UEL English PEN Society Book Reviews

This inspirational, easy-to-read masterpiece is a collection of traditional Chinese sayings, lessons and stories, all with a moral meaning and all from the rich cultural history of Chinese existence.

It explores such subjects as kindness, wisdom, logic, intelligence, humility, principles and growth – and due to its immersive graphic style, which throughout the text is all at once simple but hilariously funny, it shows us how the most important lessons in life are the simplest using metaphors and employing the use of a wise-man narrator at the end of each panel to summarise the moral of the story.

Each story – all one to two pages long only – has a title; more often than not an amusing one such as; ‘Selling One’s Mother Humanely,’ ‘Blind Men Trying to Size Up an Elephant,’ ‘The Proverbial Donkey,’ or ‘’Plug Ones Ears while Stealing a Bell.’ All at once they manage to teach the reader important values whilst simultaneously exposing the idiocy of the world around us, encouraging us by default to change what is within, in order to change what is without. It achieves this by careful selection of the most historically impactive and meaningful tales, coupled with Hengyu’s hilariously and vibrantly detailed illustrations.

It is split up into nine main chapters, with a part for reflection and exercises at the end of each one. These encourage the reader to fill out lists of aims, objectives, and beliefs about the self – based on the section they’ve just read – and then pursue these things.

“Look at yourself before attempting to emulate others.”
“Those who learn from mistakes can be trusted.”
“Greed blinds logic.”
“When misunderstood by others, be aware that you could be the reason.”

A must-read for anyone seeking a refreshing and inspiring change from the standard novel, and a clarity on life that is at once informative and humorous.

Peace and love (and keep those pledges coming in – only six more days left on our Crowdfunder page!)

Sam