La Joueuse de Go

La Joueuse de Go a novel by Shan Sa, written in French, and published by Éditions Grasset & Fasquelle in 2001. (ISBN 2 246 61611 5)

The story is set in Manchuria in 1936/37, during the Japanese invasion. The heroes are a Manchu girl and a Japanese officer, who meet over a game of Go. Their game becomes the backdrop for the rest of the story up to the very proper denouement.

Other than this, the Go references are rather thin, to a point where one can wonder how much the writer really knows about Go. If one doesn't expect from this book a deep insight into the Manchurian Go culture, it is very pleasant to read. axd: to be confirmed: the author refers to stones as "les pions" (pawns) - this should give an indication of the Go level of the author.

The novel has been translated into a number of other languages, including: Dutch, German, Italian, English (The Girl who Played Go) , Turkish (Go Oyuncusu), and Thai

Reviews

Confused: The novel is sort of well written, but is nothing special as originality goes, and do not expect Go to play a significant role but a mean to allow the protagonists to meet. The end is commonplace.
An enjoyable two-hours reading and useless book, if you ask me...