Customer Reviews

Miss Chopsticks

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am definitely a fan of Xinran's writing. I was hooked with The Good Women of China and also found Sky Burial to be beautifully written. I was so excited for this book as I live in China and have worked with migrant workers in the past. I was very disappointed with Miss Chopsticks as I feel that the author could have done a bit more research into the lives of her subjects.

Having worked with migrant workers in China for 2 years, the stories portrayed by sisters Three, Five and Six are hardly the reality for migrant worker women in today's China. The reality that I see are harsh living conditions, 12-15 hour work days with no career ladder, very limited days off, and owners and managers who treat there pets and fancy cars better than their workers. The three sisters in the book seem to be living and working in their dream jobs in a dream world. It was very difficult to swallow when what I see in everyday life is completely opposite.

I wish Xinran would have included more fact into her work of fiction and depicted the persecution and discrimination that today's migrant woman faces. It's those life experiences that really makes these chopsticks, roof beams.

I read this novel in one sitting last night: I could not put it down. Xinran has written a delightful novel about three sisters from rural China who make their own lives in Nanjing.

Sisters Three, Five and Six may not have much formal education, but they know that their mother is a failure because she has produced only six daughters (chopsticks) and no son (roofbeam). Chopsticks (girls) are seen as less valued than roofbeams (sons) for a number of different traditional cultural reasons, and a family without sons has far less face (standing).

Sisters Three, Five and Six have different skills and aptitudes and each is able to find a valuable niche in the city, acquire new knowledge and to bring face to their family. Each sister makes a new and different life in Nanjing, and each is valued. They each learn as well that not all learning is without some pain or grief.

But the ultimate message is one of hope for a different future. In the words of their father:'Is it possible that our chopstick girls will be able to hold up the roof'?

This novel has been translated beautifully into English by Esther Tyldesley.

Highly recommended.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

Xinran's charming story of three sisters is peppered with folk sayings and maternal cautions. Even though "the first pig to get fat is the first one to find itself on the table," the third-born daughter of the Li family (called Three) decides to leave the village and try her fortune in the big city. Anything rather than marry the unappealing husband her parents have chosen for her.

Three's father is so unhappy about having six daughters and no sons that they are named simply after their birth order. Girls, after all, are mere chopsticks, whereas boys are roofbeams. Without a son Li Zhongguo has no one to hold up his house.

Through the kindness of city people (like the Tofu Lady), Three finds a job quickly. She does so well working at The Happy Fool restaurant that two of her sisters (Five and Six) follow her to Nanjing.

Five is illiterate and considered the ugliest and stupidest girl in the village. Six is a bookworm, the only girl in the village to have finished middle school. The experiences of Three, Five and Six in their rather unusual jobs make lively reading. The sisters are beautifully portrayed, and there are lots of other delightful characters besides.

This novel gives a fascinating picture of the new entrepreneurial China, as seen through the eyes of naive country girls who have never used porcelain toilets, ridden in a car or encountered a bignose (Caucasian) in person.

Even though the plot goes a bit flat at the end, all in all I found the book as fresh and piquant as the vegetables in The Happy Fool restaurant.

This easy to read book is about three sisters who try their luck in the big city of Nanjing after growing up in rural China. The vast differences of the rural and city cultures leads to some funny and sad situations. The girls are naive but good natured. They have some good luck in finding jobs and discovering that they have talents they didn't even know they had. The book is based on fact but is essentially a novel. The writer herself is Chinese but lives in the west, so her writing is aimed at the westerner with little understanding of China, so that made it more accessible for me. It is not heavy on philosophy or politics, but it is there and is thoughtfully done. The style is simple narrative which reflects the simple natures of the girls. I enjoyed reading it, as it gave some insight into China, and I was somewhat drawn to the fate of the girls. But it wasn't a page turner or "I must read more by this author" sort of book.

Three, Five and Six are the names of three sisters who are part of a peasant fami;y of six girls and no sons. The contrast between peasant and city life in China is obviously vast but Xinran did not in my mind get the right balance in describing the sisters' awakening as they embarked on their new lives in Nanjing. The interest for me was the account of China in the 21st Century as gradually capitalism becomes more part of everyday life and the individual especially women start to become increasingly independent. It was this background which I found sustained my interest rather than the style, plot or characters. There seems to be numerous books written by Chinese women about the plight Chinese women have experienced over history and other novels have appealed to me more. I would like to read a contemporary Chinese novel which explores other issues.

This book was a breath of fresh air. Usually, these books are depressing and negative, if not outrightly tragic. Even the author's other book, the Good Women of China was hard to read in parts.

This is just an account of three girls working in the "big city". While it isn't a classic work of fiction, it gives great insight on Chinese culture and everyday lives. Great insight.

It's almost a "light read" but enjoyable and a good opportunity to learn something, without feeling sucidal.