A collection of Ha Jin's short stories. Perfect for bookcrossing as there's always time for at least one short story if you don't want to read the whole book, right?

These stories are about the life of Asian people.

Ha Jin turned out to be a skillful writer. I like the way he doesn't put all on the front but instead the reader has to do some pondering to get the idea right. Especially in some dialogues the message for the reader was very implicitly conveyed. I'm not sure if I understood them correctly. This book would be great for group discussion.

The short stories - they were sad desriptions of the dark side of the human mind. The value of an individual - none. The morals - absurd. I was sometimes shocked to the teeth. Therefore I didn't enjoy the stories even though they were great writing.

I took this with me from meetup of Oulu.

Wow, The Bridegroom by Ha Jin, my Wish List book. This RABCK is truly appreciated. Thank you, Louhi! Thanks for the postcard, too. It makes me smile. :)

Magnificent! I really like the way Ha Jin writes, and the stories are incredibly good. They also are very sad if you think like you probably do, like we do in the West, being brought up in more or less individualistic culture. This is Asia, this is China, Ha Jin writes about. He really gives us a great sightseeing tour allowing his readers to see norms, rules, values and such that are crucial to Chinese culture and Chinese mentality.
China is changing and has been doing it for a while now. The Bridegroom shows us an interesting mixture of traditional beliefs, Maoism, Asian collective culture, Western business ideology and modern Chinese entrepreneurship. The stories show us China as it is — or was some time (years, decades, I don't know) ago. Chinese society is now changing all the time.
Each one of the stories is a window to a different piece of China in transition. It's hard to pick any favorites, I liked them all. Maybe I enjoyed the closing story, After Cowboy Chicken Came to Town, most. It so reminds us of the importance of cultural competence, something that's crucial if you want to go and start a business in China, anywhere in Asia, or in any culture you're not too familiar with.
Thank you so much, Louhi and Joika! I had truly a fab reading experience.

This book will be part of my answer to Amynita's Erilaiset kulttuurit (“different cultures”) Challenge in the Finnish Forum.

Ha Jin at Wikipedia

Enjoy!

Thank you so much, Tarna, The Bridegroom arrived to my doorstep today, safe and sound! Looking forward to the reading experience :)