Erin reviewed Dream of Ding Village by Lianke Yan
Review of 'Dream of Ding Village' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
I learned about events I wasn’t aware of reading this book, which I appreciated. I was pretty engaged throughout even though it was a story that meandered. There was some distance between me and the characters so it wasn’t as emotionally affecting as it might have been, but again, I was still engaged by the events, the dramas playing out.
The Grandpa character had a rough go of it, yikes. What a trajectory. The story is a tragedy in many ways. For the village, for Grandpa, for Hui, Liang, everyone. Quite sad generally.
My one complaint would be that there are some representational issues. Lingling is a little disappointing as a female character. I’ve read worse, but her fulfillment in a man was sad in a discouraging way, not a touching way. Also, it seems like I’m supposed to dislike Lingzi’s daughter for being disabled and epileptic … it doesn’t …
I learned about events I wasn’t aware of reading this book, which I appreciated. I was pretty engaged throughout even though it was a story that meandered. There was some distance between me and the characters so it wasn’t as emotionally affecting as it might have been, but again, I was still engaged by the events, the dramas playing out.
The Grandpa character had a rough go of it, yikes. What a trajectory. The story is a tragedy in many ways. For the village, for Grandpa, for Hui, Liang, everyone. Quite sad generally.
My one complaint would be that there are some representational issues. Lingling is a little disappointing as a female character. I’ve read worse, but her fulfillment in a man was sad in a discouraging way, not a touching way. Also, it seems like I’m supposed to dislike Lingzi’s daughter for being disabled and epileptic … it doesn’t feel like I’m supposed to disagree with the fact that Grandpa thinks that means she’s not good enough. I understand that unpleasant ideas are in stories for realism, but I need the author to show how those ideas are wrong or let me feel like I can disagree. In this case the characters I’m supposed to root for say/think some of the unpleasant things and it feels like I’m supposed to agree.
I really enjoyed how everyone’s selfishness is highlighted. Often counteracted by kinder moments. They felt like real people.
I’m guessing that if I had more cultural context I’d get even more out of this one!
Favorite quote:
When graves are robbed of treasure,
there’s not enough treasure to go around.
When graves are robbed of coffins,
there are too many coffins to be found.