004 Soul Mountain

Soul Mountain by Gao Xingjian (New York: Harper Collins, 2000)

Ugh. This book is tough to dig unless you like passages akin to dream sequences and airy descriptions of misty landscape. It would be easier on you if you've seen some films set in China to help you picture the rundown hotels and littered train stations.

A man who finds out he doesn't have lung cancer gets a second chance at life and goes traveling in Sichuan China. Along the way he learns local legends and myths. He alo makes up a bunch himself.

I'm 141 pages in but the book doesn't grab me. I'm trying, really! I want to like it and some bits are interesting but this is not a page turner. Not much of a plot. More of a floating around dreamily. Maybe that is the desired effect? But it comes at the price of snoring.