Yet, even having forgotten most of it, it remained one of the few books that I would recommend to anyone without reservation, confident that its charm is universal.Īnyway, I re-read Bridge of Birds because I have recently came into the possession of a rare signed and illustrated copy of The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox omnibus, which contains not only Bridge of Birds but also its two sequels: The Story of the Stone and Eight Skilled Gentlemen. I first read Barry Hughart’s Bridge of Birds when I was still in university, and I remember loving it-though I seemed to have completely forgotten its plot almost entirely beyond the two main characters, the mysterious plague that only struck children between the ages of 8 and 13, and that the title which references the Chinese folktale of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl (牛郎織女). Darken the mixture with bitter tears, brighten it with howls of laughter, toss in three thousand years of civilization, bellow kan pei - which means ‘dry cup’- and drink to the dregs.” “Fill it with equal measures of fact, fantasy, history, mythology, science, superstition, logic, and lunacy. “O great and mighty Master Li, pray impart to me the Secret of Wisdom!” he bawled.
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