I read the hardcover, which is bound with a thin red ribbon to use as a bookmark which I thought was a nice touch. I'm pretty sure I picked this book up at a library book sale, but not at my own library. I think I got it in Dracut, Mass. at their ongoing book sale.
Young auctioneer Shen comes across the first four chapters of a centuries old memoir of a Chinese author with a similar name to his; Shen Fu. Shen soon discovers that Shen Fu's story has parallels to his own. When he meets Ruth, they read together and the two of them find similarities to themselves, and how they begin to feel about one another.
When Shen and Ruth meet Han, the sexy singer and free spirit who is so unlike themselves, they are both enthralled, but also see reflections of the woman that Shen Fu and his wife meet in 1700s China. The stories weave back and forth along with their pursuit of the remaining two chapters of the book which have been missing since the first four chapters was originally published just after Shen Fu's death.
The story is a wistful, sweet, and sometimes heartbreaking look at how things stay the same, no matter how much they seem to change. People's feeling for one another, and perhaps even their destinies, are unchangeable.
A quick look on the interwebs presented a little surprise for me. The really was a Shen Fu who wrote an autobiography called Six Records of a Floating Life, which includes four chapters. I haven't read it, but I suspect that Nicholas Jose has, and this may be a retelling of that story from the Qing Dynasty writer, also known as Sanbai.
On a side note, its interesting that the book I'm reading now, is also sub-titled "A Love Story" but it is sooo different than this one.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Say it, I want to hear it...