Moon Opera by Bi Feiyu

Ouch! This is the first Chinese novel that I couldn't finish (even if it is barely a hundred pages)

Chinese novels are often about miserable characters in bad situations -- but, until I read this one, they've always been redeemed by the sensitivity of that most important character of all, the person who tells the story.

But this author is just so heavy handed.

I feel like I've been taken to a carnival side show (instead of a Chinese opera), where the viewer is expected to gawk, rather than be introduced to the inner dynamics of a person or social setting.

Even Mian Mian's miserable autobiographic story was better - because at least it felt real.

This one felt like a cardboard puppet show.