Reading 1001 discussion

1. How did you experience the book (or these chapters) compared to the first 26 chapters? Were you engaged immediately, or did it take you a while to "get into it"? How did you feel reading it—amused, sad, disturbed, confused, bored...?

I found this less interesting than the first volume. I hope it picks up. The writing is good, but the extreme focus on details of dress, poetry and manners is excruciating.

I found this less magical than the first book but I still enjoyed it although I must admit to skimming some of the poetry

Yes, I skimmed some of the poetry as well as some of the riddles.

True, this was heavier than the first book, especially because of the poetry. Even though Hawkes did his absolute best in translating the poems, they feel very clunky in English; I am quite sure that some of these must pass as classics, but only in the Mandarin language. Unlike John, I was not too annoyed by all the details on dress, manners and activities, as the book was also meant to describe life in the Chinese upper classes in the 18th century. Once again, it still feels like this story is the original template for the numerous contemporary Chinese/Asian soaps.

I did not like this one as much. I found the amount of poetry to be tedious but mainly because I did not understand all the literary references. The translator said (in the preface) that much of the poetry had meaning in the context of other Chinese poetry and literature. And as Patrick mentioned, I found them rather clunky.

I didn't mind the details on dress, manners, etc because like Patrick I felt like it helped provide a clear picture of that particularly time and social class.

Finally, I missed some of the magical elements that were present in the first book. So overall I liked it but not as much as volume 1

Like many of you, I did not like this as much as the first book. I thought the stories were better in the first book, for the most part. The poetry got tiring after a while, too. I can see where the details about dress and manners might be considered excessive, but I actually liked that, since it gave me more insight into their culture.

I really liked the detail about daily life. Things such as how they used handwarmers, which could burn one's clothing, the way they loounded about on the kang, the way tea was used for rinsing the mouth before eating, even Bao-Yu stopping to empty his bowels randomly in the garden, I really enjoyed. I wish I had read this before all my trips to China, particularly Beijing, because it made all the rooms and the artifacts in the Forbidden City come alive, despite being set in an aristocratic household, rather than the Imperial City. The way Grandmother Jia would arrange the parties, then move the tables indoors, even the seating plans I found absolutely fascinating. I suppose the minutia of daily life is interesting because I enjoy entertaining on my own modest scale. I also liked the detail of dress, with how the clothes were embroidered, especially. Knowing how Chinese is written I could only admire the translation of the poems. It wasn't until I read the appendices that I realised how complicated it all was!