Dream of the Blue Room

(I read this book last month, so the details aren't fresh. Still, I was impressed with Richmond's writing that I feel compelled to post a positive review.) Two Southern girls fall in love and lust during their teen years. One is murdered, the other moves on with her life. She is forever scarred by this murder. Years later, the protagonist is cruising down the waters of China, attempted to put to rest two deaths: her marriage, her former lover. The protagonist spreads the ashes of her teen lover within the waters of China. She also realizes her marriage is over. Her husband is shacking up with a recovering drug addict who sits at their table on the cruise ship. The protagonist is wooed by a handsome older man with ALS. Will they find happiness? ALS kills. Will the protragonist come to terms with her new lover's impending demise? Against the backdrop of China, with colorful snapshots of the modern communist country, we learn a little about modern Chinese culture, but mostly about love and loss. Richmond interwaves past and present into the novel. We learn of the protagonist's lesbian relationship with her (now deceased) lover. We learn of the impact that China had on her lover, and how "something" Chinese led to her murder. I appreciated the symbolism of the cruise ship. The ship, ultimately, has maintenance problems. At one point, the passengers are forced to stay on the ship while these problems are fixed- bad food and mindless games to occupy the time. (That's part of life, especially the mindless games we don't want to play, but sometimes there's nothing else we can do.) The Chinese young adults with the Americanized, celebrity-inspired names- we all want to be celebrities- Hollywood celebrities. (There's more symbolism....) The ending, thankfully, is neither happy or sad. It is what it is. In a world of "wrap it up with a bow" fiction, Richmond chooses to let the reader draw his or her own conclusions about the story. And, that, too, is life. Sometimes we don't get a happy or sad resolution. We continue to exist, to live, to move, without any sort of closure. Highly recommended, China buff or not!

Michelle Richmond's novel is an impressive, impressionistic vision of a woman suffering one loss after another, and growing incredibly strong along the way. There's a vivid evocation of China, almost a secondary character in the novel. And there's even a villain or two for the reader to hate. There are many moments of luminous writing, reflecting the dreamlike quality suggested by the title. And, oh yeah, there's some really good sex too.

This novel takes you up the Yangtze River during the construction of the Three Gorges Dam. The descriptions of abandoned villages and bustling riverside cities are lush and unforgettable. But something more is happening in this novel. While the main character, Jenny, travels up the Yangtze, her marriage is falling apart. The dissolution of the marriage is captured with painful accuracy, and the memories of Jenny's adolescent relationship with a girl named Amanda Ruth are both sensual and poignant. Jenny and Amanda Ruth were so close and Jenny's love for her was so strong that, even though Amanda Ruth is dead, she is a constant presence in Jenny's mind.If you've ever been to China, or if you ever plan to go, this book should be your travel companion!

This book is brilliant! It hit me hard on so many different levels that it makes moving on to another book a recipe for disappointment.The plot, for starters, is impossibly compelling. By page ten I was completely hooked: the dynamics between Jenny (a married woman) and Graham (a mysterious and intriguing stranger she meets late at night on a boat) and Dave (Jenny's husband who sleeps in their cabin below) are rich and complex. You can sense danger ahead but can't help moving towards it, page by page.Nothing is predictable and yet the events unfold as you fear (hope?) they must. I don't want to ruin anything and so will just say that it's a book that you will wish that you could read more slowly.The characters are the reason this book stands above so much of contemporary fiction. They are complex and nuanced. And, most importantly, they are real--as real as anyone that I know: flawed, maddening, endearing, and just plain interesting. When Jenny describes the visceral power of her estranged husband's smell she captures the essence of her conflicting feelings for him beautifully: "I haven't washed his pillowcase since he moved out. Each night I go to bed with his pillow positioned neatly on the left side of the bed, but in the morning I wake with my arms around it, like a grieving widow..." Richmond makes you care about every character; they invade your brain. I find myself referring to them in conversation, months after I finished the book, as if they are real people.Anyway, I wish that I could give this book more than five stars. I just love it. Buy it. Read it. And then buy copies for your friends so that you can share the experience.

An adventure through a tortured soul. Richmond is expert in developing the drama that exposes the sensual desires that Jenny still feels for her lost lover. The fantastic plot turns left me in suspense and wanting more, and more, and more....Not only does Richmond create a vivid drama of the past, but also brings the painful realities of her current relationship with her husband to abrupt confrontation. Jenny's anguish, and attemtps to find emotional escape through her physcial rather than emotional relationships with others, added to the excitement of this artful novel. I can not wait until Richmond's next work comes out, nor until Dream of the Blue Room hits the big screen.