Trade-size paperback.

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From amazon.com

The Cultural Revolution of Chairman Mao Zedong altered Chinese history in the 1960s and '70s, forcibly sending hundreds of thousands of Chinese intellectuals to peasant villages for "re-education."

This moving, often wrenching short novel by a writer who was himself re-educated in the '70s tells how two young men weather years of banishment, emphasizing the power of literature to free the mind.

Sijie's unnamed 17-year-old protagonist and his best friend, Luo, are bourgeois doctors' sons, and so condemned to serve four years in a remote mountain village, carrying pails of excrement daily up a hill. Only their ingenuity helps them to survive. The two friends are good at storytelling, and the village headman commands them to put on "oral cinema shows" for the villagers, reciting the plots and dialogue of movies.

When another city boy leaves the mountains, the friends steal a suitcase full of forbidden books he has been hiding, knowing he will be afraid to call the authorities. Enchanted by the prose of a host of European writers, they dare to tell the story of The Count of Monte Cristo to the village tailor and to read Balzac to his shy and beautiful young daughter. Luo, who adores the Little Seamstress, dreams of transforming her from a simple country girl into a sophisticated lover with his foreign tales. He succeeds beyond his expectations, but the result is not what he might have hoped for, and leads to an unexpected, droll and poignant conclusion.

Delightful! A thoroughly enjoyable easy read.

Loaning it to a friend.

Returned.

Reserved for RABCK to celebrate 500 wild releases!

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Winner of RABCK drawing is Luz-de-Luna. Will mail as soon as I have an address.

I'm sorry about the delay!

Sent of today, AIRMAIL.

Thank you so much!!! :-)
I'm very touched, as this is my first RABCK ever! I also have to apologise from the bottom of my heart... I'm so sorry I didn't journal earlier! My english is poor and I was too embarrassed to do this on my own... I'm glad my fiance Luz-de-Luna helped me with it! :D
THANKS A LOT!!! ;-)