雅思考试口语高频话题：a book you recently read

Describe a book you recently read.

You should say
what book it was
when you read it
why you read it
and explain what you liked and (possibly) disliked about the book.

what book it was
As you may know, many Chinese people love complex love stories and the <Dream of the Red Chamber> is perhaps the most popular and well-developed of them.

when you read it
I have read the whole novel from the beginning to the end only once 3 months ago, but I like it and I felt myself loss when I finished that novel. I lingered at the last few chapters for long enough to get myself back to a normal life.

why you read it
It tells us the difference between Chinese literature and Western literature. At the end of each chapter, there is always a line which says ‘if the reader wants to know what happens next, please read the next chapter’. The line suggests that these chapters were each written separately over a period of time, thus, it functions as a reminder for readers to wait for the next chapter. These were the most developed stages of Chinese fiction writing.

And explain what you liked about the book
Moreover, the reason for the novel’s outstanding reputation and distinguishable status is that the novel is ‘the direct way to learn about Chinese culture. You cannot read Laozi or Confucius to understand Chinese society and Chinese people, while the book is the shortcut’. Therefore, the language used for this classical work is between formal and colloquial. In addition, the work was completed during Qing dynasty which is the last feudal empire in Chinese history, thus, the language is classical but also quite close to modern Chinese; it is intelligible for Chinese readers without any footnotes. Furthermore, exaggerated expressions are frequently used in the original text to show the author’s irony towards the society.