The Story of the Stone Volume I by Cao Xueqin (4/5)

The Story of the Stone is a classical Chinese novel that follows the decline of a wealthy family as its innocent children grow up and mess around with each other inside the family garden. The book is famous within China for its accuracy and origin story. The story follows that the author, Cao Xueqin, wrote this book with help from some family members as a memorial of his life and the girls he knew before his family fell into disarray. This is where the details get fuzzy since it is unknown if Xueqin finished the book before he died or if it was finished by a family member who edited leftover manuscripts. Either way, this book is a marvel of writing that is unfortunately not well known enough over here in the West, which has influenced the creation of modern vernacular Chinese. Important characters in Volume I are Bao-Yu, the spoiled kid who was born with Jade in his mouth and also is the titular character, Dai-Yu, his love interest and… cousin, Grandma Jia, Bao-Yu’s grandmother, who holds the most respect in the house, Wang Xi-Feng, a mischievous woman with little morals who commands the respect of others, and Bao-Chai, Bao-Yu’s cousin who moves in with her mother and bother. Many other characters show up in the book, but they are so numerous that I will not name them. This is my second time reading the book yet this book holds so many details that I have forgotten that it still feels fresh and oddly relaxing to go through day by day. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in ancient Chinese culture, the good and bad parts since this book covers it all. The translation quality is solid, leaving only minor things to be desired such as increased length, and loss of depth with the poems and names. If you are planning to read this book, I suggest discretion since this book touches on heavy topics as the main characters’ household is full of corruption and less than stellar people. Other than that the book is an enjoyable escape into a dreamy world full of love and memorizing details that help anchor the world into reality.