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Love in a Fallen City

Eileen Chang,

Karen S. Kingsbury (Translator)

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Oct 01, 2024 Lark Benobi rated it it was amazing

Shelves: china

What an extraordinary story. It captures something saga-like in the space of a novella. In the beginning the story is mired in the machinations of petty people trapped in long-static relationships, and then, somehow, with the help of aerial bombardment, the story breaks free and spirals into an ever more remarkable and ever more intimate love story. The story captures a moment in history that's too large to imagine, and clarifies it, by bringing the focus onto to the most intimate human level im ...more

26 likes · Like · see review

Aug 31, 2014 El rated it really liked it

Shelves: cultural-studies-and-other, 20th-centurylit-late, nyrb-editions

Currently spinning:
Li Xianglan
Old-Shanghai-Mix

Before Amy Tan, there was Eileen Chang. Chang did in the early 20th century what Tan wants to do today - write stories that convey the relationships between men and women, old traditions vs. new, traditional vs. modernity. Chang did it with substantial grace. I've liked Tan, but I realize now what I was missing. (Not that it's fair to make comparisons, so I won't here.)

These six stories included in this collection are hard at times to read due to the ...more

11 likes · Like · see review

Aug 24, 2017 Elise rated it liked it

Shelves: collection, fiction, women, 1940s, club, translated, read-in-2018

Bad men, bad marriages, and intergenerational clashes. Chang has captured a certain socioeconomic malaise, but too many of the characters and situations are interchangeable.

1 like · Like · see review