- Hardcover: 352 pages
- Publisher: Yale University Press; 1 edition (Mar 24 2009)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0300122276
- ISBN-13: 978-0300122275
- Product Dimensions: 19.8 x 13.2 x 2.5 cm
- Shipping Weight: 476 g
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
#425,833 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #61 in Books > Literature & Fiction > World Literature > Chinese
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Product Details |
Product Description
Review
"[Xue] blends surrealism à la Dali with a hefty dose of existential angst. Prickly and provocative, Five Spice Street poses penetrating questions about the search for identity and the definition of self."—Booklist
Product Description
Five Spice Street tells the story of a street in an unnamed city whose inhabitants speculate on the life of a mysterious Madam X. The novel interweaves their endless suppositions into a work that is at once political parable and surreal fantasia. Some think X is 50 years old; others that she is 22. Some believe she has occult powers and has thereby enslaved the young men of the street; others think she is a clever trickster playing mind games with the common people. Who is Madam X? How has she brought the good people of Five Spice Street to their knees either in worship or in exasperation? The unknown narrator takes no sides in the endless interplay of visions, arguments, and opinions. The investigation rages, as the street becomes a Walpurgisnacht of speculations, fantasies, and prejudices. Madam X is a vehicle whereby the people bare their souls, through whom they reveal themselves even as they try to penetrate the mystery of her extraordinary powers.
Five Spice Street is one of the most astonishing novels of the past twenty years. Exploring the collective consciousness of this little street of ordinary people, Can Xue penetrates the deepest existential anxieties of the present day—whether in China or in the West—where the inevitable impermanence of identity struggles with the narrative within which identity must compose itself.
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Customer Reviews
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4.0 out of 5 stars (1 customer review)
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Mind your X's and Q's!, Jun 8 2009
By Dick Johnson - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Five Spice Street (Hardcover)
Having just finished this, I am hastening to write the review before I (hopefully) regain my sanity!
I can't believe I've spent 329 pages in China. I had to have been in Japan. This sort of modernist, post-three or four things, experimental work is quite usual for a Japanese author. This magical, circular, avant-garde style isn't your typical Chinese style.
This book is filled with symbolism (I think). If so, I'm pretty sure I figured out some of them and I'm totally certain that some (most?) flew over my head. I think the only way to reach total comprehension is to visit Five Spice Street. I am very afraid, though, that there are roads leading in - but none leading out!
Spending some time on Five Spice Street was extraordinary. The writing (translated) was well done and the humor snuck up on me cleverly. The characters are (literally) indescribable - since they "are" the story, the only way to describe them is to quote the entire book. A few are probably certifiable and a few display genius, but most are merely strangely normal or normally strange.
Please read the Editorial Reviews above for information on the story line. If you are a fan of post-modern and/or innovative literature, give this one a shot. If not, then you should pass on this one.
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