Started: October 27, 2023
--Finished Volume 1: December 13, 2023
--Finished Volume 2: January 26, 2024
--Finished Volume 3: February 11, 2024
--Finished Volume 4: February 17, 2024
(This is my first time reading this book, so according to my new rules, I'm doing this as a video only review.)
See also my reviews of the individual volumes:
(I finished volumes 3 and 4 while away on Tet holiday, so I decided not to film individual reviews for those volumes.)
The summary of the Three Kingdoms video that I mentioned: https://youtu.be/SFKMJmnYUTc?si=KWVfkEIxq9Col6OO
October 29, 2023 Three Kingdoms Introduction p.1-20, p.1-35
November 5, 2023 Three Kingdoms p.35-108
November 12, 2023 Three Kingdoms p.108-224
November 19, 2023 Three Kingdoms p.224-302
November 26, 2023 Three Kingdoms p.302-386
December 3, 2023 Three Kingdoms p.386-456
December 10, 2023 Three Kingdoms p.456-502
December 17, 2023 Three Kingdoms p.502-542,597-612
December 24, 2023 Three Kingdoms p.612-678
December 31, 2023 Three Kingdoms p.678-780
January 07, 2024 Three Kingdoms p.780-820
January 14, 2024 Three Kingdoms p.820-910
January 21, 2024 Three Kingdoms p.910-1002
January 28, 2024 Three Kingdoms p.1002-1104, 1153-1158
February 04, 2024 Three Kingdoms p.1158-1238
February 10, 2024 Three Kingdoms p.1238-1646
February 18, 2024 Three Kingdoms p.1646-1684, p.1723-2340
Playlist HERE:
9 comments:
6:30
Three Kingdoms has one excerpt being taught in high school Literature textbook. That being the segment in which Liu Bei feigned astraphobia after dropping the spoon at the table with Cao Cao.
Ah, interesting. Thanks for that. I've been asking a lot of Vietnamese people about this book recently, and you're the first person to mention that it's been taught in high school literature. I wonder why no one else seems to remember that.
I was having a conversation with my sister-in-law yesterday about something related (Vietnamese knowledge of history), and she said that studying 13 subjects at once, and the stress of high school examinations cause most Vietnamese students to forget most of what they learned in high school. I wonder if that's also why no one I've talked to has mentioned that excerpt?
That's the natural result stemming from the education system and culture that values metrical grades as the sole important thing to concern with. Or so one of what I believe.
The standard way most Vietnamese high school students deal with their Literature class is to spend about 30 minutes copying texts from somewhere else onto their notebook at home [1], coming to the Literature class straining their eyes for 45 minutes, bluffing their answers when being asked questions by the teacher, and only read the works themselves whenever there's an exam. Foreign literature of course is never on the exams (or at least the important ones, my memory is quite fuzzy).
But actually I don't know. I think maybe people just find it hard to convey in English (I assume) and maybe they deemed that to be too trivial to try hard to say. Or maybe those you asked are young students who learned from the reformed textbook which might have omitted (just a guess as I'm totally clueless about what happened to the generations coming after me).
[1] It's called "prepare-the-lesson-at-home-before-coming-to-class" or "soạn bài" or whatever it is. No, it doesn't work, whatever the intended purpose, obviously.
While I'm on a quest of leaving crappy takes on your blog, I guess I should write some on Three Kingdoms as well.
Advice for any non-Asian[1] reader: You may only need to focus your attention on the trio of Liu Bei, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, and Cao Cao [2], and Zhuge Liang. They are the most important characters, no other character has the sheer number of references to them in popular Asian culture. (Although actually some characters like Diaochan and Zhao Yun sometimes get brought up somewhere else as well, but well...). There's nothing wrong about using the Wikipedia to look up stuff, reading this novel alone I wouldn't have known the battle of Red Cliff was a huge symbolic deal. (And to be frank, every single battle in this book reads all the same to me, the outcomes are pretty much what matter.)
[1] When I say Asian, I mean Sinosphere. Of course a Russian or Indian may not find these stuff familiar.
[2] Pronounced "tsao tsao".
What do I have to think about Three Kingdoms? I have written about this novel on two different places, and it's been a while since I finished the novel. I think non-Asian people would think I am exaggerating if I say this novel says a lot about the culture (not just Chinese but perhaps every single country that is significantly influenced by them) - but it does. Although I sure hope the story, of how some guy literally killed some dudes for disrespecting their teachers, just happens to be a huge exaggeration - if the current culture already feels suffocating, I don't know if I can handle it back then with more extremity.
Notwithstanding the repetition, what pretty irked me is how cheap the characters' talents happen to be. Cao Cao turned out just happen to be a more efficient ruler than most, he's not particularly more ruthless or sly than any other violent character - and yet the popular culture makes it sound like he's at the top of those traits. Zhuge Liang and Pang Tong's talent seems to amount to the ability of predicting the future, if they already had some working ploys then they already had some working ploys, if the universe told them to die then they sure are gonna die - who need geniuses when the determinism already dictates? Liu Bei fits right to the mold of being sentimental, not moral - although I find this to be very fascinating since it seems to show how in reality nobody is truly that saintly, the mismatch between perception of virtues and actual conducts, and all that stuff you can think of.
Even though I have a lot to complain about the novel, I still enjoyed it a lot - it's both a slog and a fascination. The author has done an extremely excellent job with all the limits of the language and writing tools themselves. The dialogues are really excellent plenty of modern novels may not even be able to vie against. The novel does touch a lot on the importance of talented people and usage of them.
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And by the way, I did check the Vietnamese reformed textbook which does feature another excerpt involving Guan Yu and his virtues. So 3 Kindoms isn't omitted as I thought.
Forgot to mention Zhang Fei comparatively isn't as hot-tempered as popular culture makes him out. Other than how protective he was for his "brother" Liu Bei I didn't see any peculiarity with his anger. Most of the characters in this novel are so intolerant and thinned-skin they would just be willing to kill another person out of an offensive remark. This sort of intolerant trait is also prevalent among (East) Asians until this very day.
A lot of interesting insights here. Thank you. It's interesting to hear what other readers think about the novel, as well as to get your Vietnamese perspective.
And I would agree with your assessment: It's both a slog and a fascination. A lot of material to get through, but so much fascinating stuff in this book.
[this comment only serves as an explanatory note for why 2 previous comments were deleted: I got fed up with mistypes distorting what I mean to say constantly, and besides they had no value other than lame jokes and ranting]
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