The Good Women of China: Hidden Voices
Registered by rem_BSQ-170388 on 12/16/2005
1 journaler for this copy...
I found this book shocking. Most shocking were not the stories of incest, rape, violence, slavery, insanity, disaster, poverty and hunger - though they are extreme - but the reactions of the people to it. Mothers who tell their daughters to endure their fathers's sexual attention, to safe face. Bystanders who let an adultering husband beat his wife in the street. Women who sacrifice their life and health for their lazy and spoiled husbands and sons.
But it's not all misery: in many of these women's tales, great love and strength shines through.
This book gave me a certain insight into Chinese thinking on love and sex. I have learned that love is often taken to extremes in China, either by not expecting it at all, certainly not in mariage, and hiding all emotions, or by holding on to unanswered love for decades and dying from heartbreak. Sex is seen as a natural hunger, but also as a taboo topic - with lack of knowledge causing many ackward and damaging situations. The stories also reinforced my notions about the tremendous influence of both traditional thinking and the political turmoil on the previous and current generations. As one character in 'The Good Women' put it: 'How much happiness can there be in the life of a woman who has lived through the last decades [in China]?'
Xinran's journalistic style is not overly lyrical or poetic. Her abrupt retelling of accounts - traveling there and back in one sentence - sometimes leaves me with questions. Even though there are no gaps in her story, I wonder at times what she felt and how the women she met influenced her life. On the other hand, she also spares us the graphic details of rape and abuse, making their universality and impact even greater.
I think every woman, but certainly also every man, should read this book.
On the last page, Xinran writes two sentences that grabbed me as a writer personally: 'If you don't write these stories down, your heart will be filled up and broken by them.' and 'It was as if a pen had grown in my heart.'
Pocket, 230 p.
Also by Xinran: Sky Burial
But it's not all misery: in many of these women's tales, great love and strength shines through.
This book gave me a certain insight into Chinese thinking on love and sex. I have learned that love is often taken to extremes in China, either by not expecting it at all, certainly not in mariage, and hiding all emotions, or by holding on to unanswered love for decades and dying from heartbreak. Sex is seen as a natural hunger, but also as a taboo topic - with lack of knowledge causing many ackward and damaging situations. The stories also reinforced my notions about the tremendous influence of both traditional thinking and the political turmoil on the previous and current generations. As one character in 'The Good Women' put it: 'How much happiness can there be in the life of a woman who has lived through the last decades [in China]?'
Xinran's journalistic style is not overly lyrical or poetic. Her abrupt retelling of accounts - traveling there and back in one sentence - sometimes leaves me with questions. Even though there are no gaps in her story, I wonder at times what she felt and how the women she met influenced her life. On the other hand, she also spares us the graphic details of rape and abuse, making their universality and impact even greater.
I think every woman, but certainly also every man, should read this book.
On the last page, Xinran writes two sentences that grabbed me as a writer personally: 'If you don't write these stories down, your heart will be filled up and broken by them.' and 'It was as if a pen had grown in my heart.'
Pocket, 230 p.
Also by Xinran: Sky Burial
Left at the Shanghai BookCrossers monthly meeting in the tenant activity room at the Portman Ritz-Carlton.
The Shanghai BookCrossers group has informal meet-ups for avid readers in Shanghai, where we talk & swap books. We meet on the third Saturday of each month at 2pm at the tenant activity room of the Portman Ritz-Carlton (unless otherwise announced). Joining in is free, fun and easy. For more information: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/shanghaibxers/
The Shanghai BookCrossers group has informal meet-ups for avid readers in Shanghai, where we talk & swap books. We meet on the third Saturday of each month at 2pm at the tenant activity room of the Portman Ritz-Carlton (unless otherwise announced). Joining in is free, fun and easy. For more information: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/shanghaibxers/
