Dai Sijie

1971: Mao's cultural Revolution is at its peak. Two sons of doctors, sent to 're-education' camps, forced to carry buckets of excrement up and down mountain paths, have only their sense of humour to keep them going. Although the attractive daughter of the local tailor also helps to distract them from the task at hand. The boys' true re-education starts, however, when they discover a hidden suitcase packed with the great Western novels of the nineteenth century. Their lives are transformed. And not only their lives: after listening to the stories of Balzac, the little seamstress will never be the same again.

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress

During the Chinese Cultural Revolution, two boys are sent to the country for reeducation, where their lives take an unexpected turn when they meet the beautiful daughter of a local tailor and stumble upon a forbidden stash of Western literature.

there was friendship, yearning, betrayal, literature, history, the countryside. 

they’ve suddenly lost control over their futures and, while holding onto the hope of leaving reeducation, they are forced to redefine their expectations. the narrator is a shadow to his best friends love story, while craving it himself. his love, for others & mostly literature, seems to give his day-to-day a purpose. 

a touching story, sometimes humorous, often sad. i enjoyed the writing and if he lingered on an anecdote for longer than i cared for it was reminiscing of oral storytelling, which i found generally charming and entertaining. 

marta

there was friendship, yearning, betrayal, literature, history, the countryside. 

they’ve suddenly lost control over their futures and, while holding onto the hope of leaving reeducation, they are forced to redefine their expectations. the narrator is a shadow to his best friends love story, while craving it himself. his love, for others & mostly literature, seems to give his day-to-day a purpose. 

a touching story, sometimes humorous, often sad. i enjoyed the writing and if he lingered on an anecdote for longer than i cared for it was reminiscing of oral storytelling, which i found generally charming and entertaining. 

Sarah Sammis

When I first joined BookCrossing in 2003, Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress was one of the most popular books being read. I liked the title and since so many other folks were reading it I signed up for a ring. Unfortunately the ring stalled or was lost in the mail. Then last year sometime I received a copy by way of Cliff's wishlist site. Until a week or so ago the book sat on my BookCrossing shelf next to our bed. This year I've made a better effort to get books read off that shelf and then to release them. Now that I've finished the book the book and the buzz around the book has died down (at least at BookCrossing) I will be taking to the July 11th meeting to either give to another member or to wild release after the meeting concludes.

I enjoyed the book up until the last few chapters. The bulk of the book is written with humor as it outlines the experience of two young men sent to country for "re-education." They find little ways to rebel at first: toying with an alarm clock's settings, for example. Later they read forbidden books by Balzac, Dickens, Dumas, etc. The last fifty pages or so the story turns dark as it lets Luo and the Little Chinese Seamstress speak for themselves. What had been a comedic look at a dark part of China's recent history, turns suddenly to tragedy or at least melodrama. Without better character development for Luo and the seamstress, their insights and actions at the end seem out of character.

In other words, the author seemed to get bored with his story and decided to take a wildly different narrational approach to finish the book. The last few chapters seem rushed and the characters act in ways that so far they haven't acted in. I found this tangent disorienting and unsatisifying. I rated the book 7 out of 10 stars because of the ending.

Sijie Dai

2 adolescents chinois de familles "intellectuelles" sont envoyés en rééducation à la campagne durant la révolution culturelle de 1966. Grâce à la lecture et à la culture, ils vont gagner quelques parcelles de liberté, connaître l'amour et perturber les habitudes ancestrales des villageois.

Balzac et la petite tailleuse chinoise

Sarah Escorsa

This book is absolutely enchanting! The writing is fluid, poetic and funny at the same time. I loved the way it pictures the power of literature and how it changes the characters' lives. The oral tradition of story-telling is also very present throughout the novel and makes you want to read it aloud!

jam 🍯

Completely unprepared for how entertaining and funny this book was! A quick read but thoroughly enjoyable, I would recommend it to anyone who loves the act of reading.

Erin 

I have absolutely no idea how I heard about this or how it ended up on my Goodreads TBR list. Even after all that, I have no idea how I ended up reading this before literally any another book on said list. Despite all that, it ended up being enjoyable. The best part wasn't even reading it myself - the library copy I read had notations in Chinese in pencil, and I loved knowing that someone else had read and loved it before me. I have a theory that they were practicing their English, and that made my experience reading this book even more special.

Isabel 

Audreyy

caro

" Nous nous approchâmes de la valise. Elle était ficelée par une grosse corde de paille tressée, nouée en croix. Nous la débarrassâmes de ses liens, et l'ouvrîmes silencieusement. A l'intérieur, des piles de livres s'illuminèrent sous notre torche électrique ; les grands écrivains occidentaux nous accueillirent à bras ouverts : à leur tête, se tenait notre vieil ami Balzac, avec cinq ou six romans, suivi de Victor Hugo, Stendhal, Dumas, Flaubert, Baudelaire, Romain Rolland, Rousseau, Tolstoï, Gogol, Dostoïevski, et quelques Anglais : Dickens, Kipling, Emily Brontë... Quel éblouissement ! Il referma la valise et, posant une main dessus, comme un chrétien prêtant serment, il me déclara : - Avec ces livres, je vais transformer la Petite Tailleuse. Elle ne sera plus jamais une simple montagnarde. "

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress

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