss thus book next week with my bookclub. Maybe my fellow clubmembers can help me understand and appreciate what I just read.

UPDATE: My fellow clubmembers were equally dumbfounded and disappointed with this book. No plot no meaning, no purpose... Nobody understood or liked the book... I still would like to be enlightened by someone who did understand and appreciate this book... What did we miss?

[Miglė · Rating 4 out of 5]

The toughest book of Can Xue I've read so far. Loosely connected, dream-like fragments of a mysterious village at the foot of the mountain and the work of a folk doctor, where the connection between cause and effect becomes stretched or even lost. As in other books of Can Xue, I loved the atmosphere, the mystery, the world seemed dark, but not menacing, actually the contrary. What made it hard to read was the ecstatic joy, constantly being expressed by most of the characters. I struggled with it till I figured out what it reminded me of – Zohar: The Book of Splendor: Basic Readings from the Kabbalah, the Medieval mystical Jewish texts, which are also very ecstatic and hard to read. „Barefoot Doctor“ has a similar mystical quality, which, together with true experimental writing, could bring both delight and confusion for those who dare enter into her world.

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

This deep dive into the Yun village at the foot of Niluan Mountain and its inhabitants is a testament to Can Xue's ability to weave magical worlds. The story centers on Mrs. Yi, the local herbalist and self-trained community doctor, and her husband, whose passion for living in harmony with nature inspires the village's youth to explore the wonders of medicinal herbs. Can Xue masterfully blends the tales of ancestors, the natural world, and animals, prompting readers to reflect on profound questions: what constitutes a good life, our relationship with nature, how we interact with others, and the virtues of community and mutual support. This is my second book by Can Xue, and I am eager to read more of her!

[Cestmoi]

i really liked it given that i like experimental lit and the most experimental, perspective shifting, out there thing you can do is have the primary emotional tone of your book be contentment.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Barefoot Doctor turned out to be the perfect choice after the apocalyptic horror of Craig Harrison's The Quiet Earth.   It's a quiet homage to the barefoot doctors who provided healthcare during the Cultural Revolution in China, but it's not realism as we know it.

Can Xue is the pen name of Deng Xiaohua.  Born in 1953 four years after the establishment of the People's Republic of China, she is a Chinese writer of experimental fiction and a literary critic.  Michael Orthofer, in the section about Chinese Fiction in his The Complete Review's Guide to Contemporary World Fiction (2016) explains the post-Mao transition from strictly realistic fiction extolling the ideology and slogans of the Maoist era, including that long-inculcated concern for the greater good with individual desires and needs, and notes Can Xue as the leading avant-garde author, describing her work as 'challenging'.

Her work clearly stands apart from most of the available Chinese fiction and, with its detailed focus on the individual, frequently veers into the surreal and feels closer to Western literary traditions. (p.340)

Can Xue's page at Wikipedia tells us that 'can xue' can be interpreted either as the stubborn, dirty snow left at the end of winter or the remaining snow at the peak of a mountain after the rest has melted, and these two meanings take on extra resonance when we learn that her family was persecuted and her education was severely disrupted during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976).  Both stubborn determination and joy in beauty feature in her tenth novel Barefoot Doctor.

The concept of a 'barefoot doctor' is not uncommon in developing countries.  Some of the aid organisations to which I donate recognise that limited resources can have more impact if women in local communities are given basic training in rudimentary preventative health care and midwifery.  While the Chinese Communists had ideological reasons for distrusting 'intellectuals' such as doctors trained in Western medicine, their 'barefoot doctor' program meant that many more people could access health care from local people for much less than the cost of educating and training doctors.  Especially for the peasantry in rural areas across China's vast territory. (See note below).

(The term 'barefoot doctor' comes from the south of China, where farmers who worked barefoot in the rice paddies were also 'doctors' trained under the scheme.)

Can Xue was a barefoot doctor herself for a while and her novel celebrates the life and work of Mrs Yi, whose practice is based on Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). Thankfully, she doesn't seem to use the more contentious TCM ingredients gleaned from endangered species**, but confines herself to an extensive collection of herbs which she grows on her farm from seeds and cuttings from the nearby mountain.

The limitations of the barefoot doctor initiative are shown but not dwelt on.  Mrs Yi's only child dies because she doesn't have the expertise to save him, and she has patients with terminal illness such as cancer for whom she can offer only herbal pain relief.  (Though there is an instance of morphine being used, and also a flu vaccine.) But she is loved and respected in the village because everybody knows she is doing her best, and her best is better than the medical care they had before, which was mostly non-existent.

The novel doesn't seem very experimental at first but its surreal elements gather force as the story progresses.

To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2024/08/28/b...

[Patrick]

The first half or so was just great. Then I just couldn’t follow the rest. I don’t usually dnf a book this far in but I am just getting frustrated. Time to move on to the next book on my shelf.

[Jeanine · Rating 2 out of 5]

genuinely don't mean this in a sinophobic way but this book was too chinese for me

[R · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Dad said that people who didn't love plants and animals couldn't know their own importance."

[Elizabeth Judd Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enchanting book about a village healer, her students, and all the people who live there, alive and dead, along with the mountain and its plants and animals. Hard to really describe, but magical.

[Marley]

Early contender for least favorite of the year.
In the interest of fairness, I should say that this work's insistence on the dead living among us and guiding us is comforting, and I'm unsure if my issues with the book are due to a poor translation or my own unfamiliarity with Chinese folklore/myths/traditions.
On the other hand, I'm not sure if being more familiar with those traditions would have helped, because the prose is god-awful. It's jarring and repetitive in all the worst ways, with characters behaving more like robot pantomimes than either real people or surreal caricatures (since the book can't decide which it wants its characters to be).
There's a constant restating of things the reader already knows or should take for granted (even very late in the book), someone cries on every other page (and believe me, it does get grating after a while-to say nothing of how crying means nothing if you're using it on legitimately every other page), and perhaps worst of all, the book is deeply unfocused. It's like it doesn't know why it exists or what it exists to accomplish.
Again, someone other than myself would probably get more out of it than I did. I just spent the entire thing either bored to tears or frustrated.

[Kimberley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I usually write reviews closer to the time of reading or just after my book club meeting if the book was read by our group. Somehow this book's review didn't publish.

On review of my rating I had given it a 2 (probably a 2.5 and rounded down). After more recent book club and personal reads and thinking back to how I recall this book, I felt like it wasn't as terrible as a 2 so I did something I seldom if ever do and adjusted my rating. It was slow and it wasn't an easily enjoyable read but it certainly does have qualities that more recently I experience reading more and more and so perhaps I rated it unfairly more due to my lack of experience with this kind of writing style.

I remember the unusual and mystical characters and events in a way I didn't expect to. It's still not likely to be a book I would readily recommend but it does provide food for thought and a whimsical experience.

[books4chess · Rating 3 out of 5]

"It was only after getting old that they started paying attention to their health. Some of them took a turn for the better. The only thing others could do was change their attitude toward aging and live in peace with disease, as though they were living with friends"

Mrs Yi is a powerful woman. Barefoot doctor to the village, mentor to a few, friend to many. Through this novel, Can Xue, a real life barefoot doctor, takes the reader on a journey through the power of nature and the spiritual world on the world we live in. The story is delivered in such a way that the reader becomes fully engulfed in the unlikely, yet almost possible, impact of the unknown on every day life, including illness and healing.

"Illness hits me like an avalanche and then subsides, like spinning silk."

This non-fiction tale is a short delight filled with varying view points that challenge the reader to reflect on their own reality and open up their mind to the possibilities of exploring the unknown. It plays on the mysticism often associated with traditional Chinese medicine and combines it with a respectful play on the western lens of the power of the 'other' when it comes to healing.

As medicine and illness remains such an ongoing challenge and journey with no certainties in life, Can Xue masterfully captured the delight and enthusiasm experienced when exposed to the ever-growing possibilities for a healthier and better future.

Thank you NetGalley for the Arc.

[Mandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

During the Cultural Revolution a number of “barefoot doctors” were sent to the countryside. These were people with minimal medical training, but who were often experts in traditional Chinese medicine and the use of herbs. The author was one such barefoot doctor and her account of what this experience was like comes to life in this fascinating, and mostly readable, book. Mrs Yi lives with her husband in a remote village where she gathers herbs, makes her ointments and potions and does her best to heal her fellow villagers. She hopes to train a successor and indeed two local young people are eager to learn from her. She is often successful in curing a number of illnesses and diseases and when she can’t then she offers spiritual comfort to her patients and accompanies them on their final journey. Up to a point I really enjoyed the book, but as the narrative continues it becomes more and more surreal and elements of magic realism predominate, sometimes leaving me confused, as the line between the living and the dead becomes more porous. The nature of reality is questioned and the connection with the dead isn’t always easy to decipher. By then I’d lost interest to a large extent and found the story far less relatable than when it was about daily life, the collecting of herbs, the healing of the sick, the relationships between the villagers. So only a partial success for me, although I was glad to learn about this aspect of Chinese medicine.

[atito · Rating 4 out of 5]

there's something in the air my broskis--everyone is reading can xue. it made me miss my experience with frontier so i picked this one up. i think i'm split: in a way, this is the book for me (herbs and flowers are all i think about) but i thought it lacked some of the strangeness--or the way it was strange was not as arresting as before. the prose is still confounding insofar as one can never be sure whether any event registers with any of the characters; everything is shrugged off and interpreted in surprising, nonevident ways. i think though i might have been looking for estrangement in a visual realm when can xue seems to lodge it more in the gradual change of the villages--in how almost everyone becomes a doctor by the end, for sure, but more so how everyone gets happier and happier as they get closer to death. they cannot stop weeping with joy. they love their illnesses and the illnesses love them back. the grass rustles. that was very moving to me. actually i have convinced myself in writing this that the book was a four star read

[Brandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a strange, little book. The style is very abrupt, simple, and out of the ordinary compared to typical American fiction. I often felt like I was reading that kids book about the dogs where the one dog says, "Do you like my hat?" and the other dog rudely says, "I do not like your hat!" That sounds pretty negative, but despite that, I actually did enjoy the story. I traveled to small mountain villages when I was in China in college, so could easily picture the landscape and people in it. I really enjoyed being brought back to that experience. As a western medicine-trained doctor, I enjoyed seeing a different perspective on caring for people. The doctors connection to the mountain, the plants, the ancestors, their community, and their mentors was beautifully written. If you have an interest in China or Chinese medicine, I recommend. For others, it may be too strange for enjoyment.

[Gemimah · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

The writing style killed this for me. It reminded me of reading the script for Lost in Translation. So much of the beauty of the movie was held in the director's mind. I tried to imagine as much beauty as I could between the lines of this book, but a book is not a movie, and I read to enjoy language.

I did enjoy it, over the course of a year. The content made it fun to look back on the different person who bought the book vs the person who finished it. It reminds me of Alice in Wonderland. The reader is Alice, only locked out of participation in the narrative (wouldve rated higher for a 4th wall break), but ultimately everything was left wanting, even as some things reached a somewhat satisfying revolution.

Well, anyway, I finished it and it was a calming experience, especially paired with a good tea.

[Annette Jordan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Barefoot Doctor by Can Xue seems like the simple story of a village healer and her community, and I understand it is informed by the author's own experiences. We meet the Barefoot Doctor Mrs Yi and several of her patients as well as two young people who hope to follow in her footsteps, and learn what she knows about the herbs she spends hours on the mountainside gathering for use in treating the various ailments of the locals. I enjoyed this part of the book but as the story unfolded the author introduced some supernatural elements that I didn't like quite as much, and as this side of the story took more of the focus I found myself enjoying the book less.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.

[Bri Lamb · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writing was a bit jarring at times but I enjoyed the general plot of the book. I had no background regarding the barefoot doctors during China' Cultural Revolution, so I recommend doing a bit of background research on that first. There is a strong sense of oneness with nature in this book, as well as a calmness regarding death, with characters spirits still able to converse through nature even after they have passed on. This led to a bit of confusion while reading and I think it would be beneficial to do multiple readings of this book. Lots of talk of herbal medicine which I enjoyed and the flow of the book feels like it would lend itself well to an anime series, maybe like Mushishi.

[Bryce · Rating 3 out of 5]

Barefoot Doctor seemed at me to be a simple slice of life story, but quickly morphed into a surreal tale where the fact that a character is dead seems to be of no importance.

I've read a few books translated from Chinese to English now and the dialogue always feels a little stilted. There may be some degree of fundamental incompatibility between the languages and it certainly may be that I'm missing the feeling of the story as Can Xue intended it to be.

In the end, while there was certainly some artistry in the writing Barefoot Doctor never became more than a bizarre fable to me and I just wish I'd better understood what I missed.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love being swept into the dream worlds that Can Xue conjures, but I don't think it would be for everyone. Barefoot Doctor is much more accessible than Frontier or Five Spice Street, but it still takes a certain willingness to look beyond expected narrative logic.

On Niulan Mountain the collapsing spirit can be revived, and living and the dead live as close as in a dream. In Yun Village at the foot of Niulan Mountain, Mrs. Yi is a gifted Barefoot Doctor, celebrated for her knowledge of herbs. Various youths come to her to apprentice but are they suited to a life of caring for their neighbours? Time will tell.

[Madds · Rating 3 out of 5]

Got very bored about halfway through but I decided to give my first Chinese author a proper chance. I finished reading while skipping quite a bit of the second half of the book or reading very quickly. I like the spiritual side of this story, the connection with nature and our long gone loved ones.
This book offers a glimpse into a certain part of Chinese culture and beliefs that I’ve appreciated, but the writing was very difficult for me to digest. Abrupt, dry, simplistic, almost emotionless, which is weird considering the topic of the book. The book and I sadly didn’t click.

[Flora · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found parts of this book really charming and other parts overly creepy. I wish a lot less supernatural elements were included in the story. The storyline and the characters are great. The dialogue a bit quaint at times (as you might expect from a translation.) Would have enjoyed it a lot more without the ghosts, voices, and other creepy things.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this even though I didn't enjoy the supernatural elements as much as I would have liked. But that's my problem, and I suspect others will actually enjoy those aspects. Fables are my favorite, so I think choosing this was my mistake, even though it's good overall.

I really appreciate the free ARC for review!!

[Ben Gordon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finished a few days ago but forgot to click it in here. Don’t remember the date so I’ll just leave it as today.

This book was so amazing and inspiring. Truly kind of had an effect on how I walk around and think and feel every day. Inspired me over and over to stop reading and write a poem or journal entry. Just so beautiful. 5/5, 6/5, 7/5, 1000/5, loved it.