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Miss Chopsticks

By Xinran

(6)

| Hardcover | 9780701180416

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Book Description

Xinran takes her readers to the heart of modern Chinese society in this delightful and absorbing tale of three peasant girls getting to grips with life in the big city.

The Li sisters don’t have much education, but one thing has been drummed into them: their mother is a failure because Continue

Critics

Women on a new long march

Miss Chopsticks Xinran Chatto & Windus £16.99, pp240 Beijing-born author and radio presenter Xinran has cornered the market in short cuts into understanding modern Chinese culture. Now based in London and married to literary agent Toby Eady, she retu ... (read full critics)

guardian.co.uk published on Sat, 25 Sep 2010

Miss Chopsticks

In Sanniu's Chinese village, girls are called 'chopsticks', boys 'roof-beams'. Unlike sturdy roof-beams, chopstick girls are so disposable that Sanniu's parents have named her and her five sisters only with numbers: Sanniu means 'Three'. Following Th ... (read full critics)

guardian.co.uk published on Fri, 24 Sep 2010

1 Review

*** This comment contains spoilers! ***

Readers can understand more about the hardship and discrimination of women being born in rural area in China from this book. Fortunately, it is a "story", thus the storyline is still awesome - eventually the three sisters (the main characters), named Three, Five and Six can leave the village (where ... (continue)

Readers can understand more about the hardship and discrimination of women being born in rural area in China from this book. Fortunately, it is a "story", thus the storyline is still awesome - eventually the three sisters (the main characters), named Three, Five and Six can leave the village (where they are "caged") and go to the city to start a new life. Those people they met in the city are warmhearted and helpful and they are like the guardian angels of the sisters and help them out all the way. It reminds me of a motto - "When God Closes a Door, Somewhere He Opens a Window".
As a reader, even though it is "open-ended ending" but I am still happy with it as it implies that their courage and achievements have changed, not only the mindset and attitude of their father toward them but also the social status of their family and perhaps the destiny of other girls in the village...

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Antoinette said on Sep 18, 2010 | Add your feedback