by Barry Hughart
This book was awesome. It was a birthday gift from a friend last year and I had never heard of it, so I had absolutely no idea what I was in for. I was expecting something full of profound Eastern wisdom, like Amy Tan, maybe even Salman Rushdie, or something in the middle. Instead I got something much more light-hearted with an author that did not take himself nearly so seriously.
The first several chapters are devoted to the description of a town in China and how all the children between eight and thirteen fell ill. The narrator, who goes by the name Number Ten Ox, is sent to find a wise man who can help cure the children. That's when Li Kao enters the scene and everything gets better. If you pick up this book and get frustrated with the beginning, I highly encourage you to keep reading. It's totally worth it.
So Li Kao and Number Ten Ox set out on a series of adventures which involve gold and mystery and treasure and long-forgotten deities and more treasure. They end up far from their original destination, but of course everything turns out to be connected so they get to help out a poor peasant girl at the same time that they acquire the cure for the children of the town.
Master Li is my favorite forever, but despite the fact that he was narrating the whole story, I had a much more difficult time getting a feel for Ox. Numerous times their adventures involve deception and Ox, despite seeming like such an honest, small-town boy, doesn't appear to have any trouble pulling his weight in their cons. I thought it clashed rather starkly with the character I was introduced to at the very beginning.
I suppose a naive character combined with the devious Master Li could be sufficient to explain the anomaly. Although definitely a good guy, Master Li is clearly no stranger to deception. I suppose it's believable that merely his influence imposed on the impressionable young Ox is enough to turn the latter into an effective con man.
That being said, I want to be Master Li. I might have to start going around telling everything that "there is a slight flaw in my character."
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