J's Pages

by Shouhua Qi

This collections of short stories by a man who grew up during China's Cultural Revolution reminded me almost immediately of my time spent in China. The big difference, of course, is that I experienced China as a guest and a foreigner. For Dr. Qi's characters, on the other hand, China is their home and fatherland. (or is it motherland? I forget their preferred gender) Overall, I found the book to be somewhat poignant, though Mr. Qi also caused me to smile more than once. I was a bit surprised by the rampant adultery (never presented graphically) in the book. How accurately Dr. Qi caught that area of Chinese culture, I don't know. There was a lot that I missed during my brief time there. (Sheesh! Can that be taken the wrong way. Let me clarify: I had no interest in adultery in China. Nor did any adulterers proclaim their activities to me.)(If there was a Chinese equivalent to The Jerry Springer Show, I couldn't understand the language to watch it.) Anyway, it's a good book and I'm going to have to keep it on my shelf for those times when I'm missing my "home" in the Far East.

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Labels: OnMyShelf