Customer Reviews

The Girl Who Played Go

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book is a tale told in dream like prose. Life, love, betrayal and death all float by in short lyrical chapters that seem to be recalled from the dreamer's memory.

The story itself, while being compelling, isn't one that you haven't read before. If you have ever watched any old black and white movie from the 1940s, you know the ultimate ending from page one; but that isn't the point, the telling of the tale, like the game of the title, is about construction and the patterns made - life and art. If the universe is contained upon the surface of a Go board, than the scope of human emotions and relations are pretty much all contained within this book. This "small" tale is told within the context of a greater historical event (in this case the Japanese invasion of Manchuria); but like the game itself, the final shape and totality of those cosmic events are only composed of tiny pieces played one at a time at single points and places.

This is one of those books that Hollywood will probably want to make a movie of; and if they do, it most likely will be very successful. However, they will never be able to match the fragile verbiage that make this book so moving and memorable even when telling of violence, carnage and death.

A 16-year-old Chinese girl living in Manchuria plays the game of Go with a stranger. This stranger, disguised as a Chinese man, is a soldier in the Japanese army doing a bit of spying in the country he is occupying. His duty is to sacrifice his life for his country of Japan. The young girl is in love with Min, friend of Jing, both of whom are part of the Chinese Resistance to the Japanese invasion of China.

This is a novel with spare prose and a very engaging story. It gives an account of the Japanese invasion of China from both country's perspectives in a very human way. The short chapters alternate between the thoughts of a young girl and those of the Japanese stranger who meets her to play the game of Go. Gentle writing moves the story through war-time China with a grace that at times belies the terror of that time. Showing a human connection between two people who, in all rights, should be enemies, is what gives this story its soul. The violence of that time, even though described, never seems to gain the upper hand over the softness of the prose.

A very original story of two people drawn together through a game of Go, set in the 1930's Manchuria. One is a young rebellious Chinese girl, the other is a contemplative officer in the Japanese occupation army.

Set against a volatile environment ripe for war is the peaceful, if intense, game of Go. The game is played by placing stones on the intersections of the boards, the objective is to beseige the opponent's stones. As the violence between partisans and Japanese army escalate and the threat of large-scale warfare becoming ever more real, their game seems to become more and more abstract, and takes on greater significance. Can such cherished ritual of civilization survive the rising chaos and savagery all around it?

The story is told in alternating chapters from the point of view of the two characters. The writing is delicate and dream-like, at times it seems to float off the page. Yet some of the things described in the book, such as war atrocities, are as brutal and raw as they can get.

Unlike the previous reviewer, I felt the ending was very fitting and effective. It was the logical final step in the two characters' convergent stories, and as inescapable as the very last possible move in a game of Go.

It is always interesting, though sometimes jarring, for me (being Chinese) to read about Chinese things and people in English. Concepts and names that sound very natural take on an exotic taste when translated. However, I think this particular novel reads particularly smoothly, and does a good job shifting between the two different points of view. The bite-sized chapters make things move rather swiftly.

The novel also navigates well between the personal and the historical, and the war is made real through the various characters involved.

What was particularly disappointing for me, however, was how the author never went very deeply into the game of go itself. While she alluded to go as a metaphor for attacking, life and death, we are never given any details of the actual games themselves. The title set me up to expect the game of go to be an integral part of the story, but I was left with the impression that the author didn't play go herself but simply used it as a nice image.

When a craft or game is highlighted as such the reader has the expectation that the author will reveal, through knowledge of the craft or game, another dimension of life. Boxing in "The Power of One", forensic science in "Anil's Ghost" are examples of how solid research and knowledge of the subject enriches the fiction.

The ending is a bit abrupt in terms of pacing, and I am not entirely convinced that the cultural differences between the Chinese and Japanese feel right. Despite this, the characters are quite special and endearing in their own way, which is what kept me turning the pages.

A good friend recommended this book highly, so, at the first opportunity, I sat down to read it. A young girl in a small Manchurian town plays Go with a stranger. We don't know her name. The man she is playing with calls her "the Chinese girl." He, in turn, is known to her as "the Stranger." Day after day they meet, without words, to play the ancient game, as the world around them descends into chaos. Later we learn that he is a Japanese officer, in disguise, spying for the Emperor.

The Japanese have overrun Manchuria--this is in the 1930s--and are preparing for the conquest of China. The social order is crumbling. The girl has a doomed affair with a young man who is fighting in the Chinese resistance. She tries to attend school and keep up appearances, but the only thing that really matters to her is the game of Go, continued from day to day, with the enigmatic Stranger. The two players form a strange, wordless relationship, exploring each other's minds through the intricacies of the game.

Things go from bad to worse. Indolent occupation turns into brutal warfare. The story moves relentlessly toward a ghastly, horrifying ending. You will have to read the book to find out what happens.

Author Shan Sa writes in short chapters, in a spare, lucid style. Still, it takes a while to figure out what is happening, because she leaves much unsaid. The chapters are narrated in the first person, alternately by the young girl and the Japanese officer. We never learn their names, yet we are immersed in their feelings. Sometimes I had to put the book down, to take a break from its searing intensity. It took me a while to really appreciate this book, but I can recommend it highly. Reviewed by Louis N. Gruber.

This book is moving and captures the essence of not only horror, but of betrayal, loss of innocence, disillusionment and irony within its few pages. Focused mainly on reflection, the tale does not move quickly; rather, it meanders its way surreally into our conscious. Just as the young girl cannot escape the ghosts of her friends, I doubt that we will be able to escape the ghost of this story. It will haunt us.

Yesterday I read The Girl Who Played Go. I loved everything about this book. Without going into detail, I wish to address one criticism that I have encountered in online reviews of this novel. That is, it's brevity. One reviewer said that he felt the novel was wonderful but should have been twice or three times as long. He gave the book a B+ because it was "too short".

I can understand his point. I too, longed to read more of this compelling tale. However, the fact that the book is not long and drawn out is central to the effect it has on the reader. Just like the characters, we become part of a world moving too fast. As the characters long for more of each other, so does the reader long for more of the story. The feeling I was left with when I finished the last page, was one of yearning. I am sure that is why I searched for reviews and disucssions on the subject. Shan Sa knew exactly what she was doing in keeping this story short. A willing reader will be infected by the same condition that drives the central characters. Well done!

Being a casual go player, I read this book believing that it will lead to a fun go-like read (such as the popular manga -graphic novel- Hikaru no Go). Instead, the title doesn't really do justice to the seriousness of the book, or anything to do with go. Although go brings the two protaganists together, that is the extent to the impact the game has.

The book has a fast pace, short chapters, and quick alterings between the two main characters. However, I did not feel a sense of connection between the two, and felt absolutely no sympathy for any of them even after their tragic ends. I felt like the book had a quick ending that could've been made a little better. Overall it had a depressing sentiment about it. If you don't like sad books or books of the nature, then I don't suggest this bdook.

Over the last decade, computer experts have been devising chess playing programs capable of beating even the world champions. No such program has yet been developed to top the grand masters of the infinitely more complex Go, the Chinese/Japanese game of territoriality that is played not on the board squares, but on its intersections. The subtlety and ethereal strategies of the game, its objectives for territorial control, and its shifting positions of superiority provide the background for a heartfelt and ultimately heartbreaking story of the Japanese invasion of Manchuria and China in the 1930's.

The story is set in a small Manchurian town called A Thousand Winds. A young, unnamed girl is the town champion at Go, beating all comers as they meet and play on tables in the town square. At the same time, an unnamed but slightly older Japanese man has entered the army for his family's honor. His unit is one of the earliest sent into Manchuria, where he gets his first taste of the violence and hardship of war. When his battalion quarters in the town of Thousand Winds while searching the area for insurgents, the young, Mandarin-speaking officer is ordered to serve as a spy. He dresses like a Chinese and walks to the town square where he meets the young girl and engages her in a game of Go. Over a period of several days, hardly speaking to one another and never divulging so much as their names, they battle over the Go board in scenes faintly reminiscent of Yasunari Kawabata's marvelous novella, THE MASTER OF GO (also a story of two generations). They reveal their personalities to one another through their style of play, even as enormous events occurring simultaneously in the young girl's personal life impact her play and her relationship with the stranger. In the end, their relationship takes on aspects of the story of Zhu Yingtai and Liangshan Bo, the starcrossed "Butterfly Lovers" of Chinese historical legend.

Shan Sa presents her story in minute chapters of just three to five pages each, alternating between the voices of the girl who plays Go and the Japanese officer. If the book is a Go board, each chapter is one stone's play, first from the girl, then from the man. You can practically hear the light click of a stone as each chapter ends. Of course, just as the Go board itself becomes increasingly complex, with bits of territory under White control and others under Black control, so too does the novel's story line advance in complexity, with little pockets of territorial control.

In fact, THE GIRL WHO PLAYED GO is largely about the struggle for territorial control, with events occurring at the intersections of human lives. The young girl battles for the heart of her first love, Min, while Min's friend Jing battles for her heart. Min's actions ultimately suggest that his motives were little more than sexual conquest coupled with an idealistic desire to exit life in a glorious blaze of martyrdom. The Go playing girl's friend, Huong, battles her family for control over her own life and her destiny. The Japanese officer battles for control over his emotions, his disgust with war, and his family's honor. Finally, of course, the Japanese battle for control over Manchuria and greater China. Every character in the story is caught up in a real-life game of Go, without the board or the pieces, and each move they make leads to territory ceded and territory gained. Some players win, but for others, the outcome is tragic. For the girl who plays Go and her Japanese officer opponent, some might label the outcome of their game a win, others a loss, still others a draw. Life is ambiguous; only the players can decide if they've won or lost.

According to the book flap, Shan Sa left Beijing for France in 1990 and has written two earlier, prize-winning novels in French. Judging by her beautifully crafted and deeply moving THE GIRL WHO PLAYED GO, one can only hope that the publisher (Alfred A. Knopf) will engage Adriana Hunter or another translator to bless us with translations of the other two, as well as any of Shan Sa's future work. She certainly merits access to a wide American audience.

NOTE -- It appears that Regan Books (Harper Collins) is publishing another of Shan Sa's novels, entitled EMPRESS, on May 2, 2006. I for one will be in line to purchase it that day.

I picked up the book from the library after reading a winning review about it in People magazine. I was not disappointed. It was not predictable. It was refreshing. It was sad. I am probably going to buy this many times over, and give it as gifts to my friends.