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Title: Bronze and Sunflower
Author: Cao Wenxuan
Narrator: Ming-Zhu Hii
Format: Unabridged
Length: 8 hrs and 22 mins
Language: English
Release date: 04-02-15
Publisher: Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd
Genres: Teens, Fiction & Literature
Publisher's Summary:
When Sunflower, a young city girl, moves to the countryside, she grows to love the reed marsh lands - the endlessly flowing river, the friendly buffalo with their strong backs and shiny round heads, the sky that stretches on and on in its vastness. However, the days are long, and the little girl is lonely.
Then she meets Bronze, who, unable to speak, is ostracised by the other village boys. Soon the pair are inseparable, and when Bronze's family agree to take Sunflower in, it seems that fate has brought him the sister for whom he has always longed.
But life in Damaidi is hard, and Bronze's family can barely afford to feed themselves. Will the city girl be able to stay in this place where she has finally found happiness?
Members Reviews:
Five Stars
Book was in perfect condition.
Five Stars
I like it
I thoroughly enjoyed this story of how a strong familial love turns ...
Well-told tales, such as this, of strong friendship and people struggling to meet Life's twists and turns with grace are timeless, borderless, and ageless. It is clear why Wenxuan was given the Hans Christian Anderson Award. This is a classic for all people, not just Chinese. I thoroughly enjoyed this story of how a strong familial love turns poverty in a remote village into a truly pastoral life, despite many challenges and tragedies. Wenxuan writes for children, but this story makes a very nice easy read for an adult without feeling juvenile. (The print is large, so compare this one's length to books with half as many pages.)
This book introduced me to some Chinese history that I was not aware of, namely the Cadre School movement of the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s-1970s. But that is only a small part of the backdrop, and everything else about this book is completely relatable to every person on this planet. [Also, did you know about the ancient carvings at the real-life Damaidi area in China? I had never heard of this set, which is apparently very large and possibly contains the oldest on the planet. However, this is clearly not the Damaidi of Bronze and Sunflower's life, because it's at least a thousand miles away from the region of our tale. The children's village is an almost-coastal locale and must be in the rural region somewhere near Shanghai's northern outreaches.]
The translation is expertly handled, allowing English readers to be pulled into the life of Damaidi and the characters to be burrowed into your heart. I will comment that there was one incomplete sentence on the second page that made me wonder if my reading would keep being interrupted by irritating grammatical problems, but this was the sole appearance. Definitely do not let that deter you from reading this book if you pick it up and start skimming to see if you'd like to take it home.
The ending may be different from what some people might want, but I see it as one that provides several different outcomes that otherwise would not be possible, including further blossoming of a very special, soulful relationship. I hope there are sequels to this book, and I wish that more of Wenxuan's works were translated for us to enjoy
Fresh Look at China
"Bronze and Sunflower" by Cao Wenxuan presents an image of China that is rarely seen in literature, whether fiction or nonfiction.