The Magpie Bridge by Liu Hong

Rating:  6.5/10
Read:  July, 2011
Recommended To:  Chinese and/or Historical Fiction fans, people who like ghost stories with a cultural emphasis
Categories:  Fiction, Chinese Fiction, Ghost Stories, Family-Relations

Jiao Mei, a young Chinese woman living in London while attending school, is transported back to her childhood in China by the powerful fragrance of flowers and the ghostly whisper of her childhood name one evening.  Accompanying the fragrance is a vision of a woman claiming to be her deceased grandmother, Tie Mei.  At first, she thinks the visions are simply dreams, but when Barbara, the woman she lives with, also begins to experience some strange things, Jiao Mei realizes that the ghost of her grandmother is real.

With Tie Mei's visits, Jiao Mei is forced to confront the reality of her pregnancy and her relationship with her British boyfriend, and learns the tragic stories of her ancestors, and the curse that is destined to follow her.  Told from the perspective of both women, through flashbacks of Tie Mei's life and Jiao Mei's childhood mixed with the present tense, the relationship between grandmother and granddaughter unfolds, as Jiao Mei is forced to reflect on the past, and come to terms with the present.

Personal Thoughts

While I enjoyed the book overall, there was nothing especially outstanding about it.  I just didn't find myself particularly engaged in the storyline, or drawn to the characters. 

I loved the idea of the Magpie Bridge, for which the book took it's name, and I really enjoyed the ghostly aspect of it, and the flashbacks that told the story about her ancestor's lives.  Aside from that, I just did not connect to any of the characters, or find them either loveable or detestable; they were somewhat bland and one-dimensional.  They didn't feel undeveloped as much as unexplored. 

I feel like the strongest aspect of the book was the flashback storyline as it overlapped with the present, rather than what was actually occurring present-tense in the book.  I feel as though the present-tense storyline could have been stronger, and given some of the characters a bit more exploration, which would have made the book better overall.

Pros
* The flashbacks are very interesting, especially the ones involving Jiao Mei's ancestors, and really carry the book.
* The ghostly aspect, the flashbacks, and the present tense are woven in so that story flows well.
* It's a pretty quick read.

Cons
* The storyline is interesting and the pacing is good, but not particularly engaging.
* The characters feel unexplored, and come off as bland at times.

OTHER BOOKS BY LIU HONG:
 

Review: Room by Emma Donoghue

Rating:  9.8/10
Read:  June, 2011
Recommended To:  Everyone; I think this book would be interesting and appeal to anyone who enjoys a good read
Categories:  Fiction, Crime & Criminals, Family-Relations

For five-year-old Jack, Room isn't just home, where he lives with his ma, it is all he knows; in his young mind, it's all that exists, period.  Jack's entire world takes place within the four walls of Room; it is where he sleeps and eats, it is where he plays and learns.

What Jack doesn't know is that a whole world exists outside of Room; a world that his mother disappeared from 7 years before.  He doesn't know that Room isn't home at all, but where his mother has been held captive the entire time by "Old Nick", who comes at night to visit ma sometimes while Jack is shut safely in the wardrobe where he sleeps.

Though his mother has tried hard to create as much of a normal life as possible for Jack, she realizes that it will never be normal enough.  She knows that as long as they are held captive, they will never be safe.  She must do something to save them both, and must do it now.  So, she comes up with a devious and possibly dangerous escape plan involving Jack.

With bravery and courage, Jack follows the plan his mother devised, and he and his mother are finally rescued from Old Nick, seven years after his mother was first kidnapped.  Unfortunately, being "rescued" is not easy for mother or son.  Jack is thrown into a world he has never known, and through his confusion, he struggles to understand the world beyond Room, and why they can't go back to the only home he's ever known. Meanwhile, Jack's mother has to face her own struggles, and come to terms with what happened in Room during her seven years of captivity.

Personal Thoughts

I have to say, I really loved this book.  I tend to shy away from reading books that have been really hyped up, because I am usually disappointed in them and can't understand what all the fuss was about.  Even if I try not to go in with expectations, it is really hard not to when you keep hearing how great something is.  There are quite a few books I might have enjoyed more had I not been expecting to read something amazing when I started them.  This was one of those books that I kept hearing great things about, and though the description of the story sounded interesting, I was reluctant to read it.  I am really glad I did; it is definitely one of the best books I have read this year.

Told entirely through the eyes of five-year-old Jack, Room is a very creative and original take on an over-done plot line in the literary world.  Just this year, I have read multiple books that have delved into the "kidnapping" plot; some more successfully than others.  I have always been interested in real cases of missing people, kidnappings and disappearances, which is why I am again and again drawn to these stories, even though it's been overdone in the literary world.  It is really hard for a writer to come up with a fresh and interesting angle, and Emma Donoghue certainly managed to do it with this book.

What really set this book apart though is not that she came up with a fresh angle, but that she was able to pull it off so successfully.  I was skeptical before I started the book, because I had doubts that a book written from the perspective of a five-year-old could be done not only believably, but also that it could be simultaneously well-written.  I opened with the book with the thought that either it would be believable; in that I would believe a 5-year-old wrote the book (in a bad way), or that it would be well-written; in that it would not be believable as being from 5-year-old's perspective.  I was completely wrong, and was astonished to find that it was both believable, and incredibly well-written.

Pros

* Well-written

* Believably told from the perspective of 5-year-old Jack

* Thought-provoking and emotional

* A fresh and original take on the kidnapping plot-line

Cons

* Even though it was believably told from Jack's perspective through-out, there are a few spots in the book where certain things are not entirely believable.  It is not Jack's perspective itself that is unbelievable, just small things that occur in the storyline that are not quite believable; for example, Jack consistently talks/thinks as a five-year-old through the book, but apparently during the "parrot" game, he is able to listen to, understand and repeat precisely what was said by an adult on television, word for word, which I did not find believable.  I did not find that these small moments, though I noticed them, took away from the story at all, or "took me out of it", so to speak.  I was still completely engrossed in the book.


OTHER BOOKS BY EMMA DONOGHUE: