The Quick Cut: An English translation of the classic Chinese novel, a man returns to China after previously fleeing to fulfill his destiny.
A Real Review:
Thank you to St. Martin's Press for providing the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
There is so much classical literature out there, but we rarely remember the most important aspect to bring able to actually read it: the translators. Without these tireless individuals who expertly take the original material and find a way to preserve that original nuance. A great translation is needed to keep that same descriptive detail, beautiful lyrical phrasing, and rapturing environment. It's a careful delicacy that was missed in the translation of this Chinese literature by Jin Jong.
Guo Jing fled home with his mother after his father was murdered and joined Genghis Khan's nation. After learning all he could from him, Guo ends up instead returning to China and facing what would be his biggest challenge.
The problem with this book isn't the story, but the translation. Due to the indelicate work done with the translation, the beauty of the original story is missed. I found myself constantly putting this one down because the phrasing used in English made it sound like a bad Kung Fu movie.
Chinese is a beautiful language with characters that have such strong depth. That beauty never makes it from it's original language into the English and that's why this book is left practically unreadable. The true meaning and beauty was left behind.
My rating: 1 out of 5
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