Feathered Serpent: A Novel

By Xu Xiaobin

Book Overview

In this epic family history, Xiaobin portrays women across five generations with Yu(feather) as the central character whose life story is weaved through the lives of her grandmother, mother, sisters... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1416583807
• ISBN13: 9781416583806
• Release Date: February 2009
• Publisher: Atria Books
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.3" x 1.3" x 6.5"

Customer Reviews

Recommended for those who are interested in China & serious literature

Like many great foreign novels, to name a few, Gao Xingjian's "Soul Mountain," Orhan Pamuk's "Snow," and most recently Bolano's "2666," "Feathered Serpent" is a serious work of literature and may be at first a challenge to read thanks to Xu Xiaobin's unique structure. Yet it doesn't take long to grow to love for its lyrical language (which was translated beautifully), exotic and poetic imaginations, rich and profound allegories and metaphors, and so much more. Most of all, beyond the beautiful writing, through the tragic life stories of these women in the span of over 100 years against the big backdrop of the Chinese modern history, Xu Xiaobin went deep into some of the ageless subjects we deal with: crime, punishment, suffering, endurance, and redemption. This is a book you need to stay with to the end. I felt rewarded, not by a Hollywood-style happy ending, but with a sense of understanding of human nature--regardless of one's nationality. Highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in China.

Something surreal and brilliant about this book

Upon finishing this book: I actually loved it and felt that some points may have been lost in translation. You have to finish the whole book to truly appreciate what a great master piece this novel is. I struggled at the beginning with all the names and only to discover at the back pages of a list of the names and their relationship with one another - I wished they put this information at the front of the book! None-the-less, this novel was filled with depth of imagination, of struggles that each of the five generations faces and how each character dealt with life's journey that is often filled with ups and downs; some people luckier than others. How Yu/Yushe, the center character, found love in the strangest of places and the struggles she faced to be understood in a very formal culture; and finally to have found redemption. I can not in this review give enough justice to such a richly written novel. And woven in the story are fabrics of the chinese culture and the history. You do feel complete when you finish reading this novel; I didnot feel there were stones left unturned. I highly recommend this book and dont worry that you struggle a little in the first 50 pages - boy is it worth it in the end.

An Epic Narrated in A Highly Textured Language

The Feathered Serpent is a novel worth reading! Probably due to the writer's extensive training in fine arts, the language of the Feathered Serpent is highly textured. Like an imagist poet equipped with the multimedia of the modern age, the writer portrayed a cinematographic epic with her silky language. Through the developments of the destinies of the heroines of the novel, the readers are able to probe the pulse of a real China of the past two centuries. The poetic language provides the narratives with an unlimited space for imagination, which is at the same time moderated by the concreteness of history. The Feathered Serpent is by no means a sentimental piece of female writing meant for the faint hearted. Unlike the female characters of Virginia Woolf, the heroines of the Feathered Serpent didn't resort to escapism. Instead, they either became the helpers of the patriarchal power or the challengers against their patriarchal mothers. Translating such a piece of writing almost seemed a mission impossible. But I should admit that the translation published by Simon Schuster has exceeded my expectation. Based on principles of FAITHFULNESS, ELEGANCE and EXPRESSIVENESS, the English translation of the Feathered Serpent has reached a very high level of contemporary Chinese English translation. A highly artistic piece of writing, the Feathered Serpent tells its stories in such a gripping manner that most readers will feel naturally involved in the unraveling of all main characters' destinies. However, I would suggest all readers review the chronicle of events included in the appendix before they even start the 1st page.

I think it is a great book!

I read the book in Chinese three years ago. It got very good comments from Chinese, because it explores the code of Chinese political psychology. I am so excited when I read English version. The translation is excellent. Well, it should be a little difficult for Americans to understand the work at first glance. You might need some knowledge about Chinese political history since 19th century. It's worth since you can find a new world when you read this work.

strong storytelling

I might first note that some knowledge of classic Chinese literature might be helpful. There are references (some of which have footnotes) to what for ordinary Chinese would be familiar. Sun Wukong, the Monkey King in Journey to the West, was often held up as a role model by Mao. Sima Yi and Zhuge Liang are major characters in The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which is probably the best-known Chinese classic. Having said that, it is also important to note that this novel is published in the PRC: there are consequently some constraints to be expected vis-a-vis what political and social views might be openly discussed. If this novel were written by a political exile now living in the US, you might see something quite different. Feathered Serpent is primarily about the women in a family, going back to the late 19th century. You get to see the cultural changes. Pale, unweathered skin, foot binding, tattoos, the rough and weathered hands of a field worker--the standards of "beauty" change. Life under the Dowager Empress, under Chiang, Mao, and the present regime are all quite different. You are made painfully aware of the superiority of sons over daughters. Yu/Yushe is the central figure, but she is the 4th generation in the novel, and there's also a 5th generation. This is not a family of peasant workers, although some in the book must work in the fields. You get a very different kind of novel from what most of us are used to. The threads of the generations swirl around--everything is not in a nice careful chronological order. Doing so might have made the reader's job easier, but then the point would have been missed altogether. It's a richly textured novel, satisfying, but not one you can rush through.