Under the Hawthorn Tree by
Ai Mi My rating:
2 of 5 stars Perhaps one of the most disappointing factors in a reading experience is when you finish a novel that had all the potential for greatness and fell so far short. This is exactly my experience with
Under the Hawthorne Tree by Ai Mi.
It is difficult to point to just one reason the novel failed. It could have been the English translation that was so very uninspiring, spare, flat. There was not one inspiring passage, one beautifully turned phrase. For me it was like reading a young child's first fiction.
The novel's failure could have been in the utter naivete of the author's story, an unrequited love like unto
Romeo and Juliet, but so far short of the depth of story required to have significant emotional impact.
It could have been the characterization of the heroine, Jingqui, who swung from sympathetic waif to spoiled and self-centred idiot.
Combined, these flaws create a saccharine romance that should please lovers of
Twilight, Harlequin Romances, and other novels of similar ilk.
Throughout the narrative, the author attempts to create a romantic tension between the two main protagonists, Jingqui, who is a young female student, and Sun Jianxin (known as Old Third),who is a soldier in the People's Republic of China.
Set in post-revolutionary China, Jingqui meets Old Third while working on a farm as part of her school curriculum. Jingqui then proceeds to bounce between the extremes of loving and loathing, admiring and mistrusting the handsome soldier, Old Third, who does everything in his power to ensure her happiness and safety, even unto his own destruction.
Her sexual naivete is beyond ridiculous, especially for someone who is allegedly as well-read and intelligent as she, little say someone who works among farm folk. The ridiculousness of her lack of sexual understanding extends to belief that she might become pregnant through a kiss, or sitting on a bed with a man, or even just allowing a touch. For a girl who has watched ducks mating, and likely seen other farm animals mating, this protracted lack of understanding wears thin by the denouement. And given she has knowledgeable female friends who very much indulge in gossip, and have a keen awareness of sexuality, it is only logical that some of the basic, physical facts of sex might have filtered through. Overall, Jingqui's lack of understanding of the sexual act entirely lacks credibility.
And if the author hoped to create a romantic tragedy, she only succeeded in that the character of Jingqui proves to be so selfish and uncaring of Old Third's genuine well-being, that the death-bed scene ends up a melodramatic screech of Jingqui's presence.
Now a major motion picture, I can only hope the screenwriter, Lichuan Yin, used the novel only as inspiration, and created something far more credible and memorable.
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Small Gods by Terry Pratchett
This review was
written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers.
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While I did not quite understand the intensely deep hatred for Danielle, her family, and Shadow Song by the uncle—was he just an insanely bitter man? A hateful drunk driven by insanity to incessantly torment?—I allowed that to slip me in order to enjoy the other characters and their stories.
Stephens had some wonderful word choices that caught me off guard, wrote imagery that furthered the story rather than embellished, and built suspense with clever foreshadowing.
While some traditional, more conservative modern Native Americans may shake their heads at what some may see as an inaccurate description of their ways and the supernatural, I instead felt immense respect for the feelings and beliefs. As a young native woman growing without much guidance, the emotion behind the writing describes to me what my ancestors felt. Simply felt. That is something I cannot learn entirely on my own.
I spotted a few editing errors, but they did not take me out of the reading… too much. :)
I plan on adding other Lorina Stephens books to my collection as soon as possible! (