Linda JaivinCritiques

This is as it says on the tin: a very brief history of China, organised chronologically/by dynasties. Linda Jaivin does push back against the tendency for such political/economic histories to exclude women's voices and experiences. Women's role in shaping Chinese society is readily acknowledged here, and Jaivin makes good use of poetry and literary references to add some shading and depth to her narrative. I did find the prose a little choppy at points, and transitions between topics could have been smoother. But for a quick, big-picture introduction to Chinese history, this is solid.

Cuatro amigas se reúnen para intercambiar experiencias sobre sus conquistas amorosas y sus fantasías sexuales. Julia es una fotógrafa obsesionada por los chicos jóvenes; Helen es profesora de ideología feminista con deseos inconfesables; Chantal es editora de una revista de moda, con tendencia a dejarse seducir por nuevas experiencias y Philippa, una escritora que oculta su lesbianismo y sus tendencias sadomasoquistas.

I discovered Five Books at Twitter and have been keeping an eye on it ever since as a useful guide to book recommendations on non-fiction subjects. (Fiction, not so much.) Their website describes what they do as...

... a library of knowledge, curating book recommendations on any topic. Experts recommend the five best books in their subject.

So when their China expert recommends Linda Jaivin's The Shortest History of China, you know it must be pretty good to have been chosen from amongst hundreds to be one of the five. By 'good', I mean 'authoritative' because I can only judge whether the book is interesting or well-written. I have no expertise to judge whether it gives an accurate picture of China or not.

The Shortest History of China is a remarkable feat. In only about 250 pages, it covers China's ancient beginnings to the present day, beginning the history of our powerful neighbour with one of its creation stories:

Far, far back in time, a popular Chinese creation story tells us, primal chaos congealed into an egg, in which the complementary cosmic energies of Yin and Yang thickened around a hairy, horned giant called Pángû. Eighteen thousand years passed. Pangu hatched fully formed, holding an axe, with which he hacked apart the Yin 陰 and Yang 陽. The Yin became the earth beneath his feet, and the Yang, the sky. As he grew taller, he pushed the two further and further apart. After Pangu died, his flesh turned to soil, his sweat to rain and his breath to wind. His blood flowed as rivers and seas. His eyes became the sun and the moon. From his hair sprung plants and trees, and the fleas in his fur became animals and people. (p.10).

Beginning in this way signals that the book is a cultural history, much more than just a timeline of dynasties and a catalogue of events.

When I was at school, we learned about the ancient civilisations of the Middle East: the Sumerians and the Babylonians, the Egyptians, the Greeks and the Romans. These days, the Year 7 Australian Curriculum (V8.4) mandates a general overview of the ancient world (Egypt, Mesopotamia, Persia, Greece, Rome, India, China and the Maya) and students then learn in detail about one Mediterranean civilisation: Egypt or Greece or Rome, and one Asian civilisation: India or China. My guess is that there are many students who find Jaivin's history very useful indeed.

To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2023/02/17/the-shortest-history-of-china-2021-by-linda-...

לכאורה אמביציה בלתי אפשרית. תולדות סין במשך אלפי שנים ב 280 עמודים על ידי לא סינית. אבל למרות זאת הצלחה לא קטנה - קריא, מעניין, ומלמד הרבה, ביחוד לאחד כמוני שלא ידע דבר על הנושא½

An incisive summary of 2000 years of Chinese history in one small paperback. Some of the endless feuding of rival clans gets a bit boring in the first few chapters - but I guess it was a bit more tiresome to the millions who had to live through it! In more recent centuries I learned new things about some of the depredations visited upon Chinese civilisation by invading outsiders. Towards the end of the book Jaivin stands up for Chinese civilization against the currently ruling version of an intolerant CCP. Not a must read but the book does better than most at summing up so much history in one small book.

So so erotic novel. Flowed and easy read but fluff & bubble.

Passionate, wide-ranging story about the importance of translation and nurturing foreign literatures to encouraging international understanding. For my full review, please see Whispering Gums at: http://whisperinggums.com/2013/12/21/linda-jaivin-found-in-translation-in-praise...

Ich finde das Buch oft ziemlich seicht. Leider ließt es sich nicht in einem Rutsch durch, weil es oft einfach zu langatmig wird.
Fazit: Ein Buch, dass man nicht unbedingt gelesen haben muss.

Pompous Australian journalist/explorer finally meets his match when he falls in love with a beautiful American heiress who refuses to belong to any man. Cleverly written with wit and humour. Provides an interesting window to the western world within China in the early 20th century. Story does drag a bit near the end and there really doesn't seem to be much of a conclusion at the end of it all.

Linda Jaivin's latest novel explores the attitudes and lifestyle of Westerners living in South East Asia at the turn of the century. With the Russo-Japanese War as a backdrop for the story, it is clear that Jaivin knows a great deal about this turbulent period in Asian history (she has written extensively about Chinese politics and culture), and this is clearly a well researched novel.

In 1904, Australian journalist George Morrison meets Mae Perkins, the daughter of an American Millionaire. The path of their love affair is dictated by the circumstances around them – the small Western community's obsession with sex and scandal and Morrison's own jealousy and misgivings spur him to follow his career and agonise over the relationship until the pair can be reunited. Jaivin has created a thoroughly unlikeable character in Morrison. He is self absorbed, pompous and vain. Mae's character is developed through his observations and her honesty is a refreshing antithesis to his hypocrisy. This “most immoral woman” is the most intriguing character in the novel, thanks to her straightforward lack of guile.

The chapter titles are unnecessary synopses of the material to follow, and are irritating and only occasionally witty. However, Jaivin's prose is clear and easy to read and her descriptions wonderfully evoke the sights, sounds and smells of the environment: “his nose was simultaneously assaulted by the rotten-egg smell of thawing sewage and delighted by the scents of toffee and pancakes”. The drawback is that such effusions sometimes detract from the pace of the story and at the start it is really quite slow moving.

Such a flaw is only minor and in the end, the main appeal of this novel lies with Jaivin's masterful recreation of the heady days of turn of the century China.

(This review is a slightly modified version of a review that I wrote for UWA's Pelican Newspaper)

Interesting erotica from an Australian setting, though I believe the author is American by birth. This is the story of four women, and their erotic adventure and fantasies, but it has a much more realistic tone than those words suggest. Some of the stories revolve around food, but not all.

Well written.

I surprised myself and quite enjoyed this one. Jaivin's witty parody of the art world, politics, and pop culture successfully draws the reader into the absurd story, making each over-the-top event instill delight rather than disbelief. The characters are wonderfully eccentric: Thurston is a soft-hearted medievalist who likes to knit chain mail as he watches TV; ZakDot doesn't actually make art (hence the term pre-conceptual). Funny and fast paced, the novel appeals on a variety of levels, from the wacky farce to Jaivin's many allusions to and examination of art and politics in a postmodern world.

Sex-obsessed aliens come to earth and have lots of sex. And play in a band. Always a great feel-good book and makes me laugh whenever i read it.

Sympathy for refugees but painfully bad grammar.