Bridge of Birds

by Barry Hughart

Book Overview

When the children of his village were struck with a mysterious illness, Number Ten Ox sought a wiseman to save them. He found master Li Kao, a scholar with a slight flaw in his character. Together they set out to find the Great Root of Power, the only possible cure.

The quest led them to a host of truly memorable characters, multiple wonders, incredible adventures--and strange coincidences which were really not coincidences at all. And it involved...

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0345321383
• ISBN13: 9780345321381
• Release Date: April 1985
• Publisher: Del Rey Books
• Length: 278 Pages
• Weight: 0.34 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 4.3" x 6.9"

Customer Reviews

Great book

I got the book Story of the Stone a long time ago and love it. Was glad to find that there were two more book that I didn't know about. Bridge of Bird and Eight Skilled Gentleman till I found them here. Love them all. A must have on your bookshelf.

Why is this book not famous?

I read this book, first to myself, then aloud over a period of many nights to my wife, and I can't for the life of me figure out why it's such a well-kept secret.I mean, it's very funny (I couldn't read some pages with a straight face) and it's also incredibly moving, emotionally (I couldn't read some pages without getting choked up). The legends are fascinating, the various characters that Number Ten Ox and Master Li come across are wonderful, the suspense of the quest to save the children is engrossing. It's what Fantasy should be, not just another dreadful tale about dwarves and elves and goblins and all that crap. It's like, the perfect book.Maybe people are turned off by the whole China thing? A lot of Americans, anyway, can be pretty xenophobic, and they might think that they have to be Asian or be "into" Asian culture in order to enjoy this book. Wrong-o. Though, I guess the more you know, the more you'd appreciate the book as a (respectful) parody.I bought it for a friend, who also read it aloud to his wife. The results? "That was a GREAT book!" they said.Though, I loaned my copy to another friend, who only read the first three pages and said she couldn't get into it. So, I suppose it's not for everyone. But keep in mind that the book opens with a chapter of background before you get introduced to the real characters. I love it from word one, but I guess it was off-putting to her.I don't know what else to say. This is one of the five best books I've ever read. You'll be happy you bought it.

"Anything is possible in China"

Once upon a time, in post-war Britain, and author named Ernest Bramah started to write what became a slim handful of books set in an ancient, and mostly mythical, China. The hero of these books was Kai Lung, who is best described as a well meaning rascal. The stories tell of his (mis)adventures in love and the pursuit of sufficient cash. Bramah had a rare, polished style, full of irony and sly humor, which was the continual delight of his readers. In this reissue of the 1984 edition Barry Hughart ventured for the first time into a rarified world entirely reminiscent of Kai Lung's with equal aplomb and verve.Instead of Kai Lung, our heroes are Yu Lu, commonly referred to as Number Ten Ox (to differentiate him from the eminent author of 'The Classic of Tea') and Li Kao, a great scholar with 'a slight flaw in his character.' Yu Lu plays the part of the brave, strong, and heroic youth. The perfect foil for Li Kao, who is sneaky, tricky and... Well, one of them has to be capable of quick thinking. Together they mount an impossible quest to save the lives of the children of Yu Lu's village. They have been treacherously poisoned by Ku poison, the only antidote for which is a 'Great Root of Power' (small drum roll).Without hesitation our heroes head off into a completely mythical world, where they work schemes to steal the money they need to work the schemes that will yield up the magical ginseng. In doing so they must confront the incredibly gross Ancestress, who rules China from underneath, and the immensely greedy Duke of Ch'in. And bitter fate has arranged that the 'Great Root of Power' (yet another drum roll) has been cut into parts and spread about in fabulous treasuries, all guarded by awful monsters and inescapable traps. Will they conquer the forces arrayed against them? Will they discover the real reason for everything that has happened to them? Will they find the heart of the 'Great Root of Power' (boom!) and save the children of Ku-fu? Of course, but how they do it will mystify and dazzle you. If Barry Hughart has borrowed a plot device from Ernest Bramah, he has made it uniquely his own. His language is slightly more modern, and he has traded some irony for sarcasm and slapstick, but the true magic, a fantasy world peopled by countless characters, each more gemlike than the last, set in a work that shines with equal magic. If you like well wrought, tongue in cheek fantasy, put 'Bridge of Birds' on the top of your reading list. And don't forget to look for the sequels.

A Master Li Masterpiece

When a mysterious plague strikes the children of the small village of Ku-Fu, the musclebound Number Ten Ox goes in search of help. He finds it in the form of the irrepressible centenarian Li Kao, one-time top scholar, con man, and the only investigator who is willing to take the case for its own sake. Master Li and Ox soon find their local mystery is the first step on a long winding road leading to the conclusion of an ancient, forgotten tale. The setting is a beautiful quasi-fictional adaptation of historical/mythical China, and Hughart's storytelling is superb. The book is both beautiful and sad, funny and intricately woven. Li Kao and Number Ten Ox are among the most compelling characters in print. Hughart has a true gift for storytelling, and it is a shame that only three Master Li mysteries have been published. Though all of his books are marvelous, the Bridge of Birds is Hughart's masterpiece. This is a work of art and one of my favorite three books of all time. Bravo, Mr. Hughart, and thank you for a truly wonderful creation.

The best book you've never read

This is truly an extraordinary book, every bit as good as most reviewers have found it. It is something between a fairy tale, a fantasy and an epic. The story has a timeless quality that would be amazing of itself, but even more impressively it serves as an introduction to Chinese myth. Astonishingly, this is the author's first book. The characters are beautifully drawn. Even minor characters like Doctor Death, a Chinese alchemist who makes a brief appearance, is fully developed. The main characters - Number Ten Ox and Master Li - are as memorable as any characters in fantasy. All are lively, ironic and self-consistent.The plot is a delightful rollercoaster ride, a quest within a quest, that will keep you guessing until the marvelous conclusion. It's a nearly flawless assemblage of many Chinese myths, some developed in depth and some only mentioned in passing. And much of it is Hughart's own invention. The narrative is quite good, and Hughart does an especially good job of explaining literally dozens of instances of Chinese culture that will be completely new to most Western readers. Some reviewers say they were put off by the story's many anachronisms. But Hughart doesn't pretend to be writing Chinese history or Chinese literature. Most readers don't know and don't care that events are out of sequence, or that myths have been distorted; those that do need to read the brief author's note that opens the book. I direct them specifically to the definition of "prolepsis" that appears there.This is an absolutely terrific read. You don't need to know a thing about or even like Chinese myth or Chinese culture to delight in this tale. This is a delightful story that is exceptionally well told. Like any great work of fantasy, when you finish reading it, and have bowed with Number Ten Ox to the four corners of the world, the real world you return to will seem just a little dimmer than the brilliant vision Barry Hughart has created.

Brilliant fantasy

"Bridge of Birds" is the most effective, most moving fantasy novel I have read since John Crowley's "Engine Summer." Set in (to use the publisher's blurb) "an ancient China that never was," this is at least on the surface the tale of Number Ten Ox, a young man from a rural village who sets out with Master Li, a scholar and sage with "a slight flaw in his character," on a quest for the "great root of power," the only medicine of sufficient potency to cure the village children of a case of ku poisoning. As the story unfolds and these two characters experience adventures enough to fill many novels (one can imagine Tor or some other publisher spinning out these yarns by the tens a la Conan if they got a hold of the publishing rights), their quest begins to intertwine with another one, relating to an ancient wrong done to a goddess.More details would be superfluous, for there is simply no substitute for reading this book. The culture and characters described here are fully realized (writers of doorstop-sized fantasy novels, such as Robert Jordan, could take object lessons from Hughart in how to tell a large story succinctly), and the overall atmosphere that this novel achieves is that of the finest kind of fable, although I would not necessarily recommend it for young children. Hughart spices his narrative throughout with a liberal dose of humor; I found myself laughing aloud many times as I read along. If there is a flaw to be found here, I failed to see it. This is as good as fantasy gets--one of the few novels that merits the adjective "magical."