The Girl Who Played Go

well it goes over quickly, but not painlessly. she spares you no descriptions. she lays all her pieces out on the table and the it ain't a pretty picture. this is back when Japan invades Manchuria. a japanese soldier acting as spy, goes down to a local Go playing park and plays against a young manchurian girl. supposedly through the playing of GO the come to know each other, though they never speak. the descriptions of Japanese... Read Full Review

It is a new kind of story for me. Not exactly like Romeo & Juliet or SamPho EngTay, the degree of love between the Japanese soldier and the Chinese girl had reached beyond physical barrier even before the inevitable circumstances took over. There were only minor, polite contact between them, and yet, they knew each other's soul. It is amazing how by playing go, you'll get to know your opposite's nature which oneself doesn't... Read Full Review

A good friend recommended this book highly, so, at the first opportunity, I sat down to read it. A young girl in a small Manchurian town plays Go with a stranger. We don't know her name. The man she is playing with calls her "the Chinese girl." He, in turn, is known to her as "the Stranger." Day after day they meet, without words, to play the ancient game, as the world around them descends into chaos. Later we learn that he... Read Full Review

I picked up the book from the library after reading a winning review about it in People magazine. I was not disappointed. It was not predictable. It was refreshing. It was sad. I am probably going to buy this many times over, and give it as gifts to my friends.

A very original story of two people drawn together through a game of Go, set in the 1930's Manchuria. One is a young rebellious Chinese girl, the other is a contemplative officer in the Japanese occupation army. Set against a volatile environment ripe for war is the peaceful, if intense, game of Go. The game is played by placing stones on the intersections of the boards, the objective is to beseige the opponent's stones... Read Full Review