Point Books During Mr. Muo's Travelling Couch
| Original Title: | Le Complexe de Di |
| ISBN: | 1400077141 (ISBN13: 9781400077144) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Setting: | China |
| Literary Awards: | Prix Femina (2003), Independent Foreign Fiction Prize Nominee for Longlist (2006) |
Dai Sijie
Paperback | Pages: 287 pages Rating: 2.79 | 1436 Users | 221 Reviews
Define Out Of Books Mr. Muo's Travelling Couch
| Title | : | Mr. Muo's Travelling Couch |
| Author | : | Dai Sijie |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Anniversary Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 287 pages |
| Published | : | June 6th 2006 by Anchor (first published September 4th 2003) |
| Categories | : | Fiction. Cultural. China. Asia. France |
Rendition Supposing Books Mr. Muo's Travelling Couch
Having enchanted readers on two continents with Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, Dai Sijie now produces a rapturous and uproarious collision of East and West, a novel about the dream of love and the love of dreams. Fresh from 11 years in Paris studying Freud, bookish Mr. Muo returns to China to spread the gospel of psychoanalysis. His secret purpose is to free his college sweetheart from prison. To do so he has to get on the good side of the bloodthirsty Judge Di, and to accomplish that he must provide the judge with a virgin maiden.This may prove difficult in a China that has embraced western sexual mores along with capitalism–especially since Muo, while indisputably a romantic, is no ladies’ man. Tender, laugh-out-loud funny, and unexpectedly wise, Mr. Muo’s Travelling Couch introduces a hero as endearingly inept as Inspector Clouseau and as valiant as Don Quixote.
Rating Out Of Books Mr. Muo's Travelling Couch
Ratings: 2.79 From 1436 Users | 221 ReviewsAppraise Out Of Books Mr. Muo's Travelling Couch
This book is a surrealistic trip through China told by a most improbable protagonist. Muo, a Chinese psychoanalyst trained in France, takes a bizzare trip across China looking for a virgin to sate the jaded appetite of a sadistic judge, a former executioner of Chinese prisoners who took an unseemly pleasure in his job, and who now holds the keys to the freedom of his childhood love. If this novel were a painting, it would be a twisted dreamscape by Dali and if it were a play, it would theWell written, great read but didn't strike me in any life-changing way. I'm a huge believer of not reading blurbs and when I picked up this book I had no idea the tone would be so curt. The opening chapters contain some pretty descriptive sexual content which made me uncomfortable. That said, it made me uncomfortable because it is written well enough to transport you into Mr. Muo's world and on a journey I'm sure will stick in your mind for some time. Not a personal fave but still definitely
This comic novel encompasses huge themes__not just political repression in China, but also love, sex, the commodification of women, and the twisting, winding roads one must take to gain self-knowledge. Reviewers concur that Sijie's second novel is something of a picaresque; it meanders as it follows the hapless Mr. Mou's adventures and missteps and enters into the terrain of the absurd. What reviewers don't agree on is whether or not the novel succeeds as a whole, particularly compared to the
I couldn't warm to any of characters in this book and the very odd premise on which the story was based.
I found Mr. Muo's Travelling Couch to be a disjointed, vaguely plotted book. I did not enjoy it and forced myself to finish it because I was reading it for book club. I kept hoping to find the humor in it since written on the back cover was how funny it was but I never found the humor. I don't know if I'll read this author again.
I have to agree with many of the other reviews of this book. Dai Sijie does a great job of taking the reader to modern day China and immersing us in the realities of everyday life, but the book jumps around a lot and does drag on a bit. None of the characters are very endearing. The plot is slow going and not particularly entertaining, but does have its quirky moments which can keep you going if you stick with it. The whole ambiance of the book is pretty grungy and dark, but Sijie does do a good
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