{"id":464,"date":"2007-10-15T11:05:42","date_gmt":"2007-10-15T18:05:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/464"},"modified":"2021-06-02T19:17:22","modified_gmt":"2021-06-02T23:17:22","slug":"bridge-of-birds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/464","title":{"rendered":"Bridge of Birds"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bridge of Birds: A Novel of an Ancient China That Never Was<\/a><\/em> (1984) Barry Hughart<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>I have a weakness for fantasy novels set in Asia–especially those set in ancient China. So when I saw Bridge of Birds<\/em> on the shelf I immediately snatched it up.<\/p>\n

A strange malady has struck the children of the village of Ku-fu. As the silkworms the village depends upon for survival are discovered dead, the children of the village fall into a strange coma and cannot be awakened. Number Ten Ox (Yu Lu), an orphan who lives with his Aunt and Uncle in relative happiness, sets out to find someone who can cure the children. This places him on the path of adventure where he meets (among others) master Li Kao, who is as much trickster was wise man.<\/p>\n

As one who loves folk tales, I found this story almost irresistible. It was filled with characters and scenarios that felt exactly like those found in folk tales and old stories. There is also humor ranging from the subtle to the outrageous (some of the subtle humor reminded me of parts of Steven Brust’s Phoenix Guards<\/em> while the outrageous humor was just… silly.)<\/p>\n

The story ranges all over the land, and Yu Lu and Li Kao meet many fantastic and amazing characters, including the miser, the scholar, and the beautiful woman.<\/p>\n

This book is written like a folk tale, and like many folk tales in their original form, are not necessarily suitable for young children. There is sex and death and trickery and heroism. It also wanders about the land, just like Yu Lu and Li Kao, sometimes stopping to take detours and point out strange landmarks and people.<\/p>\n

But mostly, the story is a fun romp in the style of a folk tale, that on many levels rings true to many different kinds of folktales.<\/p>\n

It looks as though this was originally a trilogy, and is now being re-released. I look forward to seeing the next two books in publication.
\nRating: 9\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bridge of Birds: A Novel of an Ancient China That Never Was (1984) Barry Hughart I have a weakness for fantasy novels set in Asia–especially those set in ancient China. So when I saw Bridge of Birds on the shelf I immediately snatched it up. A strange malady has struck the children of the village […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[13,27,31,2,33,291],"tags":[134],"class_list":["post-464","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-10","category-alternate-history","category-asian","category-fantasy","category-historical","category-paper","tag-barry-hughart"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-7u","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9668,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/9668","url_meta":{"origin":464,"position":0},"title":"Bridge of Birds: A Novel of an Ancient China That Never Was","author":"Michelle","date":"February 2, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Bridge of Birds: A Novel of an Ancient China That Never Was (1984) Barry Hughart Set in the Middle Kingdom of China, Year of the Tiger 3337 (AD 639) All the children in the village between the ages of eight and thirteen have fall victim to an unknown illness, and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/10\/Bridge-of-Birds.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2607,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/2607","url_meta":{"origin":464,"position":1},"title":"Bridge of Birds","author":"Michelle","date":"October 30, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Bridge of Birds (1984) Barry Hughart A year or so ago I ordered The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox, because I'd read Bridge of Birds, loved it, and wanted to read more. Unfortunately for me, The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox is a BIG\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "9\/10"","block_context":{"text":"9\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/9-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/Master-Li-Number-Ten-Ox.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2631,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/2631","url_meta":{"origin":464,"position":2},"title":"Eight Skilled Gentlemen","author":"Michelle","date":"November 14, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Eight Skilled Gentlemen (1991) Barry Hughart This is the third and final book in the Master Li and Number Ten Ox trilogy. I'm a little sad to see it end, but it was quite enjoyable. Oddly, the passages that caught my attention in this book weren't the funny ones, but\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/Master-Li-Number-Ten-Ox.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2611,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/2611","url_meta":{"origin":464,"position":3},"title":"The Story of the Stone","author":"Michelle","date":"November 8, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"The Story of the Stone (1988) Barry Hughart Master Li has taken Number Ten Ox on as his assistant. The Abbot of the monastery of the Valley of Sorrows comes to Master Li asking for help resolving the unexpected death of his librarian, and the strange dead spots in the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/Master-Li-Number-Ten-Ox.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13275,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/13275","url_meta":{"origin":464,"position":4},"title":"The Story of the Stone","author":"Michelle","date":"July 3, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"The Story of the Stone (1988) Barry Hughart (The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox) Year of the Serpent 3,339 (A.D. 650). I've been re-reading The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox before bed for a really long time now. I'd read a page or two,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/Master-Li-Number-Ten-Ox-e1510885499371.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13510,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/13510","url_meta":{"origin":464,"position":5},"title":"Eight Skilled Gentlemen","author":"Michelle","date":"October 19, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Eight Skilled Gentlemen (1990) Barry Hughart (The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox) Year of the Horse 3338 (a.d. 640) This is my least favorite of the three stories. That doesn't mean it's bad, just that I don't like it as much as the first story. A vampire\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "7\/10"","block_context":{"text":"7\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/7-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/Master-Li-Number-Ten-Ox-e1510885499371.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=464"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}