Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress

By: Dai Sijie, Ina Rilke - translator

Narrated by: B.D. Wong

Length: 4 hrs and 24 mins

Publisher's summary

At the height of Mao's infamous Cultural Revolution, two boys are among hundreds of thousands exiled to the countryside for "re-education." The narrator and his best friend, Luo, guilty of being the sons of doctors, find themselves in a remote village where, among the peasants of the Phoenix mountains, they are made to cart buckets of excrement up and down the precipitous winding paths. Their meager distractions include a violin - and, before long, the beautiful daughter of the local tailor.

But it is when the two discover a hidden stash of Western classics in Chinese translation that their re-education takes its most surprising turn. While ingeniously concealing their forbidden treasure, the boys find transit to worlds they had thought lost forever. And after listening to their dangerously seductive retellings of Balzac, even the Little Seamstress will be forever transformed.

From within the hopelessness and terror of one of the darkest passages in human history, Dai Sijie has fashioned a beguiling and unexpected story about the resilience of the human spirit, the wonder of romantic awakening, and the magical power of storytelling.

©2001 Dai Sijie (P)2002 Random House Inc., Random House Audio, a Division of Random House Inc.

Critic reviews

• Book Sense Book of the Year Award Finalist, Paperback, 2003

"An unexpected miracle - a delicate, and often hilarious, tale." (Los Angeles Times Book Review)
"A funny, touching, sly and altogether delightful novel...about the power of art to enlarge our imaginations." (Washington Post Book World)
"Poetic and affecting...riveting." (New York Times Book Review)

A lovely tale

I was pleasantly surprised to learn that the narrator was none other than one of my favourite characters from 'Law and Order - SVU'; Dr Wong. The narration of this story was clear, impelling and full of energy as BD Wong gave life to each of the characters in this story. Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress is a lovely tale, despite being set in the harsh world of the Chinese revolution and re-education of the bourgoise. The characters are witty and endearing and have inspired me to read a number of other classic tales (including the Count of Monte Cristo!). Whilst I wish I could have learnt more about the characters at the story's end, I was not disappointed and enjoyed every minute of this audiobook.

bookworm

I was a little disappointed by this book. The characters and their antics were interesting at the beginning. However, it got to a point where it seemed the author no longer knew where his story was going so he finished the book by having one of the characters leave completely out of the blue. I was quite disappointed with the ending. However, the rest of the book is a good read.

lovely listen

This book made a perfect audiobook. We listened to it while painting one weekend. Colorful story and great narration. It's not going to end up as required college reading, but nevertheless opens people up to a world about which most of us are completely clueless.

Lovely and perfectly performed

A wonderful little book. Rich in characters and history. Very nicely performed narration. Highly recommended.

Bad...Bad...Bad recording

I had to quit listening to the book due to VERY bad recording and spend money to buy the e-book. Terrible recording, totally waste of money!

Love of Books

I would think that teenagers could relate to this book -- and get a feel for what it would be like if all books were banned. Maybe it could help light the lamp of learning.

Excellent!

An excellent tale of the Cultural Revolution and one boy's awakening to manhood. Stories that I've heard from my parents and the older generation found their echo in this story. A time period like the Cultural Revolution was so charged of emotional energy that I think it took this long for most chinese people to begin address what has happened since then.

A note about the ending, it is a chinese story after all. Every ending begets another beginning.

A new world

It was exciting to enter a world that I - an American - knew little about. The time of re-education in Communist China is a lost period. To read such a beautiful and heartfelt story from that hard time was amazing.

Valued Treasure

Fine writing and a good authentic story.
I truly enjoyed this quality book and the excellent reading by the talented narrator. This audio book is a true treasure and is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Chinese Seamstress

A lovely short story that gives a great insight into the impact of the cultural revolution on real people.