许三观卖血记 余华

[freshysauce]

Why is that? Because they use simple words? Or because his writing is close to the standard? Or because they reflect the "reality"? I don't understand why people on this forum like his books so much

Skylee I appreciate your perspective as a native speaker. What are your thoughts on 余华？ What are the downsides (if any) on learners starting with him? Which authors are your favorite and which would you recommend for learners who are fairly early on in their Chinese book-reading life?

[skylee]

The truth is I don't think I know much about this writer. I asked the question because I really wanted to know why many of you liked to read his works so much. And I am not really interested (I will do what I like and there is no point in forcing myself to do things that I don't like in my free time). I think I have read the first few pages of 兄弟 when it first came out but I did not like it at all. And frankly (and oddly) I don't seem to like any contemporary mainland writers except 余秋雨. But a few years back when I recommended 余秋雨 on chinese-forums, the feedback from wushijiao was that his books were too difficult.

I think it is because of the style of Mainland writers, the language they use, and what they write about being so remote from me (and also because of the simplified script) that I don't usually read their works. I feel very comfortable reading books written by Taiwan writers or translated in Taiwan, though.

亦舒, mentioned by rob07, is a good choice for learners, I would think. I used to read her books when I was young. But not anymore. 李碧華 is also a good choice. Her earlier novels, including 霸王別姬, 胭脂扣, 青蛇, 秦俑, 誘僧 have all been made into movies. I hope they are not too difficult for learners (IMHO they should not be). You see I have mentioned all these on the Chinese forums before. But I guess people either don't like them, or find them too difficult, or something. But different people have different tastes. This I understand.

My favourite writer is 金庸. This is kind of shallow, I know.

[wushijiao]

Skylee: here is that thread by the way. You and others made good recommendations in it.

http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/1626-chinese-novels-for-laowais/

[Silent]

A weekly update.

As expected this weeks progress was less than last week. One day I didn't manage to read at all. Nevertheless, I made decent progress and I reached the start of the cultural revolution (finished chapter 18). The central theme of the week was what's the turtle (乌龟) doing in there? It took a while, but I figured it out and learned some english in the process.

Next week is a busy week and it's doubtful I will get to any reading at all on thursday and sunday. With a little luck I may be able to compensate on wednesday. Still hope to read at least as much as this week and progress well into the 2nd half of the book.

[大肚男]

I just finished the book.

Some parts broke my heart, but an excellent book.

Thanks for the recommendation.

[Silent]

Another week gone so time for an update.

First of all last week I forgot to mention I found the audio book. It can be found at verycd: http://www.verycd.com/topics/57508/

It's a slow download for me and the quality.... for now it's quite hard to follow due to the way it's spoken (unnatural voice and sighs etc) I suspect that when I get habited to it it won't be too bad.

Progress this week was good, but an important reason for that is that I skipped several pages as my book contained them two or three times. Progress is at least such that I've moved my target date to finish the book. I'll try to finish it this month which will be hard, but at least want to finish it within two weeks (feb 5th)

Last but not least, I think I've to change my image of Chinese history. In post 24 I announced that I reached the cultural revolution. I did so as I thought the cultural revolution caused the food shortages. But only now the cultural revolution is really there with interesting descriptions of the humiliations of 许玉兰.

[imron]

The food shortages came as a result of the policies implemented during the Great Leap Forward.

[jiasen]

Just finished reading this book. Great recommendation. After studying the HSK vocabulary, I was able to understand most of the text without too much hassle.

The second last chapter was tough going though. I can't remember getting so wound up whilst reading!

[Silent]

Finished!

A nice boost for my ego as this time last year I picked up the study of Chinese. So I can truely say that I read my first chinese book after only one year study. No need to stretch it a little by messing with the definition of "study chinese"

I think my approach worked out quite well. At the start I had the impression I was using the popup dictionary too much. The second half of the book I noticed however that I still pointed at most of the words, but that I mostly read it only when I didn't know the character or at least recognition was slow. Also the vocabulary added to anki worked well as often times anki and the book seemed to present the same words at the same time. This however was mostly luck as my reading speed turned out to be much higher then expected.

Overall the book was a lot easier to read then expected with some parts where I struggled, but also parts where I went through very smoothly. I'ld say perfectly suited to my level. The blood selling is a theme that keeps showing up, but essentially it's about a man and his family within the backdrop of recent history. I feel the story was a bit shallow but perhaps this is due to my language skills. In all a decent story and due to the vocabulary a very good first book.

[jkhsu]

So I can truely say that I read my first chinese book after only one year study.

Congrats! That's really awesome progress for only a year of study.

[Silent]

Great progress yes, but then I've to admit reading is my only chinese language skill. When listening the moment it goes past the extreme basic I get lost and at best only pick up a few single words. Active use is even more of a problem. The plan is to concentrate on these the next months so my Chinese is actually of some use when I come to China this summer.

[paotale]

@Silent, Congrats on the quick pace to learn to read Chinese, I thought I'd done so quite quickly myself but nowhere near the level for that book after one year.

Regarding the plot, it did seem a bit shallow at parts in the fact that half of what happened could have easily ended up on the Jerry Springer show. However it was a good read all in all. Only problem is that the final sentence of the book portrays a phenomenon/life lesson so true that I feel 15 years from now I will remember that single sentence more than I remember the plot for the rest of the book.