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Village of Stone
 
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Village of Stone (Paperback)

by Xiaolu Guo (Author)
4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)

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Other Editions: RRP: Our Price: Other Offers:
Hardcover £12.99 £11.69 21 used & new from £1.80
Paperback (New edition) £7.99 £5.22 23 used & new from £2.32
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Product details

  • Paperback: 256 pages
  • Publisher: Chatto and Windus; New Ed edition (1 April 2004)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0701176067
  • ISBN-13: 978-0701176068
  • Product Dimensions: 21.2 x 13.4 x 1.6 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 1,106,930 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Doris Lessing

...What could have been a misery of a story has the mysterious charm of a fairy tale or a legend. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Synopsis

I see myself on a boat, steering far out to sea, to the seas of the Village of Stone, and as the waves grow clearer in my memory, I find myself moving farther away from this enormous city, from these enormous buildings and crowds -Coral and her Frisbee-obsessed boyfriend Red live on the ground floor of a cramped tower block in the megalopolis that is modern-day Beijing. The epitome of disaffected, unfulfilled youth, their already fragile existence is shattered by the arrival of a mysterious fishy package - as the smells of the sea flood her home, Coral is transported back to a traumatic childhood dominated by solitude, fear and shame. Born on a boat during a storm, and orphaned soon after, Coral was raised by silent grandparents amongst the stern and superstitious fishermen of the remote Village of Stone. Shunned from birth as a bringer of ill fortune, and exposed to the malevolent, threatening forces of a closed-off society, Coral immersed herself in the minutiae of the landscape around her. At fifteen, she escaped to the big city and shut the door on the darkness of her past. As the narrative darts between the forbidding sprawl of Beijing and the hypnotic rhythms of a tiny coasta
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Customer Reviews

3 Reviews
5 star:
 (2)
4 star:
 (1)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:    (0)
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Average Customer Review
4.7 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Superb Read, 12 Feb 2008
By Ronald Rothammer "Books worth reading" (Edinburgh, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Village of Stone (Paperback)
I was made aware of this author when I listened to Women's Hour on BBC Radio 4. Yes, I do listen to such programs now and again! Not only the fact that the author is Chinese but she has the family name "Guo", which is the same as my wife's (Lixin Guo).

It's probably understandable that I have a particular curiosity about all things Chinese but when the author is serialised on Radio 4 and has the same name as my wife, I just had to read her works.

Even if you have no direct connection with China this book makes a beautiful read. It has its tragic parts but despite them it is just so optimistic. Written in an autobiographical style, although I don't know how much of the story is biographical, it was none the less a book I really enjoyed reading.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Moving, simply told story of suffering and survival in China, 6 Jun 2009
This review is from: Village of Stone (Paperback)
This is a fast-moving, deeply affecting tale of childhood suffering and survival on the fringes of modern China - a fishing community on a remote island, in fact - interwoven with the love between the young adult survivor and her Western frisbee-obsessed lover living in a Beijing basement apartment. Told with elegant simplicity at a fast clip, the novel is never dull and has a strong narrative drive, into which is woven Chinese culture and history along with a good dose of self questioning.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Striking , 13 Feb 2009
By A. Hasnath (England) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Village of Stone (Paperback)
At first glance this book seems dull and sentimental - a novel about a village.

It is in actual fact extremely enjoyable. It features the female narrator's memoirs about her childhood in the village, interspersed with passages in her present life.
The chapters dealing with the village offer fantastic views and a panaorama of life in a fishing village, if perhaps a little long in places.

The parts featuring her present life are funny due mainly to the character Red, her partner, and their banter. Guo renders their shared life in a high rise flat with great wit and charm.

This is a special novel that simply leaves a good feeling.
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