Customer Reviews

Butterfly Lovers: A Tale of the Chinese Romeo and Juliet

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

The Butterfly Lovers is one of famous Chinese stories. Almost every Chinese knows about this tragic story either by movie, drama, music, or book. In this book, Ms. Fan Dai, the author has really introduced this famous "Romeo and Julliet" type of story into Western world. Every detail that describes the Chinese culture, behavior, and society is so real and clear. The feeling is so great that you only have to read it and cry without any visual support, background music or sound effect to re-enforce the scene. No matter how many times I go through the story, I still enjoy every second of it.

Fantastic book, I actually welled up a few times. Although it does bare some resemblance to Romeo and Juliet, the story is actually a Chinese legened which can be dated as far back as 907, which is long before Shakespear was even though of.

Previous reviews and editorial review have unfortunately given away what kind of a love story we shall expect in BUTTERFLY LOVERS. I think it's a bummer when reviewrs ruin my reading pleasure. Anyway, I won't give away too much of the plot. BUTTERFLY LOVERS is the first English publication of the original work LIANG SHANBO AND ZHU YINGTAI, one of the classics that had accompanied history of China. ZHU YINGTAI disguised herself as a man who lived under the same roof with a young scholor LIANG SHANBO for three years without revealing her true identity. The lovers lived haplessly in a historical period in which socioeconomic status determined marriage. The old Chinese saying reminds us "the doorframe has to match the threshold". Social status relentlessly determined the lovers' fate and wove a bitter-sweet tale that touched many souls generation after generation. The original tale of LIANG SHANBO AND ZHU YINGTAI had been featured in numerous musical adaptations. Violinist Vanessa Mae released a solo album on the original scores of LIANG SHANBO AND ZHU YINGTAI. I would not give away the story since it would be your pleasure to figure out why LIANG SHANBO AND ZHU YINTAI are butterfly lovers.

Buttefly Lovers, by Fan Dai, is the Chinese version of Romeo and Juliette. I thought it was a very good book with very interesting twist that differs from Shakespears Romeo and Juliette. The love story is very unique. It not only is entertaining, but also gives a lot of information about how life in China is different from the U.S. Women were treated very unequaly and did not have the freedom that people do today. Women weren't even allowed to go to school. Butterfly Lovers also shows that there was a deffinite cast system in China when this book was written. People who were poor did not get the many privileges that the rich got. The ritual of marrige is also very different than it is here in the U.S. and other countries. The bride does not have any say in who she gets to marry. This causes a big problem for young woman in Butterfly Lovers.
Over all this was a very well written book. I would recomend this book to anyone who likes romance.

A beautiful Chinese girl disguises herself as a man and lives under one roof with a young male scholar for three years without revealing her true identity. They become "sworn brothers", soul mates and lovers in a world in which marriage is determined by social status and arranged by parents. Butterfly Lovers is based upon a popular Chinese folktale and is an engaging, compelling, deeply moving, highly recommended and rewarding novel.

The story is just as I remembered as a child. I wasn't all too impressed with the writing/wording. Sometimes, it's hard to translate from one language to another. Nonetheless, I bought it for nostalgic reason and it served its purpose.

This book represents a re-telling of a traditional Chinese tale. It is well done although the author, trying to make the language more appealing to modern (American) readers, sometimes misses the mark. However, for anyone interested in Chinese culture, this is a "must read."

A young chinese girl named Yingtai went to college dressed as a boy because in her time, girls were not allowed to go to college. She studied for almost three years and had a roommate named Shanbo. She fell in love with him and the day she left, the wife of the school master told Shanbo that Yingtai was a woman. Then he went to propose to her, but Yingtai was already engaged. Shanbo was desperate for Yingtai, but could do nothing and Yingtai said no matter what they would be together even if they had to die. So eventually Shanbo got sick and he died and Yingtai told his parents to make a grave next to his so she could join him one day. Then on the way to her wedding she made the Ma family, whcih she was marrying into, go to the cemetary and she jumped in her grave and died by Shanbo's side. In the end there are two butterflies symbolizing Shanbo and Yingtai The book was one of the best I have read so far. I feel everyone should read it because it has history and it's very romantic. You'll never want to put it down because you always want to know what is going to happen.

The book Butterfly Lovers by Fan Dai is the chinese Rome and Juliet. The book had a very catching story line that makes you not want to put the book down. The names are by far the hardest part of this book. Once you get by the names, the book gets very good. I am not the kind of person to read love stories, but this is a book worth reading.

This book is about a girl named Yingtai who took the identity of a man so that she could go to school. While at school she met Shanbo who she thought would be the love of her life, however, she couldn't tell him the truth that she was a girl. Yingtai and Shanbo became so close that they became sworn brothers. I enjoyed reading this book because I liked how Yingtai was able to keep her true identity hidden for as long as she did. However, I thought that since Yingtai and Shanbo were like brothers, Yingtai should of been able to tell him the truth. Other than that I really enjoyed the book.