Really nice writing style. Nice blend of historical and mythological features providing good insight into Chinese culture. The plot wasn't overly exciting and sometimes I got confused between the characters. But overall I'd say this was a 4* read.

I’ve tried a couple of times with this book but I’ve finally admitted defeat. It’s just not for me. The combination of history, myth and folk tales, and a motley collection of characters sounded appealing, but I found it too long, too rambling, and I couldn’t relate to any of the characters, not least due to their propensity for violence at the drop of a hat. The novel is divided into four books each set in a different historical period, linked by a dying funeral singer lying in a cave in the mountains of Shaanxi. As he lies there he relates the stories of four characters; a soldier, a peasant, a revolutionary and a politician, each contributing to the evolution of the People’s Republic of China. Excerpts from an ancient Chinese text, Pathways Through the Mountains and Seas, are interspersed with the four narratives, and these I found particularly tedious, being as they are simply lists of the flora and fauna to be found there, often legendary rather than real. Nothing pulled me into the stories and I soon found myself skipping large chunks. Jia Pingwa is considered China’s “master story-teller” but he didn’t hold my attention.

An interconnecting story about the mysterious mountain whisperer and his tales. This was a compelling and unique story, and the writing quickly transports you right into the scene. It’s a mix of Chinese historical history and mythology, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Definitely recommended to those who enjoyed Chinese culture and a non-linear writing style.

The Mountain Whisperer is an excellent foray into traditional and quality Chinese literature in its folk tales, and narratives based on the lives of real people who lived prior to, during, and after the Cultural Revolution heralded in by Mao. The afterword explains the book. For readers have not any experience with Chinese literature, read the afterword first. There's no spoilers in there. There is a disjointed feel of the book due to the inclusion of pathways segments and the narrative loses some of its rhythm because of this but the pathways is an important part that can be skimmed if attention is paid to the subsequent q-a section..

Jia Pingwa, one of the 'master' storyteller of China recently published in English another masterpiece of him — “Mountain Whisperer”(originally published in 2014) translated by Christopher Payne, after “Turbulance”(1991), “Happy Dreams”(2014), “Ruined Capital”(2016), “Backflow River”(2016), “The Lantern Bearer”(2017) and “Broken Wings”(2019), all of which are translated version of the originals to be available for global readers.
      
        Those who are familiar with Jia's writing, have the idea about his skill to capture panoramic epics with small stories from both rural and urban. Mountain Whisper is no exception from that legacy. This book consists four different stories from different historical periods that are craftily unified by a single thread - a funeral singer. Dying in a cave of Shaanxi mountains this man tells the stories of a soldier, a peasant, a revolutionary and a politician who have taken important part in the struggles of the society to make a new history. These men's lives are actually the background on which Jia sketches the lives and cultures of the local communities of the land. Jia's afterword concludes fully about his latest creation commenting it as a text that covers “both about the past revolution and also my farewell to it”.

          This book is full of dry humour, description and detailing with its unique episodic writing style that fabulously captures a mix of historical and mythological portion of native Chinese Culture from past and present. I enjoyed author's imagination and skill that provides so beautiful viewpoint to me as a reader. I highly recommend this book to any literary fiction lover who has interest in historical fiction, foreign land and society, and multiculturalism. From me this one is surely a five star read.

          It was an ARC from NetGalley and I heartily thank NetGalley, Alain Charles Asia Publishing and Sinoist Books for this amazing read.

Wowzers.

This book is best described as an emotive tome which you will not be able to put down.

I loved it. It has been translated into English but even with that, it reads so well. I found myself sleeping later and waking earlier just to read it and finish it, so beautiful was the prose.

An oral history of China told by an ancient funeral singer. The stories are descriptive, but are too slow and disjointed for a western reader. I gave it three stars because it is an opportunity to experience another culture, even if I found my self unable to appreciate the journey.
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing an advance reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Modern master Jia Pingwa’s novel which retells the turbulent birth of modern China from its rural margins. High in the mountains of central China a dying funeral singer tells four interweaved tragedies of all-too-human players caught in the earthly struggles of revolt and reform, and the mythic cycle of avarice, vengeance and suffering.

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My very first book by Jia Pingwa!! As a half Chinese, I just somehow can't really grasp the actual theme here. The translation is a bit weird. Well, it's really really normal because Mandarin is hard to learn.
Thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for the ARC!

While Chinese mythology is really interesting, this book seemed far too long and wordy. I just couldn't connect with it.

I really loved everything about this book! The Mountain Whisperer by Jia Pingwa and Christopher Payne is excellent storytelling at its finest. A Mountain Whisperer is a funeral singer and as they lay dying, they tell tales of Modern China. This was a very wise and amazing read.

A man sings at funerals so that the souls rest in peace. He sings stories - about the land, culture and stories of the past. He lived to tell these stories, to make sure the stories were alive and known to the newer generation and newer people. The Mountain Whisperer held stories like the mountains themselves - larger than life and holding secrets of centuries in them.

The stories flows easily, quietly and succinctly. Sometimes the stories were difficult to follow and it could be because culture barrier, but the stories always hold a sense of yearning.

<i>Thank you Sionist Press and Net Galley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.</i>

I did not finish this book because there are problems with the characters, the narrative, and the translation. I lost interest after about 70 pages.

The characters are almost exclusively men who are crude, ignorant, treacherous and extremely violent. I find them barely human and I could neither identify with them nor find their ventures interesting.

The narrative is slow, rambling and dull. I suppose it is an intentional choice to use a style like ‘old man’s talk’ (老生常談 laosheng changtan, the allusion is clear in the Chinese title ‘Laosheng’), but this certainly did not result in an interesting read. I also couldn’t see the relevance of the lengthy quoted passages from Pathways Through the Mountains and Seas and the dialogues between the boy and his tutor — they frame the story without adding to it.

The biggest problem for me is the translation. Though it is fluent overall and Payne did a good job in rendering the colloquialism and the obscenity, some passages did not make sense in English and seem to misinterpret the source text.

Example 1
(P37, at the donkey meat shop) ‘He deftly pulled out a strip that’d come from a female donkey and wrapped it around the male piece already suspended in the air. The image it created was clear. As if on cue, the butcher responsible for cutting the meat used his blade to slice into the rashers on the table behind. What was being demonstrated was plain: they used live meat to make the rashers.’

As a reader of the English text, what was demonstrated was NOT plain. In the Chinese text, a female donkey was used to make the male donkey erect, and then the male genital was cut off from the live animal — that’s why the point was clear. The translation, however, describes a completely different scene and does not convey the same idea.

Example 2
(Immediately following the above passage) ’There was a saying… what was fit for a man to eat was hated by a woman, and what was fit for a woman was hated by a man, but the act done in bed, well, that was often something unbearable for both.’

Again, this passage did not make much sense in English, so I referred to the Chinese text:
“男人吃了女人受不了，女人吃了男人受不了，男女都吃了炕受不了”
Given that donkey meat is supposed to give you virility, the Chinese sentence means something like this: If a man ate it, he would be too much for his woman (i.e. sexually overwhelm her); if a woman ate it, she would be too much for him; if they both ate it, they would be too much for the bed (i.e. they would break the bed).

I couldn’t help doubting the accuracy of the entire translation after noting these problems, and that definitely dampened the reading experience.

Oh how desperately I wanted to fall into this book. It was my first Pingwa, and from the moment I read the summary I was itching to start it. And then I did start it, and it went downhill from there.

To put it simply, I just don’t understand the purpose of this book. I realize that most likely stems from me, but hey, it’s my review. The four stories felt so disjointed, and I couldn’t understand what any of them were trying to convey. Yes it was a nice look into some lesser known parts of Chinese history, and while historical fiction is my go to, if a mediocre history lesson was all I was looking for I would’ve picked up a textbook. I was hoping for a sort of mythical, folklore-esque telling of Chinese old wives’ tales, mixed with fiction. I realize that this expectation is a key factor in the letdown that it ended up being, but honestly even if I didn’t have any expectations this would’ve had a hard time maintaining my interest.

Considering I speedread three quarters of this book, I don’t deny that I may have missed some intricacies that would add some depth to it. But honestly, it was running a high risk of landing on my did-not-finish shelf, so speedreading it was. The only reason it’s not a 1 star for me was the excitement I had for starting what I thought would be an excellent read, and that it did offer real perspectives of certain moments of Chinese history.

A miss for me.

Loved the premise of this book: a set of histories told by a dying mountain whisper, paired with the descriptions of the land. The author writes in the afterword that centuries ago these same mountains and rivers that exist in the present may have been occupied by fantastical creatures, animals, and humans--and he seeks to bring back some of that wonder and truth in mythology through writing about these histories. These histories felt particularly close to me because my roots are in Shaanxi Province, and I have been to its mountains, where my ancestors are buried.

However, I struggled with the storytelling. The plot in each individual storyline felt rushed, abrupt, and at times random--the characters hard to connect with. While I understand that this is how oral histories are typically told, as a reader of a physical book, it was hard to feel any of the magic these myths may have held.

Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the advance reading copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was, admittedly, a bit of a tough translation to read. The story was interesting and definitely helped understand the culture and history of China a bit better. I really enjoyed the concept and the way it was structured and formatted albeit the translation being a tad difficult. Definitely would recommend for those that like books written in a different style and of course, telling the history of a country.

thanks to netgalley and the publisher for providing me with the digital arc in exchange for an honest review.

this was such a good novel that explored culture and history and the both of them together. the style of storytelling wasn’t really my favorite but i still saw beyond that and loved where the author went with this book.

A dying funeral singer tells four different stories about the founding of the People's Republic. Each tale starts with a descriptive list of mountains in China and their flora and fauna.

I was hooked right from the start. I guess you would say First kindle page. It didn't just feel as words on a page but as if you are seeing these villages, theses places, these creatures. I felt contemplative in the go overs per section by section. These morals these tales especially about family, culture, duty ,cherishing I have been thinking a lot before this book.

This brings out so many emotions, happy, sad, nervous, peacefulness, contemplative, and much more. The writing is so beautiful visual, there are words I can't even begin to describe. It is something truly special.

The Mountain Whisperer Sang at Funerals and told tales of the past to far future and didn't want for much. He did it out of honor and was invited to sing at funerals to keep souls at peace. About him no-one knew how old he was, just that he goes generations back. He believed in respecting people who also may have been forgotten in his songs.

This Arc was given to me by Netgalley in exchange for an honest Review. This book is Amazing.

This is a story about the mysterious, elusive mountain whisperer whose tall tales were enjoyed by those who listened but believed by few. It is also a story about the land and its people. To quote the author: “I strained and tortured myself trying to find a means by which local history could return to literature, how narrative could grow in the spaces between words.”

Jia Pingwa’s unique writing style transports you right to the scene. This book is pure and warm, cruel and mean, and above all, absurd and compelling.

Mythical and elusive
The mountain whisperer saw it all happen: the revolution, the land reform and re-education. Each tale focuses on a different part of the past. The impact of China’s fight against capitalism on life in the provinces is immense. The common people have no clue about what is going on. And among them walks the mountain whisperer, a good-humored fellow with a pleasant demeanor. He goes about his daily business as he always has, pretty much unfazed by it all. He is the constant factor, the anchor amidst change, at least for the duration of this book. Yet time changes for him as well.

As the mountain whisperer nears the end of his life, a shepherd sends his grandson to keep him company. With a teacher, the boy studies the Pathways Through the Mountains and Seas; a compendium of the strange and fantastic. Just like Pathways is about the entirety of China, so is Jia Pingwa’s book, except that Pathways focuses on geography and The Mountain Whisperer focuses on people. The mythical beasts in Pathways resemble people and the people in The Mountain Whisperer often exhibit animal characteristics. Strange things happen in ordinary situations and life doesn’t quite play out as you would expect.

Walking among them
This book is not about people’s emotions, but rather about how people relate to other people. You feel like you are walking among them, watching them go about their daily business and observing them in the same way that the mountain whisperer does. It is easy to visualize your surroundings, but you have to be in the right mood for this kind of immersion. The pace of the story could be described as slow if not for the fact that events are often sudden and absurd.

The writing style is episodic and events are chronologically told. During the first tale, I was still getting used to the writing style, but I liked the second and fourth tales. The third tale was my least favorite because there were too many characters with minor roles and the story did not seem focused.

Funny and gruesome
Most characters don’t seem to have a deep motivation for their actions; they’re pushed in a certain direction by situations they find themselves in. Some characters see the fun of it when things don’t go as planned. I often find myself grinning, wondering if I am even allowed to grin at some of the more gruesome but funny situations. I like the tone of the story, especially how some weird and gory facts are stated matter-of-factly as if the narrator were recounting ordinary events.

There are plenty of trigger-happy people calling for the deaths of others, desecrating bodies and graves to give offense. People die left and right and you don’t get a chance to get close to the characters. “Wang tried to get down from his bed, but his legs betrayed him and he fell face first into the chamber pot. It’d not been emptied and Wang Caidong drowned in his own piss.” People’s deaths are often like that: in one sentence you learn about their intended or accidental death. It’s a kind of dry humor that works well for me. At times I felt like I was reading a book on ways to die.

Conclusion
The writing style in The Mountain Whisperer reminds me of other books from Chinese authors, but even among them, Jia Pingwa has a unique style that is not for everyone because of its episodic nature, number of names and dry humor. With his descriptions and detail, he tells about life in rural China and manages to transport you to the scene. I felt like I spent some days living in the countryside.

This book is a mix of historical and mythological knowledge, including some insights into Chinese culture and some musings by the author in the Afterword of which I am jealous. Don’t read this book if you are looking for an exciting plot; read it for the immersion, the meaning and implications of events, and the dry observations (and a hundred different ways to die a horrible death in one sentence). This book intrigued me. I found it hard to remember who was who while reading, but now that I’ve finished reading I keep thinking about some of the characters and the lives they lived.

In this book we listen to the tales of the mountain whisperer, an ancient funeral singer, in a cave awaiting his own death. He tells stories of the villagers whose lives and deaths made up his work and we follow 4 main stories from different periods during the Chinese communist revolution whose struggles defined an era.
A soldier, a peasant, a revolutionary and a politician. Their stories are linked together to conjure a remarkable exploration of the forging of the People's republic from birth to reversal. Revolt, reform and war accompanied
by stories of mythical beasts amongst China's mountains and rivers.

This was an incredible story. It weaves a fantastic terrible story of 100 years of Chinese history in such a fascinating way blending myth and the stories of people into a seamless tale of the struggles that people went through during that time. Jia Pingwa's writing and Christopher Payne's translation make the book a pleasure to read and although the subject matter was always dark I found myself completely captivated

https://livingliteratures.wordpress.com/2021/04/23/the-mountain-whisperer-by-jia-pingwa-translated-by-christopher-payne-4-5-stars/