Farewell My Concubine by Lilian Lee ***

Set in China in the first half of the last century, Farewell My Concubine follows the lives and careers of two Peking Opera stars. Moving from their childhood together under the skillful but brutal tutalage of their opera teacher, to national stardom, vilification under the Cultural Revolution, and finally to their reconciliation at old age, this novel travels through an incredible path of cultural change in China's history. The story acts as an exploration of the changing and often contradictory cultural response to the arts in China.

The novel is written in the trademark simplicity and beauty of Chinese literature, but it seems to fall short in some ways. The characters are often quite unlikable, which undermines the effectiveness of the drama. The simplicity of the narrative style works well to highlight the sometimes complex changes that happen to the characters and the country as a whole, but I found I would have been interested in reading more detail about the cultural changes that took place in that period of China (the rise of communism and China's Cultural Revolution has always been an interest of mine).

Farewell My Concubine was made into a film staring the lovely Gong Li (Raise the Red Lantern).