Review : UFO in Her Eyes
UFO in Her Eyes by Xiaolu Guo
Pages : 200
Genre : Fiction
Stand Alone
My Rating : 
What it’s about :
The year is 2012, and in a small Chinese village, Kwok Yun witnesses the unthinkable : a flying object falling down the sky. When she rescues the man she finds on location, Kwok Yun has no idea the event will completely change her little village and make her a celebrity.
At the start of 2010, I read and enjoyed Twenty Fragments of a Ravenous Youth, another novel by Xiaolu Guo. I had been charmed by her prose and confronted with the fact that I don’t read enough Asian literature, and I immediately added her other books to my wish list. When I found UFO in Her Eyes in that fantastic library in Paris, Shakespeare & Co (more on that amazing place later!), I just had to bring it back home.
UFO is one of those books I really planned on liking, maybe love, since I had previously enjoyed the author’s work. Sadly, I was left feeling underwhelmed with the story. It’s more of an observation on how the government decided to exploit the event to change Silver Hill village into a tourist trap, all without the villagers’ opinion being taken into account, of course. In fact, it’s an interesting observation, satirical and a bit sad at times; I’m not sure, in this case, if my disappointment comes from the book itself, or by how different it was from my expectations?
Guo’s writing I still enjoyed, and I loved how the novel was told not in a standard narration, but through interviews, investigators’ reports, and such. However, I have to question the presentation : the book’s pages are “decorated” to make them look like actual reports, which took a bit of my attention away from the words. While it’s a nice touch, I didn’t feel it was necessary to the story.
I still want to read more of Guo’s words, but I preferred Twenty Fragments of a Ravenous Youth much more.
Sorry it didn’t work for you. The cover is just fabulous.
I’ve neve rheard of this author. Since this one is disappointing, which one would you suggest starting with?
I really enjoyed “Twenty Fragments of a Ravenous Youth”. I have “A concise Chinese-English dictionary for lovers” on my TBR pile, which seems to be a lot of people’s favorite, but haven’t read it yet. Well, a few pages and I liked them, but it’s not enough to judge the whole book!
Bummer. The premise and cover are lovely.
Btw, I dig your new layout 🙂
Thank you! I tweaked a few things here and there, and I’m not finished yet, but I’ve been working on making things a bit “lighter”, if that makes sense! 🙂
But buying a book at Shakespeare & Co. was worth it, no? 🙂
Ab-so-lu-te-ly! Oh my, I just can’t wait to go back to Paris and visit this amazing library again! I bought another book there, The Little Stranger, that I haven’t read yet.
Oh I have this book on my shelf. I read Xialu Guo’s book before titled A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers. Fabulous title, but didn’t love it (it was alright). I might try 20 Fragments as I’ve read some good reviews on it. Love your UFO cover. Mine is very different, it looks cute, but I like as well.
I have Dictionary on my TBR pile, and I’m really curious to read it, since it’s the one I heard the most positive reviews about! It’s interesting that you were a little “blah” about it. Now I wonder if you’ll enjoy UFO more or less!
Aw, it’s too bad that you didn’t enjoy this one, but thanks for the honest review. Isn’t it always awful when a book you’ve been looking forward to reading only underwhelms you in the end? Anyhow, I think I may check out Twenty Fragments of a Ravenous Youth since you enjoyed it.
I think I’ll skip this one and pick up Twenty Fragments of a Ravenous Youth. I have realized that I am lacking the Asian literature department. I’m realizing I like it a lot now that I’m taking an Asian American lit class. I haven’t read anything by this particular author but she sounds great. Now I have a new author to check out.