Customer Reviews

Letters Back to Ancient China

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The story of a tenth-century Mandarin who travels through time to Germany in the 1980s, Rosendorfer's book is told as a series of letters to a friend back home. At heart, this book is an attempt to examine the fundamental questions of how our lives are affected by progress. For the most part, it succeeds. This book is quite humorous, and a highly enjoyable reading experience. Recommened.

A man from ancient China purposely travels through time (and accidentally travels through space) to modern-day Munich. Initally he assumes that the strange beasts we all know as cars have gained power over the human population. He is disgusted by the way the Germans, who he assumes are the distant relatives of the Chinese people of his society (since he is initially unaware of his change in location), look with their large, protruding noses and round eyes. He is astonished that they have forgotten how to speak the language of man. They just seem to make gruff noises. Lots of cultural and social differences are showcased in this book in a humorous manner. At one point his German friend explains to him why it's unacceptable in German society to have two girlfriends. This is a very interesting and funny read which I highly recommend.

The book arrived on time, in good shape. The plot worked better than I thought it might. Although originally written in German, it translated well in both terms of language and as a plot device. Although a bit forced (ancient Chinese technology managing time travel), the plot allows for a suprisingly effective outsider's evaluation of late 20th century Western life--with all of its warts. Written in such a manner as not to seem an affectation, the author successfully made me think of 'modern' life outside the box. The only detraction is, or course, the clumsy and unexplained manner in which the main character is magically tranported in a linear fashion back and forth through time.