小时代 by 郭敬明

[柯林]

Hey guys, I am pretty new to reading novels, so far having read 活着 and 许三观卖血 (cant remember the whole name, since I am on my phone its difficult to check).

 

After finishing these two books which I generally felt pretty comfortable following along, I am looking to read 小时代. However I found it (so far) to be quite a step up in terms of vocab, but am wondering if anyone else has read it and how difficult they found it to be. I did try searching the novel name on this forum but for some reason the forum just pops up with some pretty irrelevant things. If you guys have a thread about it already I would appreciate it, thanks! 

[murrayjames]

Hello 柯林,

 

I just scanned through an electronic copy of 《小时代1.0折纸时代》 on my computer. Yes, the novel seems like a step up in difficulty from 《活着》 or 《许三观卖血记》. I would not call it hard, though. It looks like standard popular fiction-level writing to me.

 

Perhaps switching authors, genres, and narrative settings all at once is contributing to the increase in difficulty here. I bet 郭敬明 uses many words in 《小时代》 that do not appear in the 余华 novels you read. The authors have very different styles. The novels also have very different characters and settings. 《小时代》 is about tony, upwardly mobile young adults in 21st-century Shanghai; 《活着》 and 《许三观卖血记》 are about dirt-poor families in small 20th-century villages. That difference would partly explain a large number of new words.

 

Geiko gave a short review of 《小时代》 in this post from the “What are you reading?” thread. He said the book was “an easy read and not too cheesy.”

[柯林]

That's encouraging to read. I will keep plugging away at it (my usual 30-45 mins reading a day as part of a routine) and I bet I will adapt to quite a bit. I appreciate your post and research you have done. Besides quite a few new 成语 and descriptive words that 《活着》 and 《许三观卖血记》did not have, it seems alright for the time being. Actually while I have your attention, may I ask if when you read you use an electronic copy or a paper copy of novels you are reading? What is your reading routine when (if) you encounter unknown words / phrases? Personally I just read the book on Pleco reader and tap the words to see the meaning but I don't worry much about memorizing (besides attempting to make a mental note if the word or character has sprung up quite a bit) or adding words to flashcards.

 

Thank you!