Miss Chopsticks

The premise of Miss Chopsticks by Xinran excited me:

From the author of the bestselling "The Good Women of China" comes the uplifting story of three sisters who, like so many migrant workers in today's China, leave their peasant community to seek their fortune in the big city. The Li sisters don't have much education, but one thing has been drummed into them: their mother is a failure because she hasn't managed to produce a son, and they themselves only merit a number as a name.Women, their father tells them, are like chopsticks: utilitarian and easily broken. Men, on the other hand, are the strong rafters that hold up the roof of a house. Yet when circumstances lead the sisters to seek work in distant Nanjing, the shocking new urban environment opens their eyes. While Three contributes to the success of a small fast-food restaurant, Five and Six learn new talents at a health spa and a bookshop/tearoom. And when the money they earn starts arriving back at the village, their father is forced to recognise that daughters are not so dispensable after all. Xinran has become known for her wonderful ability to take readers to the heart of Chinese society. In this new book she tells not only a human story, but the story of a city. As the Li sisters discover Nanjing, so do we: its past, its customs and culture, and its future as a place where people can change their lives. (synopsis courtesy of Waterstones.com)

The book itself disappointed me.
The characters of Three, Five, and Six irritated me.
The situation of the majority of women in Chinese villages angered me.

Certainly Xinran achieves something in eliciting the last response from me; the evocation of the gender bias and hopeless situation of most women is well done, albeit dry. In many ways Miss Chopsticks is a feminist text but it could have been a famous feminist text if only Xinran had created fully-fledged characters. Instead, Three, Five, and Six were, as I have said above, irritating. I sympathised with them but their naivete wore on my patience; I suppose the point of the novel was to demonstrate how behind the times village women could be and how as migrant workers their eyes were opened in startling ways but it backfired with me. This could indeed be a failure in me as a reader, that the culture shock and alien way of thinking (in contrast to mine) was too much to bear but I have read a lot and I have, in the past, read a number of books set in China, many with female protagonists, and none has annoyed me in this way. To be honest I thought that Xinran was condescending of her own characters and failed to depict them as more than stick figures/chopsticks unable to hold up a book.

Image courtesy of Amazon.co.uk

Some Prefer Nettles

I have been intrigued by Japan of late; some friends have or are planning to go travelling there and it has heightened my desire to one day visit. I love the food, the culture, the cinema. A few books I have read recently have had Japanese elements to them as well as reading some Haruki Murakami (Sputnik Sweetheart), although his books are so surreal and the setting can be so non-descript that they could almost be set anywhere... is that just me? To me Murakami is almost quintessentially un-Japanese.

It was for this reason that I thought I would read Some Prefer Nettles by Jun'ichiro Tanizaki, which is considered one of Japanese literature's great novels, without being a typical example. I am curious to know what then constitutes as a classic Japanese novel, classic in the sense of standard; I have I am a Cat by Soseki Natsume and Out by Natsuo Kirino on my bookshelves so perhaps one of those fit this elusive sense of Japanese.

The synopsis of Some Prefer Nettles intrigued me:

The marriage of Kaname and Misako is disintegrating: whilst seeking passion and fulfilment in the arms of others, they contemplate the humiliation of divorce. Misako's father believes their relationship has been damaged by the influence of a new and alien culture, and so attempts to heal the breach by educating his son-in-law in the time-honoured Japanese traditions of aesthetic and sensual pleasure. The result is an absorbing, chilling conflict between ancient and modern, young and old.

The prose is elegant and to begin with I was caught up in the emotional turmoil of the marriage break-up and the rendering of Japanese culture but, in the end, I was disappointed. The ending was abrupt and inconclusive and the passivity of Kaname and Misako irritated me. The descriptions of Japanese drama (puppet theatre with traditional dolls) were lengthy and over-bearing; I was interested in the outset but the frequent and dry history lessons bored me.

What I have taken from the text though is an ongoing interest in Japanese culture and a desire to read more Japanese literature. Coincidentally, the lovely Nymeth has just informed me that I have won her prize draw for a copy of The Fox Woman by Kij Johnson, which she kindly had dispatched to me today. I am very excited as I have been wanting to read this since reading her review of the text; it could not have come at a better time as I find that after a reading disappointment it is best to jump right back on the horse, in this case the horse is Japanese literature.

Don't get me wrong: Some Prefer Nettles wasn't awful, by any means, but it did not live up to my expectations. As mentioned above I took other things from it, including the fact that I love reading literature in translation and yet can be unconcious of doing so (it surprises me how many different books in translation I have read this month -Icelandic, French, Japanese- almost unintentionally) and I am going to endeavour to read more.

The meditation upon Japanese culture also provided me with a new-found understanding of Angela Carter's short story collection, Fireworks, which I re-read earlier this year. The stories collected in Fireworks are mostly set in Japan, written -and influenced by- Carter's time living there; insight into Japanese tradition and aesthetic from reading Some Prefer Nettles allowed me further appreciation of these stories and the vivid rendering of the culture that Carter achieves. I may even go back sooner than planned and re-read some again, especially "The Loves of Lady Purple" about a life-size Japanese puppet manipulated to life at the necromantical hands of the puppet-master.

Library Loot

Today I decided to combine my favourite activity (reading and all things book-related) with my least favourite (exercise) by walking to my local library. Now, I'm not usually a library goer as I much prefer owning books and having lovely new copies in my hands but economy as it is and my own personal circumstances I'm all for supporting the community (and small booksellers). I only joined last week, in the hope of borrowing this month's book group book, but my hopes were dashed. However, I decided to waste not want not (besides it makes a lovely walk) and as it was I picked up a few books I've been wanting to read, pictured above (very beige, aren't they?!)

The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett: this one has been on my wish-list for some time. I can't wait to read about the Queen's discovery of the mobile library!

The Woman in Black by Susan Hill: I've heard much about this and fancy reading something Gothic and suspenseful before getting my impatient mitts on Sarah Water's The Little Stranger later this month.

The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets by Eva Rice: seemingly very popular across the blogosphere this book was first brought to my attention by Danielle at A Work in Progress. The beauty of digital word of mouth is that this is a book I would probably have otherwise overlooked in a bookstore as I would be put off by the chick-lit like cover! I am hoping to be pleasantly surprised.

Miss Chopsticks by Xinran: I was researching some potential Eastern literature reads last night and this one caught my eye (as it has in the past); the premise interests me and the library happened to have it on the shelf. I also happen to have another Xinran book, The Good Women of China: Hidden Voices, unread on the shelf.

The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery: apparently another popular book amongst bloggers (I've seen it reviewed a few times) this was brought to my attention by Fleur Fisher; the title intrigued me and her review prompted me to add it to the wish-list.


I have also began to make good use of the inter-library loan service by requesting a few other titles that were on my wish-list, that I hope will arrive soon.

The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb: I have heard so many good things about this title. A group of friends in the States all received it for Christmas and were reading it at once and commenting on it.

The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa: mention of this has frequently been popping up online and the pretty cover definitely caught my attention.

Scottsboro by Ellen Feldman: one of the six shortlisted titles for the Orange Prize for Fiction this year (of which I have so far read 1/6) the synopsis below definitely peaked my interest, especially as it's a true story:

Alabama, 1931. A posse stops a freight train and arrests nine black youths. Their crime: fighting with white boys. Then two white girls emerge from another freight car, and fast as anyone can say Jim Crow, the cry of rape goes up. One of the girls sticks to her story. The other changes her tune, time and time again. A young journalist, whose only connection to the incident is her overheated social conscience, fights to save the nine youths from the electric chair, redeem the girl who repents her lie, and make amends for her own past.

The Wilderness by Samantha Harris: another Orange contender and also appealing.

It’s Jake’s birthday. He is sitting in a small plane, being flown over the landscape that has been the backdrop to his life – his childhood, his marriage, his work, his passions. Now in his early sixties, he isn’t quite the man he used to be. He has lost his wife, his son is in prison and he is about to lose his past. Jake has Alzheimer’s.

As the disease takes hold, Jake struggles to hold on to his personal story, to his memories and identity, but they become increasingly elusive and unreliable. What happened to his daughter? Is she alive or long dead? And why exactly is his son in prison? What went so wrong in his life? There was a cherry tree once and a yellow dress, but what exactly do they mean? As Jake, assisted by ‘poor Eleanor’, a childhood friend with whom, for some unfathomable reason, he seems to be sleeping, fights the inevitable dying of the light, the key events of his life keep changing as he tried to grasp them, and what until recently seemed solid fact is melting into surreal dreams or nightmarish imaginings. Is there anything he’ll be able to salvage from the wreckage? Beauty, perhaps, the memory of love, or nothing at all?

Some Prefer Nettles by Jun'ichiro Tanizaki: of all the Eastern titles I looked at last night, this is the one that was immediately added to be wish-list and is at the top of my to read list when it arrives.

The Summer Book by Tove Jansson: taking pride of place as number one of the 50 Books You Must Read But May Not Have Heard About (not in order and ongoing), Simon at Stuck in a Book's review of this book made me anxious to read it this summer.

The Thing Around Your Neck by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: the book I most want to buy but am awaiting the day I have money to do so and the book I am too impatient to wait to read until then. Enough said.

Even though I have a huge pile of books awaiting me (and all of the ones on the shelf), I'm off to read my copy of Marie Claire before I make dinner! I also woefully behind reviewing but please check in over the next few days when I hope to add a few.