Customer Reviews

The Deer and The Cauldron: The First Book (Bk. 1)

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Very little Chinese martial arts fiction (wuxia xiaoshuo) has been translated into English, and even the phenomenal success of *Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon* does not seem to have convinced any publisher that the American public might actually want to read the original novel by Wu Du Lang. Apart from the first two books of *The Deer and the Cauldron* (and of course such classics as *The Water Margin*), I have only been able to find a translation of Li Shanji's (a.k.a. Huanzhulouzhu) *Blades From the Willows* (Wellsweep Press, 1991), which I found so dumb I could not finish it (it is actually closer to the worst Japanese monster TV series than to any martial arts movie from Hong Kong); and a French translation of a novel by Gu Long (Picquier, 1990), which was better, but not particularly memorable.

Given this lack of competition, I would not be paying *The Deer and the Cauldron* much of a compliment if I said it was by far the best martial arts novel I have ever read, so I will simply state that it is the most addictive novel I have read since the early 1990s, when I discovered *The Fountainhead* and *Atlas Shrugged*.

Louis Cha's (Jin Yong's) *The Deer and the Cauldron* is the story of Trinket (Wei Xiaobao), the thirteen-year-old son of a Yangzhou whore, in the Eastern province of Jiangsu, who finds himself caught up in the political intrigues of the early Manchu era, in the mid-1660's. A crafty, lazy, unprincipled opportunist, Trinket ingratiates himself with a member of the Triads, which in those days were not a mafia, but secret loyalist societies opposing Manchu rule and seeking to restore the Ming Dynasty; and becomes friends with the Emperor of China himself, another lad of thirteen. Set mostly in Beijing's Forbidden City, the novel involves a quest for copies of a sacred buddhist text, the *Sutra in Forty-Two Sections*, whose importance is only revealed in volume two; an evil Imperial eunuch seeking vengeance for murders most horrid; and power squabbles among the various Triads.

The novel is written in a very lucid and unostentatious style, focusing on telling the story rather than on describing the settings. Louis Cha's main interest is in the plot of this wonderfully convoluted tale of deception and false identities: he sees his genre as a Chinese cousin of the historical fictions of Walter Scott, Robert Louis Stevenson, Alexandre Dumas and Prosper Merimee. Unfortunately, the use of foul language, the frequent references to bodily functions and the numerous murders and mutilations described make the novel unsuitable for younger readers, who might otherwise have enjoyed this brilliant adventure (the most recurring term of abuse is "turtle" which, one learns in the glossary of volume 2, is a euphemism for penis; as for "tamardy", I haven't a clue.)

The Second Book of this excellent series (Louis Cha's last work) was published in 1999, also by Oxford University Press, and if you hate cliffhangers, you might want to buy both volumes at once. The translator, John Minford, who also worked on the Penguin edition of *The Story of the Stone*, initially intended to publish a third volume, together with two other works of Cha's, *Book and Sword* and *Eagles and Heroes*. I sincerely hope none of these projects has been abandoned or postponed.

(This volume contains a map of Ancient China, a glossary of people and places and a glossary of terms - all of them extremely helpful.)

This is the last of Cha's masterful storytelling efforts and it is by far his most original. The siver-tongued and foulmouthed anti-hero (Trinket Wei) will definitely fill your hours with amazement, laughter, gasps of "WHAT!" and "HOW'D HE DO THAT!?!". For me these comments and expressions were spoken out loud (and very loud somthings), which is something I almost never do. The other characters in this book are very loveable, mostly heroic, and uncommonly very vulnerable. At first glance, the men and women of River and Lake seem to exude the aura of stereotypical "heroes" (and villains) that as children listening to storytellers we have come to believe to have lived in that era. But their personalities and character faults envelope them with a third dimensional layer that definitely makes them leap of the page. Only the first two (of three) books are currently available and you'll definitely want to pickup the second before finishing the first. I think I read about 600 pages the first night.

So... Tired of the "poo" that's been floating around in you're Fantasy or Adventure sections of the bookstore? This is one of the books that you'll want to snatch up! Now! Currently, I'm pulling my fingernails out with my teeth waiting for Oxford to put out the THIRD part of this book. I'm also anxiously awaiting Cha's "The Book and The Sword" which was translated by Graham Ernshaw (GREAT translation BTW). This one is mentioned in the intro of TD&TC, so I'm hoping that it comes out soon!

I read the Chinese version of this when I was in high school. I don't think I will be exaggerating if I say that Louis Cha is probably one of the most widely read Chinese writer in the 20th century. You may stumble across a lot of Chinese who haven't read Dreams of a Red Mansion, but they have read Cha.

Mr. Cha is very knowledgeable of Chinese history, literature and geography, and has managed to incorporate much of his knowledge into his works. Therefore, if the reader is interested in and somewhat familiar with Chinese culture, you will find the reading more enjoyable and not just an adventure/martial arts story. His characters will take you through tradition, culture, poetry, and landmarks. Verses of famous poets from hundreds to 2 to 3 thousand years ago are quoted by the characters at times, quite appropriate to their situation in the novels. I have read somewhere that the Chinese government is now using excerpts from Cha's novels in textbooks.

I really hope there will be more translations of other works out soon for everybody to enjoy. Some people will dispute whether the "Deer" book is the best. Almost all of Cha's 4-volume sets are extremely popular. Many claim that his third book (can't translate the name) is the best.

This book is a lot of fun. I am staying up reading it at night until I can't keep my eyes open anymore. Like the great Looney Tunes cartoons, it can be enjoyed on an adult level and a child's level. The rollicking adventure tale is spiced with just enough Chinese history and culture. It is violent. The 12 year old hero murders a few people with a knife and tries to kill some others. Fingers get sliced off. There is plenty of kungfu talk and anyone studying martial arts will probably enjoy it.

The film adaptation of "The Deer and the Cauldron" is called "Royal Tramp" 1 & 2 (part 1 is ASIN 6305052212, part 2 says it's ASIN B00000INCR, but I'm not sure that's it). The film is perhaps the best of many excellent adaptations of Louis Cha's work, and while the adaptation is not completely faithful to the book, it does an excellent job of preserving the humor and the spirit of the original.

Like the film, the book is divided into relatively arbitrary sections. The end of volume 1 of "The Deer and the Cauldron" is pretty clearly just the end of a chapter chosen as an arbitrary breaking point. Plan on buying all three volumes.

Despite the fact that he hasn't written any martial arts fiction in almost half a century, Louis Cha is the author behind many of the best films made in Hong Kong in the last fifteen years. Ever since I first heard of Louis Cha, I've been hoping someone would translate his works (a year of Mandarin in college just won't cut it for reading the original). The only other translation of his work I've found is "Fox Volant of Snowy Mountain" (ISBN 9622017339), which was a mediocre translation of one of Cha's weakest works.

I was, therefore, happy to discover that "The Deer and the Cauldron" (at least the part I've read so far) lives up to all my hopes and expectations, and look forward to reading the third volume of the translation, and also any other translations Mr. Minford may make of Louis Cha's work in the future.

this in a wonderfully entertaining book, its a shame some criminals on amazon.com are trying to sell book 2 for about 400 dollars, and some other criminals are trying to sell book 3 for 785 dollars, what a scam, these poeople shpuld not be allowed to list things on this site if they are trtying to rip people off. i sincerly hope that amazon will carry all 3 volumes through amazon.com itself and sell them at resonable prices. louis cha and the translator would be ahamed to know how muhc people are trying to sell his book for, it was just printed in the 2000s fpor cryin out loud.

The question about this book isn't the book itself, which is excellent. Millions of Chinese readers can't be wrong and it has been adapted into at least a dozen movie and tv shows, including serious ones and even a mo-le-tau comedy. The question about this particular book is the translation.

The first thing is that these wuxia novels are not written in easy to understand Chinese. To translate it into easy to understand English and a true translation that doesn't lose the nuances or the feel of these novels is a monumental task and it succeeds! The Deer and the Cauldron is an epic and I'm happy to say that the translated English Deer and Cauldron is still an epic.

For fans of Louis Cha, fans of Chinese wuxia (movies or novels) who can't read Chinese, this is a hit and highly recommended. This is the best translation of a Chinese novel I've ever read and retains such a feel that it almost feels like it was written in English. Things such as insults and poems have all been translated perfectly. I have not gone into the plot of this book because I'm assuming that anyone looking at a translated version of this book must know something about it already or have seen a version on screen as I myself have.

Louis Cha is perhaps the paramount Chinese adventure novelist of the modern age and with Deer & the Cauldron, his last epic, he introduces one of his most indelible characters--Trinket Wei.

Trinket is the son of a Yangzhou prostitute who goes through a series of adventures so unbelievable, from becoming a 'eunuch' in the Forbidden City and friend of the emperor, to a Shaolin, a Lama, a Heaven & Earth rebellion leader, and a disciple of Snake Island--all woven into the mystery of the sutra and dragon-lines, and the fate of the Qing (Manchu) Empire--yet so utterly entertaining, as to both honor and revolutionize the genre.

The only drawback is that the translation maintains the more Chinese style of heavy narrative exposition--they 'tell' almost as much as 'show' which is very much different to the post-TV/Cinema Western style of immediate scene. If the sheer lunatic excitement of the story wasn't so engrossing, it would probably lose some readers along the way.

Hopefully more Wuxia will make the transition into English!

I enjoyed the light heartedness and sense of wonder this book gave me. It filled me with energy and eagerness every time I turned a new chapter. This book made me feel great. I Can't wait to read Book 2.

This is an excellent piece of wuxia fiction, or almost anti-wuxia fiction as it a sort of reversal of the conventions of the genre. It ends in a cliffhanger, so you'll need to read the second one to find out what happens next. Actually, the book was serialized in newspapers in its original incarnation, and thus is full of cliffhangers which help drag you in and keep you reading.

Book 2:
The Deer and the Cauldron: The Second Book

The Deer and the Cauldron: The Third Book