Dai Sijie: Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress
I got this book from my sis @ my birthday. It's a pure novel about two chinese friends in a chinese political prison encampment, where they have to fight for their goal of getting released again and where they meet a chinese seamstress in a small village. The story is based on these three. It's a great insight in chinese culture, a certain time period, and the the main protagonists psyche. Being a bit in the shadow of his friend who is great at entertaining the prisoners and the nearby village and who has a love relationship with the seamstress, he slowly finds his own style and way to express himself and gets resprect.
Some points about the main protagonist were quite similar to my personality, so starting to read the book (the critical part) was mastered quite easily. (Do you read those books you get as a present??) The story isn't that long and much of the otherwise boring content was compressed nicely. It leaves all that wonderous happening one would encounter in years of enprisonment and repression. Small things, which count much. A tough friendship and a fragile love. Desperation and Hope.... yep...
9/10
