Apologies Forthcoming


Booking Mama: Review: Apologies Forthcoming

I am an avid reader who enjoys all types of books, although I mainly read fiction. In addition to reading, I also love crocheting, knitting, cooking, running, and watching Penn State sports. What I'm Reading Now. Friday, May 30, Review: A totally illuminating collection of stories centered around China's Cultural Revolution and its aftermath, which, as we learn, continues even today -- with both sides still holding out, with "apologies forthcoming. This, her first short story collection, is both disturbing and enthralling. I was brand-spanking new to blogging, and she was one of the first authors who contacted me asking that I review a book -- I was just thrilled.

Eberlein and I agreed that I would post my review when her book was available in stores, and I'm happy to say that you can now buy it here.

I haven't read lot of short story collections in the past, but recently I have read a few and found that I really enjoyed them. I have always shied away from short story collections because I thought they were for more intellectual readers, but I now realize that I have been missing out on some wonderful reading.

What all these stories have in common is the life-altering effect that it had on the people who were involved in this turmoil.

Apologies Forthcoming

I was absolutely shocked over some of the abuse that I read about! Each story in this book will touch you deeply -- so many lives were changed forever. One of my favorite stories was called "Feathers. I wish I'd spent more time reading the work for what it was now, rather than being focused on giving feedback and wondering how the memoir fit into the class assignment. Eberlein's book contains eight stories of essentially even quality. In the opening story, "Snow Line," a man writes a poem that take the nation by storm--a poem that is not explicitly Maoist. The story is a commentary on art amid all-encompassing political idealism.

Unlike most of the stories in the collection, the focus seems more on art than on politics. In "Men Don't Apologize," a girl goes to work for a bus manufacturer and discovers why bus accidents often occur. She also finds the man who accused her father of being a capitalist during the revolution, but when she tries to bring the two together to bury the hatchet, she discovers that forgiveness does not come easily.

There, she discovers that rather than being an aid, she is a spy.

The collection ends with a tale told in the United States, many years after the events. This look back seems a particularly good way to draw the work to a close. May 16, Tania rated it it was amazing. At the end of each story I felt like I'd read a novel.

You know that feeling when you finish a good novel, close the covers, breathe out and blink, like you're returning to the real world again? I think that's due to the depth of the characters, and the breadth invoked even in the 'simplest' and shortest pieces. I also learned a lot about the Cultural Revolution - good to expand knowledge while richly entertained, no?

The story 'Second Encounter' was especially moving - Wonderful storytelling. The story 'Second Encounter' was especially moving - a relatively straightforward premise, people with a shared past meeting in the present, as the title implies. It could have veered schlocky or sentimental in less skilled hands, but the power was all in the way Eberlein unwound their encounter, and the humanity of the characters.

Truman's grandson: No apologies forthcoming from US or Japan

But to be honest I was absorbed by every story, and sorry to finish the collection. I read the stories out of order so kept hunting back just in case fingers crossed I'd missed one.

Dec 12, Jerrod rated it it was amazing. At first I was thrown off by the seemingly off-kilter language of these stories, but I slowly became not only acclimated but appreciative of how well steeped they are in the tone and perspective of China in the throws of the Cultural Revolution.

The stories are subtle, avoiding lazy didacticism, while conveying forcefully the toll on an immense number of people the turbulence of this period in Chinese history. Moreover, I admire how deftly Xujun interweaves themes and characters across "differen At first I was thrown off by the seemingly off-kilter language of these stories, but I slowly became not only acclimated but appreciative of how well steeped they are in the tone and perspective of China in the throws of the Cultural Revolution. Moreover, I admire how deftly Xujun interweaves themes and characters across "different" stories, repeating, reassessing and refashioning; it gives the book, as a whole, the effect of a large verbal tapestry.

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Aug 05, Tania rated it liked it. Many of the stories share two additional similarities: Apr 09, Jennifer Fehrmann rated it really liked it. This book was filled with raw stories that could have come straight out of a history book. The time and events in the book were presented well but it was harder for me to connect because these people exist in a world so different from my own that it was a challenge to get myself into their shoes. Overall worth the challenge and the read. Apr 15, Michael rated it it was amazing Shelves: These stories put love, desire, and the aftermath of the Cultural Revolution in a pressure cooker and then leave the room.

Rich beautiful language that feels completely natural when a lesser writer would have sounded precious. She's really funny too.

A totally illuminating collection of stories centered around China's Cultural Revolution and its aftermath, which, as we learn, continues even today. Xujun. Apologies Forthcoming [Xujun Eberlein] on bahana-line.com *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Fiction. Asian Studies. This sometimes disturbing, always.

Feb 05, Debbie rated it it was amazing. Excellent, powerful collections of story that educate and entertain. An interesting, fast read. Mike Burrell rated it liked it May 06, Matthew rated it really liked it Jul 07, Susan Puska rated it really liked it Oct 05, Kris rated it it was ok Oct 06, Lucas rated it liked it Nov 09, Perry rated it it was amazing Dec 23, Reviewed by John Matthew Fox.

Many of the stories share two additional similarities: Unfortunately, the execution is spotty—a few stories succeed marvelously in drawing us into the historical significance of that time by way of a personal struggle, while others sag beneath the weight of awkward prose and narrative that skips over the necessary progressions or lingers too long.

Pivot Point is one of the stories that work. In it, a young girl whose intelligence wards off most suitors starts a liaison with a married man named Lanbo, which is the Chinese pronunciation for Rambo, an American icon that the Chinese revered.

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As the couple struggles to have a secret relationship, they are thwarted by hotels that require a marriage license and a rifle-toting peasant that threatens to jail them for public affection. In this story, as in others, there are flashes of intellectualism—a discussion of Carl Popper and commentary on Wittgenstein—and later in the collection characters discuss mathematical proofs.