The Wallet of Kai Lung [Hardcover]

Ernest Bramah (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 24, 2009

The Wallet of Kai Lung is a collection of fantasy stories by Ernest Bramah, all but the last of which feature Kai Lung, an itinerant story-teller of ancient China. Although the collection is presented in the fashion of a novel, with each of its component stories designated chapters, there is no overall plot aside from each of the first eight tales being presented as narratives told by Kai Lung at various points in his itinerant career. The final tale is represented as being from a manuscript left by its own separate first-person narrator, Kin Yen.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Ernest Bramah (20 March 1868 - 27 June 1942), whose real name was Ernest Bramah Smith, was an English author. In total Bramah published 21 books and numerous short stories and features. His humorous works were ranked with Jerome K Jerome, and W.W. Jacobs; his detective stories with Conan Doyle; his politico-science fiction with H.G. Wells and his supernatural stories with Algernon Blackwood. George Orwell acknowledged that Bramah’s book What Might Have Been influenced his Nineteen Eighty-Four. He created the characters Kai Lung and Max Carrados. Bramah was a recluse who refused to allow his public even the slightest glimpse of his private life --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 216 pages
• Publisher: EZreads Publications, LLC (February 24, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1615340181
• ISBN-13: 978-1615340187
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,416,160 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This humble reviewer can not possibly do this book justice.., February 20, 2003

By 

David C. Johnson (Spencer, MA USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Wallet of Kai Lung (Paperback)

Bramah sure can spin a phrase. The book is a collection of stories told by Kai Lung, and as such is excellent. You are transported back into this fictional China, where introductions can take hours as the two people flatter each other & humble themselves endlessly. The stories are very amusing, but be forewarned; the language takes some time to read through & comprehend. Not a book to breeze through (but oh so rewarding when you do read it!)

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Truely great book, October 30, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Wallet of Kai Lung (Paperback)

The Kai Lung books have a nice dry humour, a beautifully way of turning a phrase and a concoluted way of using the english language. It is a China that never was but really ought to have been.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great read, May 25, 2009

By 

B. Wilson (orem, Utah United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Wallet of Kai Lung (Kindle Edition)

I love the over-the-top pseudo-chinese-classical style of Bramah's writing: "It is indeed unlikely that you could condescend to stop and listen to the foolish words of such an insignificant and altogether deformed person as myself. Nevertheless, if you could retard your elegant footsteps for a few moments, this exeedingly unprepossessing individual will endeavor to entertain you."

If you don't like that style, you'll find it difficult to get past it to the entertaining and humorous stories of Kai Lung.

The formatting could use some improvement (uneven margins on my iPhone, double line breaks for paragraphs), but it's not too bad.