Some books take me months to read. Others take me days. Red Poppies, which is 433 pages long, was a 3-day book. I just couldn't put it down. Originally written in Chinese in 1998, this book changed my perception of the little I know about Tibet. I've always thought about Tibetans as peaceful people who were victimized by the cruel Chinese. But this book is written from a Chinese perspective and highlights the routine brutality of the Tibetan chieftains who ruled Tibet at the beginning of the 20th century. It's also a really good story, and there are some parts of it that are truly comic and made me laugh out loud.Narrated by a chieftain's son, who is considered an "idiot", we meet some wildly individualistic characters, including slaves, serfs and warlords. We are there for the multiple seductions, romances, triumphs, revenges, murders, cruelties and executions. There's also a bit about the opium poppies that are planted as a cash crop which is profitable but creates a famine because there is no wheat being planted. And there's also a beautiful woman whose actions are truly ugly. It's all there in this very readable epic that moves as fast as the speed of light.I loved the book and didn't want it to end. And think it would probably be a great film.