Soul Mountain

One of my tuition teachers emphasizes very much on our general knowledge. With tons of this knowledge, we'll be able to compose excellent factual essays with up-to-date information. So, one day during the lesson, he asks around in the class whether we know there's this Chinese writer who wins the Nobel Prize recently. After a brief tour around the class, he still hasn't obtained any answer from us. Most of the time, he picks the Chinese students since the author of the book is a Chinese. However, none of us know. He asks us to be ashamed of ourselves.
He writes the title 'Soul Mountain (pix)' and the author's name 'Gao Xingjian (pix)' on the blackboard after getting no response from us. It's only after three years later that I chance upon the book in MPH bookstore. And coincidentally MPH is celebrating its 100-year-old Birthday Bash and it's offering a 30% discount for 100 Must-Read titles. "Soul Mountain" is one of them. Unhesitant, I buy it along with four other books.
The first thing you do before starting on a book is to read the synopsis and praises written on the back. However, it offers no synopsis at all as there isn't any plot in this novel. The captions at the back note that it's a strange novel containing quite a number of philosophical thoughts, Chinese cultures and history.
Soul Mountain is the place the author is in search of from the beginning. It's said that the place will provide him with a sense of tranquility, which is absent from the hustle and bustle of the cities' life. The author notes down every interesting occurrence or thing he sees and observes on his journey. They include the advertisement at the bus-stop, words written on the pavilion, the panda they meet in the jungle and the people he comes across. Some of these people serve as his guides to his destination while some of them provide him with shelter and food. His journey is not always as smooth. For example, a lazy and irresponsible bus driver causes him not to be able to reach the place he's heading towards in time. Then, there's this lady who tries to seduce him into having sex with her so that she could tie him down and not able to continue on his journey.
The characters used in this novel are mainly 'I', 'You', 'He', and 'She'. These four characters are the author himself with 'You' the image of 'I' and 'He' the back of 'You'. 'She' is a character created by 'You' to overcome the loneliness in life. There are many dialogues between 'You' and 'She' during the journey. 'You' is said to have cheated her into following him to the Soul Mountain while 'You' reminds 'She' that it's her who's willing to come along. This no doubt pictures the crisis undergone by the author in his decision. 'I', meanwhile, is the solid self, the one who turns the discussions between 'I', 'You', 'He' and 'She' into actions.
The style of writing of this book is very unique and fresh. It's full of descriptions as well as dialogues. However, this style of writing portrays the writer as an extremely frustrated person. He's one who loathes the daily routine and craves for something new, something out of the box. With this thought in mind, he decides to travel and wander aimlessly, doing things that very few people would do. And he makes it a point to record things he observes (but few people would care for) in words. In short, the novel is compiled by a combination of many daily journals.
This novel is suitable for people who have a plenty of time to kill and also those who are quite familiar with Chinese culture. You'll not be able to come across the phrase 'seven times seven equal to forty nine days' relating to every day's life in any other culture. And you'll find people cursing 'Someone's mother's cunt' in dialogues instead of 'Fuck you'. This book is also highly recommended to those who enjoy descriptive piece of writing. Overall, this is a book that doesn't make literature a monotonous field.