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Book Review of Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress
columbasimplex avatar reviewed on + 8 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1


A beautiful, often elegiac little novel that effortlessly blends its depiction of the brutal reality of "cultural re-education" during the years of Mao's Great Leap Forward with elements of fairy tale wonder. Often surprisingly funny and effortlessly witty, even as no punches are pulled about the very real terrors and routine humiliations its likable young protagonists face, this is a page-turner for the thinking reader.