Fan Wu

February Flowers is a modern novel, set in China, about the friendship between two girls at university. It followed the kind of friendship that I often find portrayed in novels, where one girl of the pair is innocent, shy and academic, while the other girl is glamorous, adventurous and seems to have a much more exciting life. So I didn’t think February Flowers was particularly original in this respect, but it did have an unusual setting (for me) which made it more appealing. It seemed to be deliberately written for a Western readership who wouldn’t know much about China, which created a rather strange effect at times, but I found it interesting to read about the experience of being at university in China in the 1990s. Somehow I didn’t completely connect with this novel, although it had a nice melancholic atmosphere and explored experiences of friendship, growing up and sexuality in a realistic way. [2012]… (mais)