The Story of the Stone, or The Dream of the Red Chamber, Vol. 1

Been on a quest to read the Four Great Classics of Chinese literature and this is one of them. This was unexpectedly more engaging than I thought it would be, but in a very gossipy sort of way. I'm always struggling to figure out how old these characters are because they seem plenty young to be having so much ummm... activity.

Some parts of these were really engrossing, but some parts seemed really long and irrelevant. I was a little surprised at how much homoeroticism there was in this book. One would associate 1700s China with homophobia but apparently that was not the case. At least the men in this book seemed to have no qualms about having sex with male or female partners, and it wasn't remarked as unusual at all for boys and men to form close bonds with other males, whether it's based on physical attraction or an emotional affinity.

There're a whole ton of female characters in this book and while it's far from being feminist, the girls and women in this book are also not entirely passive. They have desires, they have agency, and they aren't afraid to use whatever position and power they may have in this patriarchal society. Dai-yu remains my favourite character so far, although it's not saying much since all the characters are not as fully fleshed out as I am used to.

This is only just Volume 1 out of 5 so it all feels like a lot of set-up for other things to happen. A longer and fuller review will follow when I'm done with the entire series.