Customer Reviews

Dream of the Red Chamber

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The 18th century novel, Hongloumeng, remains the greatest Chinese novel ever written, unsurpassed in its depiction of individuals and families, human striving, and stellar literary values. It may be read on many levels, as a love story or social history, as a philosophical musing on the futility of human existence, and a repository of Chinese artistic and literary values. The translation under review is a sharply abridged version that advances the plot line by eliminating many of the minor characters, most of the poetry, and a great deal of the detailed descriptions of daily life in an upper class Chinese family. Those seeking a full appreciation of the novel, especially its literary value, should turn to the full translation, which goes by the title Story of the Stone. However, the full complete translation is a multivalued piece, almost 2,000 pages in length. What you get with this translation is a good feel for the main characters, especially the love triangle, and for the social dynamics within the family. The result in a lovely read that will inspire you to compare this abridge version with a fuller version to see what you missed. I still use this translation in my history courses, but I use it for social history. My colleagues in literature prefer to use volume 1 of the Story of the Stone for their classes.

Although this translation is concise and contained in one volume, the Penguin Books publication of this work (in that version, titled first as "Story of the Stone") is an infinitely better translation - the poetry is kept intact and the story is in full, instead of condensed for speed. In addition, the maids - who frequently outnumber the mistresses and masters in the plot line - are introduced to the reader with names in English, which makes the story a little easier to follow.

If you really like this story and have not read the unabridged version, please do yourself a favor and find the Penguin publications. I love this novel, but there are better translations.

Chi-Chen Wang published an abridged translation of "Dream of the Red Chamber" (also known as "A Dream of Red Mansions" and "The Story of the Stone") in 1929; in 1958 he extensively expanded and revised his translation, to about 550 pages in length. This is only a fraction of the Chinese text, which runs more than three times this length. The next year, Anchor (a subsidiary of Doubleday, which is now owned by Bantam) published this translation in paperback -- but had abridged it, to less than 300 pages! It's a very skillful translation, but a more drastic abridgement than the publisher acknowleges.

I would look at the Penguin edition (translated as "The Story of the Stone," in five volumes) or the edition published by the Chinese Government (translated as "A Dream of Red Mansions," in three volumes) rather than this one.

It's sad to know that most western readers regard this novel as a Chinese Romeo and Juliet story. This over-simplified conclusion misleads people and kills the greatness of the book. A most fascinating and complicated story about almost everything in life from the uglist to the most beautiful, unfortunately is mistaken as "two girls competing for a boy".

The wisdom in the book is so vast that even if I've been reading the book since I was a teenager, each time the book entertains and educates me in new ways. I know that I won't be able to completely understand the book in my entire life time. Let's just say that no matter where you are from, how much you know about China, the book has something for everyone.

it is a story of a stone, of a family, of the society of old china. The romatic relations are only part of the story. it is a story difficult to start, cos too long, and too much old terms and especially for those non-chinese reader may find it really difficuit and even boring. you will find it boring not because it IS boring, but because you don't understand. try to put more time on it and try to read it agian and again. you will find more and understand more. for i myself, i have read it for 3 times. one of the greatest book i even read. if you are a chinese, u have to read it. if you are not a chinese, you will know more about chinese culture and chinese phillosophy. hopo you will be touch. at least i am.

China's most famous and beloved novel is The Dream of the Red Chamber (also known as The Story of the Stone or Hong Lou Meng). China's own version of the TV show Dynasty, the story features an 18th Century noble family's soap opera of daily life and vices. It might even make a good mini-series today.

The story begins in the heavens, where a stone accidentally acquires knowledge. As a result, it tells the gods it wants to spend time on earth learning about human emotions. When the stone receives permission to visit earth, two gods come along, disguised as a Buddhist monk and a Daoist monk. They follow the stone as it falls into the hands of the spoiled and effeminate youngest son of a powerful clan, Pao Yu Chia, sometimes intervening in events. The Chias are a very rich and powerful Mandarin family, unaware that their actions will soon lead them into financial and moral ruin. The story is complemented and complicated by the intermingled storyline of Pao Yu Chia's evil twin, Pao Yu Chen. The Dream may be read on many levels: a love story, a social history, a philosophical musing on the futility of human existence, or a repository of Chinese artistic and literary values.

The story provides a picture of courtly aristocratic life in the Qing dynasty. It reveals the hierarchies among the female family members and concubines and among the female servants, which result in numerous intrigues and machinations. This story shows how having multiple wives can create many more hazards than pleasures--certainly for the wives, as they vy for power, enact revenge, and create or endure manipulative schemes. Among both the men and the women characters, the plot is filled with ridiculous squabbles and misunderstandings that sometimes are just farcical, but other times end in lawsuits or even tragedy. The elaborate protocol used in a courtly residence to create "face" also often causes unintended slights or misinterpretations that cause a loss of face instead. Then the story focuses on the characters' social gymnastics to undue the damage. Certainly through all of this the benefits and drawbacks of strictly adhering to Confucian philosophy are made clear. The book is also reminiscent of a Victorian comedy of manners. The characters are concerned with love, destiny, and their social position, all shaped by Confucian protocol.

Unfortunately, this particular translation left me questioning why this story is considered China's best novel. This condensed version was clearly a mistake. I got a flavor for the story, but so much was lost that it would have been better to start with volume one of the long translation. (I have since discovered that the original is a five-volume edition.) What you get with this short translation is a good feel for the main characters, especially the love triangle, and for the social dynamics within the family. If you're short on time, consider this version as an appetizer before the full Chinese banquet of the original. That said, it might also be better to read it in the original Chinese, if you have the privilege of being able to do so. A family tree and a list of characters would also have been very helpful. If you read it, create your own, as it can be difficult to keep track of who's who.

The much anticipated concluding volume of the epic (if readers have persevered and made this far) settles the fate of our protagonist Jia Baoyu and expounds the nature of passion and illusion. The decadence of the Jia household thus concludes the Dream of the Golden Days. Following the death of the enamored Lin Daiyu, Baoyu weaves his way through a series of tragic events that plunge the Jia further into disgrace. Mourning bells incessantly resonate throughout the Rong-guo and Ning-guo houses as the financially stricken family prepare to encoffin the Old Lady Jia, Wang Xifeng, and a senior maid who demonstrates the purest essence of virtue and loyalty by following her mistress's footstep to death. There is a Chinese idiom that says "mishap does not occur singly." On top of the Jia's crumbling household and tremendous deficit in the occasion of mourning, robbers break into the Rong mansion and burglarizes all of the Old Lady's belongings the sale of which the family depends upon to pay for the funerals. Majestic police raid the Ning mansion and confiscates property of Baoyu's uncle. Xifeng's loaning out of the Jia's money at exorbitant interests shamefully unveils as the officers find property deeds and notes bearing illegal interest rate, as well as garments and skirts restricted for palace use. Upon the closure of the Ning mansion, Jia She and his son are sentenced to penal servitude in remote region, leaving their women folks in inconsolable grief and desperate grip to seek financial security.

It is in the midst of the poignant havoc, against this multifarious backdrop that Jia Baoyu slowly comes to his realization about the illusion of passion and resolves to sever the ties with the material world. One by one events come to pass that was riddlingly foretold in the first volume. It seems sad but with expectation that the Twelve Jinling (twelve females who are close to Baoyu) all end up dying or in small circumstances. At the fulfillment of these prophecies, Baoyu weaves through these events like a somnambulist and finally through a dream-vision is awakened to the realization that life itself is but a dream. His grief for Daiyu and his general state of gloom are compounded as he perceives that Daiyu is no ordinary mortal (but a visitor from some immortal realm). Since his life has consisted for the most part of peaceful and pleasant pursuits and he had been protected from too close an acquaintance with real suffering, sudden loss of family fortune and Daiyu make him succumb to despair. Seeing through the human suffering and breaking from the lust-stained passion enlighten him.

While the Jias still cares for the enjoyment of splendor and concerned with the show of grandeur that is at best vanity, Baoyu realizes the predestined attachments of human heart are all of them mere illusions, which are obstacles blocking the spiritual path to joy. This inner change draws him to an unprecedented direction has proceeded insipiently unnoticed until he maintains a detached composure and makes no attempt to offer any solace to the tragic occurrences around the house. The karma has obviously completed its work as Baoyu has attained a clear perception of destiny. After all, THE DREAM OF THE RED CHAMBER is about rising above all life's vices: all our lives we sink deeper and deeper into the quagmire of greed, hatred, folly, and passion. The only way out of suffering, according to the working of the karma, is to escape the net of mortal life.

This is a truly wonderful book. This is truly a universal story, on one level, the story of undying love, a real soap opera with two girls competing for one boy. The fascinating part comes from the wealth of detail re the daily life of a wealthy family in the China of several hundred years ago. This is a worthwhile book and I recommend it to anyone with the patience to read it.

I am not usually a fan of love stories and slow plots (which is exactely what The Dream of the Red Chamber is). To my surprise, Hong Lou Meng is exceptionally wonderful. The characters are complex and lifelike. The plots are subtle yet intrigueing and gated to anicent Chinese Culture. This may be an anicent story, but because love is eternity, it is very much relatable. I don't want to give out spoilers but most people should know it is a sad story, and yet holds qualities of triumph and love. Read the English version then learn chinese and read the chinese version (coz it's much better!) Teehee. :)

I love this book. People compare it to Romeo and Juliet but I say that it is far better as far as the storyline goes. Great book!