Review of Balzac and the Little Chinese seamstress by Dai Sijie

Review written by: Theresa Bradburn
Age Level: for high school
This book was a very quick read. You are immediately taken into the world of the two main characters, who are living in the country being “reeducated” during the time of the Cultural Revolution. They stumble upon knowledge that one of their fellow exiles has a trunk full of banned Western books- many of their favorites. They work hard to obtain these books and when they have them, they read them constantly to escape their harsh reality.
Both of them become obsessed with the local tailor’s daughter, who is a seamstress. She has a romantic relationship with one of them. The seamstress loves their stories and their books, having not been formally educated past the basics. They take it upon themselves to educate her in the ways of the characters in these books. This reeducation of the seamstress works, because at the end of the book she is completely a different person and that astonishes both main characters by her final actions. I won’t say what she does as not to spoil it for others. I was disappointed and confused about the ending. I feel as if the two main characters created a tragedy by feeding the seamstress all of the ideas during that time period, which was so dangerous for thinkers. She can now only get herself into trouble.