Lust, Caution, Eileen Chang
Lust, Caution, Eileen Chang
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Lust, Caution
The Story, the Screenplay, and the Making of the Film

Author: Eileen Chang

Narrator: Jodi Long

Unabridged: 1 hr 35 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 09/04/2007


Synopsis

A major motion picture (2007) from Oscar-winning director Ang Lee (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; Brokeback Mountain): an intensely passionate story of love and espionage, set in Shanghai during World War II.

In the midst of the Japanese occupation of China and Hong Kong, two lives become intertwined: Wong Chia Chi, a young student active in the resistance, and Mr. Yee, a powerful political figure who works for the Japanese occupational government. As these two move deftly between Shanghai’s tea parties and secret interrogations, they become embroiled in the complicated politics of wartime—and in a mutual attraction that may be more than what they expected. Written in lush, lavish prose, and with the tension of a political thriller, Lust, Caution brings 1940s Shanghai artfully to life even as it limns the erotic pulse of a doomed love affair.

About The Author

Eileen Chang (1920–1995) was born in Shanghai. In 1952 she migrated to Hong Kong to work as a translator for the American News Agency. She fled Communist China for the United States in 1956, never to return again. After living in New York, Chang moved to California, where she was a prominent fiction writer, essayist, public intellectual, and translator. In September 1995 she was found dead in her Los Angeles department. Her works include Romances, The Rice-Sprout Song: A Novel of Modern China, and The Rouge of the North.


Reviews

Goodreads review by két con on April 11, 2018

I watched this film 3 times. A different version for everytime since it was heavily edited and censored (as we all know). The action almost ruined the whole thing. When finally got round to director's cut I was blown away. Dumbstruck. It took me a while to grasp the cruelty of it and still I get shi......more

Goodreads review by Joselito Honestly on May 07, 2013

Just one word. Uttered almost in whisper, by a woman. She told her lover: "Run." I paused, staggered, heartbeat quickening as I raced towards the ending. Then I went back to the page where this word was, eleven pages earlier. ""Run,' she said softly." They are inside a jewelry store. A rich, married,......more

Goodreads review by Crystal on February 23, 2010

The story was amazing, but I feel that I missed out on a lot of the beauty of the author's writing due to translation.......more

Goodreads review by Willem on February 20, 2011

In one word, “dense” is the best way to describe Eileen Chang’s ‘Lust, Caution’. In a 60-paged novella, the storyline weaves in and out of memories, struggling thoughts with identity and the plot of a young woman who has to get close to a, with the Japanese collaborating, politician in order to get......more

Goodreads review by Miriam on February 27, 2020

A short story stretched into a novelette, probably better in the movie version than the original text is. Pros: it manages to effectively build an immersive and believable atmosphere of occupied modern China and the danger glinting lazily through apparently quiet afternoons full of games and luxury.......more


Quotes

“A dazzling and distinctive fiction writer.” —New York Times Book Review “Chang’s sensual writing has elements of both China and the United States; the smoky, formal world of respect for tradition and the irresistible, harshly lighted future.” —Los Angeles Times“A master of the short story.... Chang’s world is a stark and mysterious place where people strive to find their way in love but often fail under the pressures of family, tradition, and reputation.” —The New Yorker“Chang has strong and sensuous power of description.... Her stories could hardly be more eloquent.” —New York Review of Books