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Reflections on a Year of Reading Chinese Literature

Titles Read

The Corpse Walker by Liao Yiwu

Peony in Love by Lisa See

Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng

Strange Beasts of China by Yan Ge

Out of the three countries that I had chosen, the last one was on a whim: China. At first, I didn’t know what to expect because I didn’t know much about China other than its conservative traditions and its one-birth rule. Obviously, I haven’t read every book, but I think I’m allowed to say that a lot of the historical fiction books that involve romance are where one of the main love interests is a ghost. Maybe it’s just me, but that’s a common theme I’ve seen so far. Also, a lot of Chinese books have the most gut-wrenching plot twists, it makes me so… frustrated. But I learned that foot binding is very important in China’s history: having small feet; people used to powder their feet too? For the most part, the families in these books were conservative and didn’t really let the girls interact with boys. This was more of a burden than anything because the girls ended up dying due to naivety. The main element that I saw between the four books were broken families. This could either mean a family is broken internally or that a family would break. Not only that but misunderstandings could be more detrimental than what you see on the surface.

From Liao Yiwu’s nonfiction book The Corpse Walker: it’s common knowledge that the government can become corrupt under certain individuals. But the fact that one person can change the attitude of so many people just by saying a few words is crazy. Chairman Mao’s reign was just one huge dictatorship that made peasants feel as if they had power. Power can turn a “good person” into a hungry and ruthless beast. It didn’t matter if you had done well for a person. As long as one was poor and the other was rich, the poor would publicly beat and humiliate the other party.

Lisa See’s historical fiction book Peony in Love: proves that curiosity killed a cat, but that ignorance isn’t always bliss. Peony, the main character, is a naive girl who is sheltered so much to the point that she knows basically nothing about boys, the outside world, or even being a “normal person.”  Protective nature is good, but this type of parental behavior needs to be limited. The book proves that the most protective parents create the most rebellious children.

Celeste Ng’s novel Everything I Never Told You: in addition to the theme of child rebellion, Lydia is a prime example of the consequences of protective parents. But her parents were protective of her image. She was the golden child, the child who didn’t say no because she wanted to make her dad happy and didn’t want her mother to leave again. A family can only look so perfect on the outside until you really get to talk to the kids. Some parents don’t realize their impact on their kids even if it’s a small thing. 

Yan Ge’s contemporary fantasy book Strange Beasts of China: is one that I haven’t finished yet. But something that people don’t understand is that “just because you know someone, doesn’t mean you know all of them.” This may seem like common sense, but it’s really not. Even if you have a best friend or someone you’re super close to. There is no person in the entire world that will know you in and out. 

Before, I used to romanticize the idea of living in the old days. But I probably won’t survive with all the feet binding and the number of conservative views. I’d probably be accused of being possessed by a demon or something. What surprised me is that when I read, I often connect its history with something in our modern time. For example, foot binding and powdering them was seen as something for the husbands because they were pleased with small feet. It was normal then, but now it’s seen as weird so I’m intrigued about why it changed. I’ve also learned that I’ve very gullible when it comes to reading. I knew that there were plot twists, but I never saw them coming. Now I understand how important word choice is and how it creates a different type of scene to mislead you so that plot twists are more dramatic. 

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Week 20 Blog

Strange Beasts of China

Yan Ge

Pages Read: 43-93

Word Count: 423

Summary:

After Lefty’s case comes out, the main character still moves on and was caught up with sacrificial beasts. They would kill each other to please the females and the males could not talk. Since reproduction was hard among the species, humans put them in captivity but it didn’t help. “Fei Fei,” an escaped beast found comfort in the main character but was dragged away by a female escaped beast who was with Charlie (MC’s best friend.) Her professor calls and she mentions how Charlie took in two sacrificial beasts. In the end, all three of them end up dying and she finds out that Charlie is a beast too. She moves on and another beast called the impasse beast takes care of her. It leaves her after a while and she almost dies from the sudden shock of loneliness she’s left with.

Critical Analysis:

“Aren’t you happy?” (85) says the impasse beast. The main character replies yes and when she leaves to go out and returns, he is nowhere to be found. Before, she had been stuck in a state of “depression” and longing. But the impasse beast took care of her when she was in the state. Ge connects the beast’s name with its actions very well. Impasse means to be in a “deadlock” or in a stuck position and that’s what the main character was in. Since she went from depressed to “happy,” the beast left which is very fitting. Though I think Ge may want readers to think a little more about this idea. Even if the author doesn’t have that intention, it almost seems to mean that those who push you up won’t be there forever. Especially once you’ve changed for the worse or the better.

Personal Response:

I really like this book. Even though there are plot twists and unexpected events, I’m not too attached to certain characters because Ge kind of keeps that wall up between the main character and the others. I like how the plot develops through the experiences the MC has and that her past always connects to her present. Although, I don’t understand why her professor literally always knows where she is and who she is with. Like, if you know he’s suspicious, why did you tell him about Charlie taking in the beasts? If she hadn’t said anything, Charlie and Fei Fei would still be alive. Fei Fei is the first being that she really found comfort in other than the impasse beast. Though, everyone ends up leaving or dying around her. It’s a bit upsetting.

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“Aren’t you happy?”

Yan Ge, Strange Beasts of China (85)

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“My phone rang at that moment. It was my professor, whom I’d all but forgotten. Not even saying hello, he barked, ‘Have you tamed an impasse beast?”

Yan Ge, Strange Beasts of China (80)

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“Ultimately, the sacrificial beasts died out, and as a result, mankind inherited the world. They martyred themselves for us, hence their name, sacrificial.”

Yan Ge, Strange Beasts of China (70)

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“All he did was take in two sacrificial beasts,’ I muttered.”

Yan Ge, Strange Beasts of China (56)

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“No, I’m torturing himself. I’m scared to be alone, but when I’m part of a couple, the suffering of loneliness feels like the better option. Terrible life, glorious death. As exciting as a movie.”

Yan Ge, Strange Beasts of China (51)

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Week 19 Blog

Everything I Never Told You + Strange Beasts of China

Celeste Ng + Yan Ge

Pages Read: 253-261 + 1-43

Word Count: 439

Summary:

After beating up Jack, Nath feels no better and they all move on/have to accept the harsh reality of Lydia’s death. The parents are once again together, Nath goes on to do his schooling and Hannah finally gets the attention she deserves. Which moves me onto my next book, where the plot is less sad as of thus far. Lefty, an artist, tells the main character about a beast that she fell in loves with that disappeared. The main character wants to find out what happened with her sorrowful beast but little did she know, the beast actually ate Lefty. That type of beast once consuming a human female at a full moon will take on the human’s characteristics. Qi and the sorrowful beast had plotted this so that Lefty would be eaten and the beast could be here since only female sorrowful beasts could mate with humans.

Critical Analysis:

“Every mother scared her child with this horror story: ‘Don’t spend too long reading in the toilet, because while you’re distracted, a soul might rise up through the pipes and possess your body.” (11) Ge brings real life situations to a fictional book to almost make it seem like the book is a reality. Every mother on Earth has said something similar to scare their kids, but it’s not just mothers. Ge may say that mother’s say this to scare their kids, but like the author, not all get scared. Sometimes these threats make us curious and want to see what happens if we don’t listen. Whether you’re a child or not, if you’re not told to go into a room, you’re probably going to at least peak at it. But Ge bringing a mother’s threats kind of connect to our world.

Personal Response:

So far, I really like the details of this book. But what in the world are the plot twists. Every single book that I’ve read ends up in some tragic way or something horrific happens that just gets passed of like an everyday thing. Qi and the sorrowful beasts were scheming to get together but the beast ended up dying because it smiled. Now it’s called a sorrowful beast because it always looks sad. To them, a smile means sadness so when they smile, it radiates and looks beautiful. However, they end up dying because of the sadness. The beast was taken in for examination after it died (from seeing it’s sister die) and the autopsy report said that the faint green skin around the belly button (that every sorrowful beast had) still had teeth intact and some of Lefty’s real body remains were yet to be digested. 

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“A woman hacked to death, her daughter missing. The man had light injuries and remained unconscious. Speed was of the essence, and so on. But the report was inconclusive. The case remained a stain on the reputation of the police, and no one knew what had really happened.”

Yan Ge, Strange Beasts of China (43)

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“I don’t know when people stopped saying goodbye. Anything to cut down on phone bills.”

Yan Ge, Strange Beasts of China (28)

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“You can’t be sure that beasts aren’t people, or that people aren’t just another type of beast.”

Yan Ge, Strange Beasts of China (13)

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“Every mother scared her child with this horror story: ‘Don’t spend too long reading in the toilet, because while you’re distracted, a soul might rise up through the pipes and possess your body.”

Yan Ge, Strange Beasts of China (11)

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“He doesn’t want to dive underwater and lose sight of her face.”

Celeste Ng, Everything I Never Told You (254)

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Week 18 Blog

Everything I Never Told You

Celeste Ng

Pages Read: 203-253

Word Count: 439

Summary:

After Marilyn visits Louise’s house, James comes home and gets confronted. Marilyn goes onto to say how James finally found the perfect wife because they can both “fit in.” This goes back and forth between the two, eventually leading to Marilyn kicking out James. Marilyn and Hannah have a little bonding time because Marilyn realized how much she neglected her daughter. Then it flash backs to when Lydia was alive. As Hannah takes things, she took the necklace that their dad gave Lydia and it was meant to make her fit in (with Louis helping to pick it out.) Lydia finds out and slaps her sister out of frustration. She doesn’t want Hannah to end up the same. After Lydia sees how happy Nath is to leave and how the house is broken, she goes to Jack. Eventually, she finds out that Jack likes Nath and threatens him after he says a comeback to her insult to him. At that point, she runs off and drowns in the lake.

Critical Analysis:

Ng continues to show the worlds and realities of those who have lost a loved one and their effects. As Hannah was not noticed and Lydia was projected on, Ng also writes about the healing process after the fact, “As if the universe is slowly returning to normal.” (249) Without Lydia to be the sun, problems from before arise in a more apparent matter. Lydia was an escape or rather a distracting factor for all of them. Smiles and looking pretty, always saying yes. In most broken families today, you cannot have “the universe” going back to normal. There’s a normal, then a new normal. Like divorce, there is a family together which is the norm for the kids. But after the divorce, the new norm is to live with one of the parents or to visit one or the other. 

Personal Response:

There is so much background to this book that I didn’t expect. The perfect representation for an interracial couple and their family. James always wanted to fit in, Marilyn wanted to stand out. Neither could do that so they projected on Lydia. “It’s best for you to do this X, Y, Z.” Nath and Hannah got the “short end of the stick” in terms of attention, especially Hannah. I’m not too sure what to expect next because Jack turns out to be gay so all those girls who went with him in his car were just to cover up that fact. But also Lydia drowned on her own? I’m not sure if it was voluntary or not because the part where she falls into the water makes me confused.

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“As if the universe is slowly returning to normal.”

Celeste Ng, Everything I Never Told You (249)

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“Actually, I’m sorry for you. In love with someone who hates you.’ She glared at Jack: one sharp wince, as if she’d splashed water in his eyes.”

Celeste Ng, Everything I Never Told You (235)

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“With a loud crack, her hand struck Hannah’s cheek, knocking her back, snapping her head to the side.”

Celeste Ng, Everything I Never Told You (228)