I didn’t even make it through the first few chapters, Chinese writing style is just terribly convoluted and full of unnecessary pathos. Reminded me of some early 1700s literature from Britain, like Robinson Crusoe.
The netflix series was one of the best science fiction shows I’ve seen, it was very intelligent. I’m sad so many people thought it was slow and boring, it had real moments of humanity and awe and horror. I guess if you don’t understand a lot of the concepts and scope and scale of the ideas being portrayed it may seem as convoluted and hand-wavy as any other science fiction that doesn’t make an effort.
But ‘Robinson Crusoe’ is good. For a solid couple months after finishing it, I was still daydreaming about some kinda survival shelter-building game set on a tropical island — only a mobile one, because I didn’t want to be perched at the desktop more than necessary.
Have you read the original? It’s half book, half bible study. There are modern copies with most of the religious context removed or shortened which are great.
I need to recheck exactly how ‘unabridged’ my audiobook was (I typically search for a while to make sure I’m getting the whole package). At least, I’m vaguely certain it wasn’t modernized regarding the language, since I would hope English from 1719 is fairly understandable — but yeah, it’s quite ornate. I might’ve blacked out the religious parts for their small relevance to the adventure part.
I can see that. I definitely gave it a huge benefit of the doubt, as it was the first post-revolution Chinese fiction-cum-political commentary I ever read. In retrospect I feel like the point of the book was the commentary and the story was just some kind of allegory that didn’t resonate as an American.
Yeah agree. I was living in China when it was recommended to me since it was super popular with the locals, but really couldn’t get through.
I did enjoy the Western series though despite the mixed reviews, they reduced all the political clutter to the bare minimum to provide historical context, so maybe that’s something to check out instead.
I didn’t even make it through the first few chapters, Chinese writing style is just terribly convoluted and full of unnecessary pathos. Reminded me of some early 1700s literature from Britain, like Robinson Crusoe.
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The tencent tv adaptation was boring as hell lol, couldn’t get past like episode 8/30 as a native Mandarin speaker.
The netflix adaptation was far more enjoyable.
Also tencent cut out the cultural revolution scene from the book… boo… governments really stifles creativity.
The netflix series was one of the best science fiction shows I’ve seen, it was very intelligent. I’m sad so many people thought it was slow and boring, it had real moments of humanity and awe and horror. I guess if you don’t understand a lot of the concepts and scope and scale of the ideas being portrayed it may seem as convoluted and hand-wavy as any other science fiction that doesn’t make an effort.
Yeah the Netflix show was a good watch, agree. Didn’t even try the tencent one, I saw it coming…
But ‘Robinson Crusoe’ is good. For a solid couple months after finishing it, I was still daydreaming about some kinda survival shelter-building game set on a tropical island — only a mobile one, because I didn’t want to be perched at the desktop more than necessary.
Have you read the original? It’s half book, half bible study. There are modern copies with most of the religious context removed or shortened which are great.
I need to recheck exactly how ‘unabridged’ my audiobook was (I typically search for a while to make sure I’m getting the whole package). At least, I’m vaguely certain it wasn’t modernized regarding the language, since I would hope English from 1719 is fairly understandable — but yeah, it’s quite ornate. I might’ve blacked out the religious parts for their small relevance to the adventure part.
I can see that. I definitely gave it a huge benefit of the doubt, as it was the first post-revolution Chinese fiction-cum-political commentary I ever read. In retrospect I feel like the point of the book was the commentary and the story was just some kind of allegory that didn’t resonate as an American.
Yeah agree. I was living in China when it was recommended to me since it was super popular with the locals, but really couldn’t get through.
I did enjoy the Western series though despite the mixed reviews, they reduced all the political clutter to the bare minimum to provide historical context, so maybe that’s something to check out instead.