gardens empty and silent
I only have one disk left (out of seven) of the 1987 drama. This part of the story has been stunning, devastating. In episode 24, a lot of the young women are joined by Baoyu for a nighttime party. This is the last time you see all of these people happy and enjoying each others' company. From this point on, there is so much petty cruelty and malice that the nicer characters are devoured by it. Women are sent away into marriage, are dismissed from the estate in disgrace, or die of sickness and suicide. Qingwen, Xiangling, Siqi, Erjie, Sanjie, all dead. The first two affected me the most. Especially Xiangling, whose life since the first episode has been a disaster flecked with happy moments.
Six episodes left.
As for the book, I'd read a few chapters of a borrowed copy (Yang Hsien-yi and Gladys Yang), then decided I'd like a copy of my own. So I ordered the first couple of volumes of the David Hawkes translation (called The Story of the Stone), which I've heard good things about.
The one I've been reading has the Chinese text along every left page, but I'm just not ready for that. I might not ever be, since my focus is on trying to get better at listening and speaking. I have a tendency to "forget" to practice hanzi.
Lately I find the music for this show playing in my head a lot, especially the opening music.
Six episodes left.
As for the book, I'd read a few chapters of a borrowed copy (Yang Hsien-yi and Gladys Yang), then decided I'd like a copy of my own. So I ordered the first couple of volumes of the David Hawkes translation (called The Story of the Stone), which I've heard good things about.
The one I've been reading has the Chinese text along every left page, but I'm just not ready for that. I might not ever be, since my focus is on trying to get better at listening and speaking. I have a tendency to "forget" to practice hanzi.
Lately I find the music for this show playing in my head a lot, especially the opening music.