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China: The Novel
| Title | China: The Novel |
| Writer | |
| Date | 2024-12-24 13:05:21 |
| Type | |
| Link | Listen Read |
Desciption
The “unparalleled master of the historical saga" (Newsweek) and internationally best-selling author of Paris and New York takes on an exhilarating new world with his trademark epic style in China: The Novel.Edward Rutherfurd has enthralled millions of people with his grand, sweeping historical sagas that tell the history of a famous place over multiple generations. Now, in China: The Novel, Rutherfurd takes listeners into the rich and fascinating milieu of the Middle Kingdom.The story begins in 1839, at the dawn of the First Opium War, and follows Chinese history through Mao's Cultural Revolution and up to the present day. Rutherfurd chronicles the rising and falling fortunes of members of Chinese, British, and American families, as they negotiate the tides of history. Along the way, in his signature style, Rutherfurd provides a deeply researched portrait of Chinese history and society, its ancient traditions and great upheavals, and China's emergence as a rising global power. As always, we are treated to romance and adventure, heroines and scoundrels, grinding struggle and incredible fortunes.China: The Novel brings to life the rich terrain of this vast and constantly evolving country. From Shanghai to Nanking to the Great Wall, Rutherfurd chronicles the turbulent rise and fall of empires as the colonial West meets the opulent and complex East in a dramatic struggle between cultures and people.Extraordinarily researched and majestically told, Edward Rutherfurd paints a thrilling portrait of one of the most singular and remarkable countries in the world. Read more
Review
Edward Rutherfurd is the pen name for Francis Wintie. He follows in the tradition of writers like James Michener writing thick novels that tell fictional family stories covering many centuries of a place’s history. CHINA, Rutherfurd’s newest book is a bit different. Not that it is not long, coming in at 764 pages; but because the story covers only 70 years of Chin’s history from the early 1800 and the Opium Wars to the death of Empress Dowager CIXI in 19o8.The thrust of the plot lines is how Britain and other western powers tried to colonize China resulting in several wars and Chinese anti-western actions (leading up and through the Boxer Rebellion).I am not going to go into detail about the various characters or storylines as I am happy to report they are all entertaining. I would think more so for those not knowledgeable about CHINA and its rocky history in the 1800s.I read someplace that Rutherfurd is at work on a sequel which should be equally fascinating. This book is a great way to dip one’s toes into Chinese history while enjoying several colorful characters and cliffhanger short stories. I enjoyed this book and especially like that it is one you can pick up and read without the demands of finishing it in one large gulp. I found the novel immensely entertaining.The book's early section reminded me a lot of Amitau Ghosh’s IBIS TRILOGY, especially the third book RIVER OF SMOKE about the Opium trade and wars. (I recommend Ghosh’s books highly.) And then there is the wonderful biography, EMPRESS DOWAGER CIXI by Jung Chang. Rutherfurd mentions his differences with her biography in his Afterword. Like any nonfiction work, Chang’s book is dense and offers far greater historical insight than Rutherfurd’s novel. Lastly, one of my favorite Non-fiction authors (who also writes historical novels under the pen name Alex Rutherford is Diana Preston. She and her husband wrote the exciting Empire of the Moghul series. One of Preston’s early nonfiction books is THE BOXER REBELLION. I only mention these books because they may be of interest if you wish to take a deeper dive into this period of history.(I have only read one other Rutherfurd novel, LONDON, which I also enjoyed a great deal.)
