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After the enjoyment that was The Lost Daughter of Happiness I decided I read Love and Revoultion next. I came across it on Amazon and thought that a 21st century Taiwanesse author writing about Sun Yatsen and his wife was interesting and strange enought to add to my wish list. I was slightly put off be the author's declaration at the begining of the book that stated that it would be responsible for bringing these to people to the attention of the Western World. (Surely if nothing else Sterling Seagrave did that in The Soong Dynasty) (Of course I first came upon Sun yatsen in Once upon a time in China 2, but then found easily 10 books about him in 2nd hand shops in Seattle).
The book itself was a little odd. There were 3 narratives, one focused on Sun Yatsen, one on Madame Sun and one on the daughter of Madame Sun's former aide. (Though at first the daughter character was totally unclear who she was). The stories of Sun Yatsen and Madame Song both focused on them getting old and looking back at their lives. There was very little of them actually interacting which I found terribly dissapointing. The parts of Sun Yatsen read a lot like a history book, they focused almost entirely on his meetings and contained very little new or insightful glimpses into his life. (The rather unneccesary sex bits nonwithstanding). Throughout the book the author made reference to history books that read like novels, this was a novel that read like a history book.
While it was very nice to go back and see so many familiar names from the time what was even more dissapointing was Madame Sun's sections. Nowhere where any ideals, polictical or otherwise given to her. She was entirly focused on physical relationships and emotional relationships with men. Her beliefs were totally surpressed. I just couldn't buy the idea that the entire reason she was interested in Sun Yatsen (who was 30 years older) was pure lust! Surely the revolution and politics has something to do with it! I found it very strange that a woman who is such a leading feminist in Taiwan would write a book about the politics of a man and the love of a woman.
It was a pleasant enough book and nice to go back and look at that period of Chinese history again, but it was not the story I was hoping for. Honestly I think the Seagrave is much better! (And a better story even if it fact rather than fiction)
The book itself was a little odd. There were 3 narratives, one focused on Sun Yatsen, one on Madame Sun and one on the daughter of Madame Sun's former aide. (Though at first the daughter character was totally unclear who she was). The stories of Sun Yatsen and Madame Song both focused on them getting old and looking back at their lives. There was very little of them actually interacting which I found terribly dissapointing. The parts of Sun Yatsen read a lot like a history book, they focused almost entirely on his meetings and contained very little new or insightful glimpses into his life. (The rather unneccesary sex bits nonwithstanding). Throughout the book the author made reference to history books that read like novels, this was a novel that read like a history book.
While it was very nice to go back and see so many familiar names from the time what was even more dissapointing was Madame Sun's sections. Nowhere where any ideals, polictical or otherwise given to her. She was entirly focused on physical relationships and emotional relationships with men. Her beliefs were totally surpressed. I just couldn't buy the idea that the entire reason she was interested in Sun Yatsen (who was 30 years older) was pure lust! Surely the revolution and politics has something to do with it! I found it very strange that a woman who is such a leading feminist in Taiwan would write a book about the politics of a man and the love of a woman.
It was a pleasant enough book and nice to go back and look at that period of Chinese history again, but it was not the story I was hoping for. Honestly I think the Seagrave is much better! (And a better story even if it fact rather than fiction)