Hong Ying

I had a hard time connecting with the author and the choices she made,or the things she were feeling.She writes in a way that somewhat distanced me as a reader from the story. And not only me but I feel she was apart from the other persons in the book,almost numb.I know her living conditions were pretty harsh so she might have been densesitized,judging by the way she describes the squalor of where she lived and sicknesses and violence.

The whole book is like under a cloud of painful memories and depressing recollections.

It was also hard to follow at times since the narration jumps from the past the present and back again.



… (mais)

An interest premise, life in some of the seamier areas of Shanghai over a couple of decades in the early 20th century, but it’s not well executed. It’s like a melodramatic romance novel set to this period, and unfortunately Hong Ying’s writing is mediocre at best, and immature otherwise. She doesn’t go into any depth or provide any real insights into the period either, so set your expectations to ‘fluff’ if you decide to pick this one up.

After we learn early on that the young woman sold into servitude has “mysteriously large breasts,” (lol) she’s soon the happy lover of one of the most powerful men in the underworld of Shanghai, which aside from being implausible, also takes attention away from possibly describing what such a life might really have been like. The story that has her rising to fortune on the stage while going through a few men was somewhat interesting, and Ying pulls off a nice plot twist in a murder, but it goes on far too long. The bits with her child growing up to be an actor and the author inserting herself as a fictional researcher get to be tedious in a book that wears out its welcome.

As for the sex bits, they suffer because of her writing, and aren’t very erotic. Maybe if you’re into being watched you find something of interest, as it’s a recurring theme (e.g. sex in front of someone watching, sex while looking in a mirror). Otherwise be prepared for passages like this: “Her chest protruded like a statue and the breasts he had fantasized about for so many years were firm, the nipples standing up cockily, like warriors.” (what?) And: “His hair was messy and his eyes were burning with passion; even his Adam’s apple was pulsating.” (I was giggling).

The best quote was this one:
“If I love several men, I am still young. If I only love one man, I am already old; if I don’t love anyone, I do not exist.”… (mais)

A book that has so much promise, set against the backdrop of the uprising in Tiananmen Square in 1989, but which ultimately fails in its execution. Hong Ying makes her points about corruption in China, the yearning for democracy, and the need to treat women as equals, all of which are strong messages, so the book is not without merit. Unfortunately, her style is melodramatic, and far too focused on sex. I understand using sexual freedom to make a feminist statement, and even to make an anti-communist statement, but she comes back to it again and again, like a crutch. It doesn’t feel honest, as with authors like Anais Nin, or Erica Jong in her better moments, it just feels like it’s in there to sell books. The orgy scene at the end was especially ludicrous. Yes, that’s right, in a book where the Tiananmen uprising itself is in the background, referred to after the fact and mostly from its after-effects, there is an orgy scene. It’s an interesting book, but Hong Ying lacks discipline and maturity, and the story could have been so much better developed.… (mais)