B8
B Jonathan Yardley
Country girls, city women T
THREE SISTERS By Bi Feiyu Translated from the Chinese by Howard Goldblatt and Sylvia Li-chun Lin Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 282 pp. $24
his engaging novel about the inhabitants of Wang Family Village doesn’t pack
a great deal of weight, but it should be useful and instructive for Western readers because it documents in palpably human terms the low value accorded women in China and the deep divide in that country between rural and urban areas. As China becomes ever more urbanized and its demand for skilled and semi-skilled workers becomes ever greater, more people will move from the country to the city, and tensions between the two cultures will become a significant problem for the Beijing government. “Three Sisters”
suggests that solving it will not be easy. Bi Feiyu, who is in his mid-40s, is well known
in China as a novelist and screenwriter (for “Shanghai Triad”) but considerably less so here, though his novel “The Moon Opera” was favorably received when it was published last year. He clearly has a strong, sympathetic interest in ordinary Chinese, women particularly, and seems to have no inclination toward the autobiographical obsessions with which so many of his American counterparts are afflicted. His prose is straightforward (his translators, Howard Goldblatt and Sylvia Li-chun Lin, appear to do well by him), and his storytelling gifts are considerable. The three sisters of his title are daughters of
Wang Lianfang, the Communist Party secretary and eponymous chieftain of Wang Family Village. During the 1960s and ’70s, long before the one-child-per-family edict, he sired seven daughters in his tireless (and, to his wife, no doubt tiresome) quest for a son, a wish he is finally granted as the novel opens. Wang is stubborn, self-absorbed, arbitrary and essentially insufferable. He is less a party official than a full-time Lothario, at one time or another bedding virtually every woman in the village: “Having studied dialectics in the county
town, Party Secretary Wang knew all about the relationship between internal and external factors, and the difference between an egg and a rock. He had his own irrational understanding of boy and girl babies. To him, women were external factors, like farmland, temperature, and soil condition, while a man’s seed was the essential ingredient. Good seed produced boys; bad seed produced girls. Although he’d never admit it, when he looked at his seven daughters
Bi Feiyu THOMAS LANGDON
his self-esteem suffered.” The first of these daughters whose story Bi tells is Yumi, eldest of the seven and, in response to their exhausted mother’s relinquishment of maternal and household duties, “more like a sister to her mother.” She has an “understanding of the ways of the world” and a “level of shrewdness” remarkable in one still young, but: “Age among siblings often represents more than just the order of birth; it can also signal differences in the depth and breadth of life experience. Ultimately, maturity requires opportunity; the pace of growth does not rely on the progression of time alone.” Yumi rules the family with a firm hand,
respected and admired by all, but she has a secret “belief that she was slated to have a brighter future than any of them.” When “nothing came of it, her happiness seemed like a bamboo basket: Its holes were revealed when it was taken out of the water. At such times, strands of sadness would inevitably wrap themselves around her heart.” Then the possibility arises of an arranged marriage to Peng Guoliang, whose name “means ‘pillar of the state’ . . . appropriate for an aviator.” She cannot believe her good fortune in becoming affianced to a man with so exalted an occupation and is put into a romantic daze when he asks her in a letter: “Are you willing to be with me, hand in hand, in my struggle against the imperialists, revisionists, and reactionaries?” The villagers — who in Bi’s hands become
something of a Greek chorus — “had known that a girl like her would land a good husband, but an aviator went beyond their wildest predictions” and Yumi’s wildest dreams. When at last she and Guoliang meet, sparks fly, but
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EDITING
she refuses to give herself to him fully, believing that this must await marriage. Her decision has consequences that change her life dramatically, not exactly as she had hoped, but, characteristically, she makes the most of it. Her sister Yuxiu, by contrast, is rebellious and disobedient, “a little fox fairy, a seductive girl,” qualities that eventually get her into trouble. She moves to the hamlet of Broken Bridge to be with Yumi, but the sisters are often at war. The course of events leaves Yuxiu with feelings common among Chinese women: “Yuxiu suddenly had a clear picture of exactly who she was. As a female, her value had dropped to virtually nothing. This brutal fact made her sadder than any self-inflicted humiliation ever could. For her, the future held only despair and misery with no tears to shed. At that point she cocked her head and said to herself, Don’t give it any more thought.” She is a country girl who has come to town and doesn’t really know how to cope with the change. The same at first appears to be true of Yuyang, the subject of the book’s third section. The seventh of the seven girls, “a necessary preparation for her parents’ project of producing a baby boy . . . an extra, born to be disliked and shunned by her parents,” she is “a country girl with little physical training.” “Like most girls from the countryside, she was not endowed with any special talents; her grades were passable, but that was about it.” Yet she wins admission to the teacher-training school in Beijing, an achievement that brings her “many days of glory.” Indeed, “the news had caused a sensation in Wang Family Village, where it made the rounds several times shortly after the old principal opened the admission letter.” In Beijing, she struggles to find a place for herself in a school largely populated by chic, condescending city girls. Eventually she is accorded a position on the school’s “security team” that gives her “surveillance and control” over a girl she envies — a triumph that “moved her profoundly.” Then she becomes involved with a teacher, and sex, as for her sisters Yumi and Yuxiu, asserts its alluring and complicating presence. Well before the liberalization of many aspects of Chinese life, these three young women use their sexuality in ways that Western women would find familiar in essence, if not in all the particulars.
Bi is deeply conscious of the feminine presence in China, not merely in its women but in the land itself. Here is how he describes planting season in the countryside: “The feminine qualities of the earth are heaving with the passion of ovulation and birthing, passions beyond their control as they grow soft in the sunlight and exude bursts of the rich, mellow essence of their being. The earth yearns to be overturned by the hoe and the plow, and thus be reborn, and to let the early summer waters flow over and submerge it. Moans of pleasure escape at the moment the earth is bathed and slowly freed from its bindings, bringing contentment and tranquillity. Exhausted, it falls into a sound, blissful sleep. The earth takes on the new face of awatery bride.” This is a China that few Westerners know. Bi
Feiyu makes it real and believable in this charming, surprising novel.
yardleyj@washpost.com BOOK WORLD THIS WEEK COMING IN STYLE
MONDAY | In Laura Lippman’s hypnotic mystery I’d Know You Anywhere, an imprisoned rapist tries to make contact with one of his victims.
TUESDAY | Norwegian author Karin Fossum’s Broken is a haunting novel of psychological suspense.
WEDNESDAY | The women in Mona Simpson’s incisive novel My Hollywood seek the right balance between motherhood and careers. The short stories in Steve Amsterdam’s collection Things We Didn’t
See Coming are set in a dystopian version of Australia. Three books offer advice.
THURSDAY | The Great Lover of Jill Dawson’s novel is the poet Rupert Brooke, widely considered the handsomest man in Edwardian England.
FRIDAY | Crossfire is a mystery by the late Dick Francis and his son Felix Francis.
SATURDAY | Racial bigotry and gay liberation inspire the cartooning in Stuck Rubber Baby, a graphic novel by Howard Cruse.
voices.washingtonpost.com/political-bookworm 6
Read our blog, Political Bookworm, which focuses on books that stir the national political conversation. Join us as we debate the issues and authors making news today.
JAN COBB
LITERARY CALENDAR AUGUST 16-19, 2010
16 MONDAY 6:30 P.M. Freelance journalist Paul Street discusses and signs his new book, “The Empire’s New Clothes: Barack Obama in the Real World of Power,” at Busboys and Poets (5th & K), 1025 Fifth St. NW, 202-789-2227. 7 P.M. Dave Zirin, the sportswriter for The Nation magazine, discusses and signs his new book, “Bad Sports: How Owners Are Ruining the Games We Love,” at Politics and Prose Bookstore, 5015 Connecticut Ave. NW, 202-364-1919.
17 TUESDAY 7 P.M. Paul Greenberg reads from and discusses
his new book, “Four Fish: The Future of the Last Wild Food,” at Politics and Prose Bookstore, 202-364-1919. A book signing follows.
18 WEDNESDAY Noon. The 2010 Diary of a Wimpy Kid Summer Ice-Treat Truck Tour will roll up to
Politics and Prose Bookstore with cold confections and exciting tidbits about the November release of “Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Ugly Truth,” the latest installment of Jeff Kinney’s chronicle of the grade-school angst of one Greg Heffley. Sponsored by the
publisher, Amulet Books, the tour also heralds the publisher’s donation to the organization First Book, which provides new books to children in low-income families. 7 P.M. Jennifer Arnold, the founder and executive director of the organization Canine Assistants, discusses and signs her new book, “Through a Dog’s Eyes: Understanding Our Dogs by Understanding How They See the World” (the inspiration for a forthcoming special on PBS), at Borders Books-White Flint, 11301 Rockville Pike, Kensington, Md., 301-816-1067.
19 THURSDAY 6:30 P.M. Jeff Deck, an associate editor for Rocks &
Minerals magazine, and bookseller Benjamin D. Herson discuss their
new book, “The Great Typo Hunt: Two Friends Changing the World, One Correction at a Time,” at Borders Books-Downtown, 18th & L Sts. NW, 202-466-4999. A book signing follows.
For more literary events, go to
washingtonpost.com/gog/ and search “book event.”
KLMNO
SUNDAY, AUGUST 15, 2010
WASHINGTON BESTSELLERS PAPERBACK
FICTION 1 THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO
2 THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE 59
(Vintage, $14.95). By Stieg Larsson. First book in the late Swede’s “Millennium Trilogy”; basis of new film.
20
(Vintage, $15.95). By Stieg Larsson. Sex trafficking between Sweden and Eastern Europe is exposed.
3 CHARLIE ST. CLOUD (Bantam, $15; $7.99) 4 LITTLE BEE (Simon & Schuster, $14) 5 SMASH CUT (Pocket, $9.99) 2
By Ben Sherwood. A heartwarming tale of the singular bond between a young man and his dead brother.
25
By Chris Cleave. This wry second novel from a British journalist explores the state of war and refugees.
3
By Sandra Brown. A publicity-crazed lawyer takes on a case of murder within a wealthy family.
6 TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD (Warner, $7.99) 5
(HarperPerennial, $15.99). By Harper Lee. The Pulitzer Prize-winning tale set in the Depression-era South.
7 THE 8TH CONFESSION (Grand Central, $9.99) 8 9 DRAGONS (Vision, $9.99) 2
By James Patterson and Maxine Paetro. The Women’s Murder Club and two baffling murders.
4
By Michael Connelly. The murder of a beloved shop owner has Bosch traveling to Hong Kong to nab a killer.
9 THE LACUNA (HarperPerennial, $16.99) 10 THE ART OF RACING IN THE RAIN 2
By Barbara Kingsolver. Journal entries and letters chart the life of a popular Mexican American novelist.
12
(Harper, $14.99). By Garth Stein. Enzo, a canine with human qualities, narrates this unique tale.
NONFICTION/GENERAL 1 EAT PRAY LOVE: ONE WOMAN’S SEARCH FOR
140
EVERYTHING ACROSS ITALY, INDIA AND INDONESIA (Penguin, $15). By Elizabeth Gilbert. New feature film.
2 MENNONITE IN A LITTLE BLACK DRESS: A MEMOIR 16
OF GOING HOME (Holt, $14). By Rhoda Janzen Coping, all at once, with a stray husband and car crash.
3 THE OFFICIAL SAT STUDY GUIDE (SECOND EDITION) 4 THREE CUPS OF TEA: ONE MAN’S MISSION
TO PROMOTE PEACE (Griffin, $19.95) By Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
5 THE GLASS CASTLE (Scribner, $14) 117
By Jeannette Walls. A daughter’s memoir of her eccentric parents and unorthodox upbringing.
6 THE BLACK SWAN: THE IMPACT OF THE HIGHLY 7 ARE YOU THERE, VODKA? IT’S ME, CHELSEA
(Simon Spotlight, $16) By Chelsea Handler. Irreverent essays.
8 HOW TO READ LITERATURE LIKE A PROFESSOR: 9 SCHOLASTIC SUCCESS WITH 1ST GRADE 5
A LIVELY AND ENTERTAINING GUIDE TO READING . . . (Harper, $13.99). By Thomas C. Foster
7
WORKBOOK (Teaching Resources, $16.99) By Jon Buller. Tackling the three R’s in grade school.
10 MY HORIZONTAL LIFE: A COLLECTION OF 13
ONE-NIGHT STANDS (Bloomsbury, $14.95) By Chelsea Handler. A litany of assignations.
Rankings reflect sales for the week ended Aug. 8, 2010. The charts may not be reproduced without permission from Nielsen BookScan. Copyright © 2010 by Nielsen BookScan. (The right-hand column of numbers represents weeks on this list, which premiered in Book World on Jan. 11, 2004. The bestseller lists in print alternate between hardcover and paperback; the complete list can be found online.)
6
Hardback Bestsellers @
voices.washingtonpost.com/political-bookworm
8
IMPROBABLE (Random House, $17) By Nassim Nicolas Taleb. The book’s second edition.
26 36
(College Board, $21.99). This revised manual offers 10 practice tests and loads of tips.
169
MONDAY IN STYLE: Laura
Lippman
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