#3: The Kitchen God's Wife
I had heard so much about Amy Tan. And so when I came across this book selling for only RM3 at a junkyard sale in college, I grabbed it. Finally found time to read it and boy, was I disappointed. It started off well and it got my attention for at least the first half of the book. But after that, it was a long and dreary journey. I even skipped pages at some points because I felt it was simply too cheong-hei. But I told myself to finish it because I had always wanted to learn to appreciate Asian authors' style of writing. It was no easy feat, I tell you. But I'm glad I finally reached the end. The concluding pages weren't great because they centered on leaving your life in the hands of fate; that is, if you have a good fate.Albeit fiction, it got me thinking about how life would be if I had lived in the pre-war era. How different it would have been. I'm so glad though, I am living in today's times. But one thing's for sure, I am so grateful that in reading, I learn so much about the pain and suffering of others. Then, it becomes a world of others too, not just one of my own.
Yeah I thought the same thing too about the book. Not only that, I thought she was trying to 'sell' the Asian culture too much to sell books...like sort of injecting as much Asian-ness into the book, so that people see it as exotic and buy it!
Posted by
Unknown |
5:11 PM
hey hey...yah, i felt the same way. and i really regret having such stereotypical thinking too. next time i shall be a little more wary in buying asian author's books, all because i wanna "support them".
Posted by
Serena |
8:54 AM
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