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Loading... Three Kingdoms: A Historical Novel, Part 2by Guanzhong Luo
   None No current Talk conversations about this book.  DeltaQueen50 | Sep 28, 2021 |   This volume suffers from the same problems as the first: poor editing and poor formatting. (  ) Pferdina | Mar 27, 2012 | no reviews | add a review
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Three Kingdoms tells the story of the fateful last reign of the Han dynasty (206 b.c.-a.d. 220), when the Chinese empire was divided into three warring kingdoms. This decisive period in Chinese history became a subject of intense and continuing interest to historians, poets, and dramatists. Writing some 1,200 years later, the Ming author Luo Guanzhong drew on this rich literary heritage to fashion a sophisticated, compelling narrative that has become the Chinese national epic. Luo's novel offers a startling and unsparing view of how power is wielded, how diplomacy is conducted, and how wars are planned and fought; it has influenced the ways the Chinese think about power, diplomacy, and war even to this day. As important for Chinese culture as the Homeric epics have been for the West, this Ming dynasty masterpiece continues to be widely influential in China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam, and remains a great work of world literature. The University of California Press is pleased to make the complete and unabridged translation available again. No library descriptions found. |
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 Google Books — Loading...GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)895.1346Literature Literature of other languages Asian (east and south east) languages Chinese Chinese fiction Song, Yuan, Ming, Qing dynasties 960–1912 Ming dynasty 1368–1644LC ClassificationRatingAverage: (4.56)
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I admit to feeling rather overwhelmed at first as the story opened up with the appearance of dozens of warlords and generals that were hard to keep track of. Thank heavens I persevered as what brings this book to life are these exciting and varied characters that the reader meets throughout the journey. Eventually a pattern emerges and the story narrows to follow certain characters which makes it much easier to absorb the story. The names of Liu Bei, Zhuge Liang, and Cao Cao may have little or no meaning to westerners, but these are just a few of the heroes that through their loyalty or treachery live on and have become cultural icons in China.
Other than having to keep track of a multitude of characters, the book was very easy to read and I quickly became absorbed in the adventure, culture and geography of the story. This is a book that I have long wanted to read and now, I am happy to say that I have completed this massive volume and was very satisfied with the historical and mythical aspects of this story that truly does romanticize the lives of these feudal Chinese warlords. (