Customer Reviews

Notes of a Desolate Man

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Warning: Do not attempt to consume this little novel in a short period of time! Contrary to the small physical size of this book this is not a brief story. Rather, it is a wondrous little tome that blends Eastern vantage and culture with Western philosophy and becomes a multifacted gem reflecting on life, death, love, passion, and sex. I am reminded of my wonder that MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA was written by a man, so much of the feminine mysticism permeated every page. This story is so convincingly related by a gay man who is in conflict with his Taiwan society, Chinese heritage, his views of homosexual life and love, that the reader is repeatedly taken by surprise that such personal, male perceptions are being written by a woman; the book FEELS as though it is a first person male narration. A Theme and Variations on the contemporary struggle to find meaning, this author amazes in the sensitive explorations of Levi Strauss, Michel Foucault, as well as excursions in to the arts, the skill and pain of Nijinsky's life, Bach's music , Greek mythology - an almost endless stream of consciousness of universal themes. And yet the characters remain well drawn, credible, sympathetic. I found that when the words started to wander away from me, losing linear direction of narration, I had to re-read some parts before diving back in to the flood of the incredible wealth of ideas being offered. I am not able to read the original Chinese, but if these two translators have the author's blessing we are in the presence of a unique, valuable voice. Reward yourself with this challenging book. You will be the richer for it.

'Huang Ren Shou Ji' by easily and simply one of the best and most renowned writers in Chinese today, Chu T'ien-Wen, is a masterpiece. It's a true misfortune Taiwanese (even Chinese - even Asian) literature is still confined to academic Asian language departments in the Western hemisphere (while - excuse me - *crap* like David F Wallace and Easton Ellis and whatever happens to be the New Yorker's darling perfectly substitutable flavor-of-the-month continue to get all the top market bills here). In addition to the touching subject matter (about a middle-aged Taiwanese gay man witnessing the loss of his friends to AIDS), Chu is doing something extraordinary here with the language itself. Few (*few*) authors today - in any language - write like this, or are even capable of doing this - and so effectively and convincingly. Thus, another true misfortune is that all these experimentations and innovations are lost in the translation - not to mention there are simply also a number of just pure textual miscomprehensions. Goldblatt seems to want to, or is only capable of, rendering the most linear, 'clear', obvious, colloquially acceptable - and just ugly - English version possible. Someone once said genius cannot be translated by mediocrity - and this is literal evidence. We need someone with a true eye and ear for the language. It's a shame, really, given this is probably Chu's true first and biggest introduction to the West. Don't write her off just because of the translation. We can only hope her next work doesn't suffer the same fate, at the hands of those much less capable.

This novel is one of the most excellent novels in contemporary Taiwan literature. Aesthetically complicated and appealing, it attracts countless readers in Taiwan, gay or not. Please read this book attentively, since this author is a well-known stylist, who knows to play with nuances. This novel is also hotly discussed among the lesbigay activists in Taiwan.

The narrator is totally implausible as a gay man, even a homophobic gay man. It is very much a set of women's conjectures about what being a gay man might be like. There ARE female writers who have created first-person gay male narrators I find plausible (Patricia Highsmith, Mary Renault, Marguirite Yourcenar) but this deracinated Chinese is not one. Most of the book is ignorant musings on French theorists (Foucault and Lévi-Strauss) along with flashes of regret for a gay Taiwanese friend's excesses, which the author seems to feel are justly punished by a grisly AIDS death.

I also consider the narrator completely unbelievable a gay man. The self-hating, pathetic aging man is a cliché, but then so are the musings on Lévi-Strauss, Foucault, and art house films beloved by would-be cosmopolitan students of the 1960s. For a 166-page book with few words per page, this seems VERY long. The pleasures and insights are very few. Anyone who wants to read about desolated Chinese homosexuals lost on Taiwan, Pai's old novel _Crystal Boys_ is far more engaging.

Although this novel is hard to read,it's really touched me when I was 15.I am so glad that it was translated in English.It's really a fantastic novel.I think everybody who buys the novel will have a great experience.That's a proud of Taiwanese literature.

As a reader of its Chinese edition, Chu used to most skillful and romantic words to decribe such a story of "murmur". I've not read the English edtion(It's not available here yet!), but it is absolutely an joyment to drop into this book.

I have not seen the real English edition of it. But for all the English readers, it is a good book for you to find bits of your own 'memories.'

This is the story of a Taiwanese gay man dealing with the death of his best friend from AIDS. His reflections on culture, literature, and life in Taiwan are fascinating. I was reminded of Rabih Alameddine's "Koolaids" at times. In some of the passages, the writing is rough and dull, and I'm not sure whether that's the translation or the original. Overall it's an intriguing voice that stands out in the ocean of gay lit.