Braised Pork

Book cake like brand new

I ordered this book based on a recommendation about books of the year in a weekly newsmagazine. Unfamiliar with the author, I figured the strong recommendation was enough. It was. Sorta.The book revolves around a Chinese woman who's husband is found dead, leaving behind a "fish-man" reference. The story hinges on her coping with the loss of her husband (who she wasn't that close to) and the hunt for the "fish-man" and her own psychological condition. Along the way she meets a prospective husband, and several strangers who's own stories revolve around the same fish-man. The writing is clean, and it's easy to read this relatively short book fairly quickly (I read it over a weekend, spending a few hours each session). There's a lot of Chinese references which may confound some readers, but having lived in China and with a Chinese wife and family, it was not an issue for me.Is the story that good? Does it deserve the praise other reviewers are heaping on the book? For me, no, alas. While the book was interesting, it was a little disjointed in the way it pursued a relatively simple plot line, and, quite simply, I didn't get hooked the way I want to. Of course, that's one person's opinion, but I read a great deal, and this simply wasn't my cup of tea.

This review does not focus on the contents of the book. Instead, I would like to discuss about what I can see about the author behind the book.(1) A detailed descriptor and romantic artist: When I read the book, the most impressive thing that I gained from every single word of the book is its detailed descriptions of every scene in every chapter. From the facial expressions of the main characters to the positions of the fingers of those characters, from the psychological activities within those minds to the corresponding reactions towards the outside environment, from the noisy bar to the cold night outside the Central Business District in Beijing, from the communications with local Tibet people to the natural scene in a Tibet village, from the talks with the sales agent, client and travel guide to the chats with father, father’s new wife, maternal grandmother, aunt and old and new friends, ……, all show that the author has a solid foundation to vividly describe every scene set in her book. I believe that only if had she already generated a “true” video in her mind, she was able to write in such a detailed way.Those detailed descriptions combined with the painting, which is the career of the main character, Jiajia, make me further guess that the author may be an outstanding professional not only in writing but also in painting, because the learning of painting, no matter what kind of, always requires careful observations about the life.In addition, I think that the author is very suitable to further explore her career in writing the scripts of plays because of her writing strengths mentioned above.(2) A creative thinker and surrealistic dreamer: I think that the most creative factor in this book is the silver fish with a man’s head and a fish’s body which is the main stream of the book and is repeatedly mentioned from different perspectives in every chapter. Although the author connects the silver fish to different characters (Jiajia’s deceased mother and husband, the grandpa in the Tibet village) via multiple stories, she does not explicitly conclude what the silver fish mean in the end, leaving enough space to the readers to think about following the last word of the last chapter. As the news mentions that the author once studied in the Creative Writing Program in New York University, it is no wonder that she creates such kind of surrealistic world for both her and us readers to dream and explore.(3) An experienced and well-structured writer: Although it is the author’s first published book, I doubt that the author should have written many draft books before but does not let them make public. Why? Based on my own reading experience, I can see that she has a very elaborated skill to control the rhythm of the whole story, a skill which should be gained by accumulated experience of writing long stories rather than pieces of essays or short stories.In conclusion, I think that the book deserves the spotlight from both Foyles Bookstore (located in Charles Street in London), which put the book on the first rank of the book shelf facing the entrance door and the recommendations from multiple eye-catching newspapers such as New York Times, Guardian and TIME. Those modern experienced writers may feel pressure, because the sense of “长江后浪推前浪” (The waves behind the Yangtze River push the waves forward) jumps out from the book itself.I look forward to the author’s second book, which the news mentions that will be published late this year or early next year.