Read: On Kindle
Paid: £1.19
Reason I choose it: I enjoy learning about history, other cultures and adventures so this seemed like a book I'd enjoy
Summary
Under Fishbone Clouds is a universal love story, a family saga, and a journey through Chinese history, myth, and culture. Following a young Chinese couple as their love grows, and is tested, during Mao's Cultural Revolution, this elegant debut novel provides a rare and personal glimpse into the birth modern China.
When the Kitchen God is challenged by the Jade Emperor to fathom the workings of the human heart, he chooses to follow the life of Jinyi and his wife Yuying, from their blossoming love until their old age, in hope of finding an answer. The Kitchen God watches as the new government strictures split their family in two, living inside their hearts as they they endure the loss of two children, homesickness, and isolation, all while keeping alive a love that survives famine, forced labor, and even death. Weaving together the story of their life with China’s recent political history, as well as traditional folktales and myths, the Kitchen God illuminates the most impenetrable aspects the human condition.
When the Kitchen God is challenged by the Jade Emperor to fathom the workings of the human heart, he chooses to follow the life of Jinyi and his wife Yuying, from their blossoming love until their old age, in hope of finding an answer. The Kitchen God watches as the new government strictures split their family in two, living inside their hearts as they they endure the loss of two children, homesickness, and isolation, all while keeping alive a love that survives famine, forced labor, and even death. Weaving together the story of their life with China’s recent political history, as well as traditional folktales and myths, the Kitchen God illuminates the most impenetrable aspects the human condition.
(The blurb)
My Opinion
This is one of those books that you have to keep reading to eventually get to a more stable story, the first quarter is so bitty with shorter stories about myths etc... but once you get in to the story of Jinyi and Yuying it is mostly about them with chapters in between for the Kitchen God and the Jade Emperor. By the end though I really wanted the story to end as even though the story line was interesting it just dragged it out each time.
This would have been a much nicer book if it just focused on the story line of Jinyi and Yuying either an italic sentence at the beginning of a chapter or the stories told as if someone was telling them. Each story was easy to get in to and I was left a little disappointed wanting to continue reading it. I just wasn't interested in the gods.
This would have been a much nicer book if it just focused on the story line of Jinyi and Yuying either an italic sentence at the beginning of a chapter or the stories told as if someone was telling them. Each story was easy to get in to and I was left a little disappointed wanting to continue reading it. I just wasn't interested in the gods.
Rating
but I do think a lot of you may enjoy this book, it just wasn't for me.
thank you for another great honest review
ReplyDeleteI'm glad it was helpful and as always if you read it let me know what you think
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