≡ [PDF] The Deer and The Cauldron The First Book Bk 1 Louis Cha John Minford Books

The Deer and The Cauldron The First Book Bk 1 Louis Cha John Minford Books

Download As PDF : The Deer and The Cauldron The First Book Bk 1 Louis Cha John Minford Books

The Deer and The Cauldron The First Book Bk 1 Louis Cha John Minford Books

This is a good book.

The one and only con I had about this book was the use of English (as in from England) style slang. Such as "Sod you!" "Mum" and just a few others I cant remember. Granted this isnt very often, its mostly near the beginning of the book. But sometimes in the beginning I found myself imagining the setting as Medieval England not China.

The real reason I bought this book is because I had read John Minford's translation of Pu Songling (Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio (Penguin Classics) and enjoyed it immensely, so when I looked up Wuxia novels and found that this one was translated by him I had to buy it. It is very well translated other than what I mentioned before.

The book itself is good quality and has a real sewn binding, not glued.

The story itself is very good. It is fun, exciting and well paced. Dont let the multiple uses of the "Turtle!" insult put you off.


Tags : Amazon.com: The Deer and The Cauldron: The First Book (Bk. 1) (9780195903232): Louis Cha, John Minford: Books,Louis Cha, John Minford,The Deer and The Cauldron: The First Book (Bk. 1),Oxford University Press,0195903234,1924-,Asian - General,Chin, Yung,Chin, Yung,,Chinese,Chinese (Language) Contemporary Fiction,Fiction - Historical,General & Literary Fiction,Historical - General,LITERARY CRITICISM Asian General,Literary Criticism,Novels, other prose & writers: from c 1900 -,Translations into English

The Deer and The Cauldron The First Book Bk 1 Louis Cha John Minford Books Reviews

I bought this (and the other two volumes) off of a long time ago and it sat on my shelf for a long time based on my own silly preconceived prejudice against Trinket (I don't like the actor that plays him in the television drama). I finally managed to get to reading all three volumes last year and I can't believe I let this story sit around for so long without reading it.

It's a work of fun, historical fiction with the main character, Trinket, playing a major role in various historic events in the Qing Dynasty. It starts off with mistaken identity - something I also greatly enjoy - leading to friendship between Trinket and emperor and then Trinket doing all sorts of errands on the emperor's behalf.

Only two points keep me from giving these books five stars

One, the translator prefaced volume two or three saying that several plot points were left out as he felt it wasn't important to the story. While the coherency of the story didn't suffer for it, I do wish the completed work could have been translated in full. In fact, I'm surprised by the lack of translations of Louis Cha's books in general considering how famous he is in Asia.

Two, Trinket (as was somewhat common during that historical time period) had more than one wife. It was kind of cute at the beginning of the story where he flirted with and teased the girls around him. But then somewhere in book two and/or three, it took on a creepy vibe. In one instance, he got all of them in bed with him (some unwillingly and some drugged) and proceeded to "touch" them. The book didn't go into detail on what was done, but it made clear that by the end of that incident, all the girls were "married" to him. Maybe that was what was done back in the days, but as a reader in the 21st century, I thought that was a bit uncomfortable and gave the supposedly loveable Trinket a sinister feel.

Despite those two points, I enjoyed the books overall and might actually give the drama version of the story a try.
This is the last of Cha's masterful storytelling efforts and it is by far his most original. The siver-tongued and foulmouthed anti-hero (Trinket Wei) will definitely fill your hours with amazement, laughter, gasps of "WHAT!" and "HOW'D HE DO THAT!?!". For me these comments and expressions were spoken out loud (and very loud somthings), which is something I almost never do. The other characters in this book are very loveable, mostly heroic, and uncommonly very vulnerable. At first glance, the men and women of River and Lake seem to exude the aura of stereotypical "heroes" (and villains) that as children listening to storytellers we have come to believe to have lived in that era. But their personalities and character faults envelope them with a third dimensional layer that definitely makes them leap of the page. Only the first two (of three) books are currently available and you'll definitely want to pickup the second before finishing the first. I think I read about 600 pages the first night.
So... Tired of the "poo" that's been floating around in you're Fantasy or Adventure sections of the bookstore? This is one of the books that you'll want to snatch up! Now! Currently, I'm pulling my fingernails out with my teeth waiting for Oxford to put out the THIRD part of this book. I'm also anxiously awaiting Cha's "The Book and The Sword" which was translated by Graham Ernshaw (GREAT translation BTW). This one is mentioned in the intro of TD&TC, so I'm hoping that it comes out soon!
The film adaptation of "The Deer and the Cauldron" is called "Royal Tramp" 1 & 2 (part 1 is ASIN 6305052212, part 2 says it's ASIN B00000INCR, but I'm not sure that's it). The film is perhaps the best of many excellent adaptations of Louis Cha's work, and while the adaptation is not completely faithful to the book, it does an excellent job of preserving the humor and the spirit of the original.
Like the film, the book is divided into relatively arbitrary sections. The end of volume 1 of "The Deer and the Cauldron" is pretty clearly just the end of a chapter chosen as an arbitrary breaking point. Plan on buying all three volumes.
Despite the fact that he hasn't written any martial arts fiction in almost half a century, Louis Cha is the author behind many of the best films made in Hong Kong in the last fifteen years. Ever since I first heard of Louis Cha, I've been hoping someone would translate his works (a year of Mandarin in college just won't cut it for reading the original). The only other translation of his work I've found is "Fox Volant of Snowy Mountain" (ISBN 9622017339), which was a mediocre translation of one of Cha's weakest works.
I was, therefore, happy to discover that "The Deer and the Cauldron" (at least the part I've read so far) lives up to all my hopes and expectations, and look forward to reading the third volume of the translation, and also any other translations Mr. Minford may make of Louis Cha's work in the future.
This is a good book.

The one and only con I had about this book was the use of English (as in from England) style slang. Such as "Sod you!" "Mum" and just a few others I cant remember. Granted this isnt very often, its mostly near the beginning of the book. But sometimes in the beginning I found myself imagining the setting as Medieval England not China.

The real reason I bought this book is because I had read John Minford's translation of Pu Songling (Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio (Penguin Classics) and enjoyed it immensely, so when I looked up Wuxia novels and found that this one was translated by him I had to buy it. It is very well translated other than what I mentioned before.

The book itself is good quality and has a real sewn binding, not glued.

The story itself is very good. It is fun, exciting and well paced. Dont let the multiple uses of the "Turtle!" insult put you off.