Lou Lou

It is an excellently written book with beautiful imagery. It is written in the Victorian style -- clause built upon clause -- so reading it is slow. Some, such as his biographer Edward Tinker, called Hearn's writing an "over-dulcification." The writing of this period is in general very florid, and unlike our speedy modern prose. But this lends itself to a long afternoon of reading, languid time, or should I say simply that to read Hearn you must go slow to parse out the meaning. But the reward is great; the imagery is fantastic; the learning great. You will most likely inspired to loftier planes of intellect. To research different, exotic, new things. Hearn was a prodigious reader and with a deft hand rewrites these old Chinese legends. The life of Hearn is something rewarding to look into as well.