Jun. 5th, 2003 02:20 pm
Three Little Kingdoms
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muckefuckAs of last night, I was just over one sixth of the way through the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. (After 250+ pages, we're closing in on the part where there are three kingdoms. Real. Soon. Now.) I feel pretty good about that, given that I'm not generally Mr Reads Long-Ass Books. If I get through this, the Russian novels will seem a little less terrifying. Chef Jeff told me that there's a Thai saying to the effect that anyone who reads "San Kok" cover to cover "is a scary person". (I think some nuances must be casualties of translation there.)
It's tough to figure out why it's so engrossing, since it basically consists of combat after combat linked with a little intrigue and the occasional bizarre incident. If I thought that the most distasteful of these would be in ch. 4 where Cao Cao slaughters an entire family because he mishears their hog-butchering preparations as plans to kill him (slaying the aged paterfamilias on the road out of town, lest the old man set a posse on him), I was sadly mistaken. No, Liu An butchering his wife for Liu Bei to eat since he has no game to offer is far worse. (Not only does Liu Bei--the hero of the novel--eat her, but, upon finding out, his reaction is to shed tears of gratitude--and when he tells his commander, Cao Cao decides to reward the guy with 100 taels of silver!) By comparison, the scene where Xiahou Dun eats his own eye is mere comic relief.
It's tough to figure out why it's so engrossing, since it basically consists of combat after combat linked with a little intrigue and the occasional bizarre incident. If I thought that the most distasteful of these would be in ch. 4 where Cao Cao slaughters an entire family because he mishears their hog-butchering preparations as plans to kill him (slaying the aged paterfamilias on the road out of town, lest the old man set a posse on him), I was sadly mistaken. No, Liu An butchering his wife for Liu Bei to eat since he has no game to offer is far worse. (Not only does Liu Bei--the hero of the novel--eat her, but, upon finding out, his reaction is to shed tears of gratitude--and when he tells his commander, Cao Cao decides to reward the guy with 100 taels of silver!) By comparison, the scene where Xiahou Dun eats his own eye is mere comic relief.
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Re: eating her
Actually, when asked what kind of meat it is, Liu An says, "Wolf". Exotic meat fanciers, beware!
As a kid I used to go the (then) Field's Museum. In their Oriental department they have a graphic depiction of what the levels of Hell were like in the Chinese mind....its sounds like what you are reading...
I've read some graphic descriptions of the Chinese hells as well, and they aren't much like Three Kingdoms. Less slaughtering a man's clan because he betrayed you, more hungry ghosts trying to quaff bodily fluids through their microscropic necks.
I have just finished reading a series of articles about the Croat Ustashe and its slaughter of Serbs during WWII....we should compare notes...
Um...let's not and say we did? I'm reading this book in spite of the atrocities it contains.