I have read novels from Jin Jong since young. His great work has helped to shape my character and every time when I reread his works in various time of my life, different emotions resonance from within me. His work is complex and I have yet to find any novel in any language that can be as engaging as his work. Sad to say, he has only written 12 stories (36 books in total) and has decided to retire from writing Wuxia (translate: martial arts heroes) novels on the year when I was born (1972). Click here for Yin Yong’s fan site.
I don’t recall I have read this particular story by Jin Jong. I must have given it a pass because it is just a story with one book (usually each story comes with four volumes). Today is Good Friday and I have finished the book in one day. Throughout my reading, I was trying to pinpoint the success ingredients of Jin Jong’s work. Perhaps it is due to the fact that his work was used to be published in the newspaper daily and with limited space, you really have to make each daily dosage as engaging as possible by delivering one small plot as well as enticing the readers with another.
As I reached the end of the book, I realized that the success ingredients are more than that. The highest level of art form is when the characters inside the book have come alive. Be it as you love them to death or hate them to death, you laugh and wipe with them.