The Love Wife

So much has been written about Gish Jen's new novel. Yet what has been missed in all the press and in the reviews posted here too, is the depth of characterization in this book, and the accuracy of the portrayal of Chinese culture in particular. The character of Blondie captures to an uncanny degree the dream of self realization that lies at the core of many American lives. The character of Carnegie epitomizes a certain rootless post-modern ironic take on the world. But even more dead on is the character of Lan. As a person who has spent time in China, I am amazed to finally behold a character who thinks like the Chinese I met and knew. For example, she is, like a large number of Chinese people, obsessed by what's "real" and what's "fake." In a country where so much of reality is cloaked, it is not surprising that people would think and talk in those terms. Why is it that you almost never see a Chinese character in American fiction who reflects that? Lan is also obsessed with her status in a way that I recognize from my encounters in Asia. She needs to know whether she is a member of the family or a servant, and is obsessed with the question. A related issue for her has to do with belonging. She is, in my reading of the book, not so much trying to steal the girls as driven to find a place among them. So many Chinese students report, over and over, how cold a country America seems to them. Lan is no exception. And she is obsessed with the question of whether she is authentically from Suzhou, a beautiful place that represents the height of Chinese civilization. Suzhou is where her family came from, but she has been living in Shandong province, a poor and backward area. Which is her identity? I loved the way she is portrayed as having as many identity problems as the American characters. It isn't only Blondie who looks back (to Wisconsin). Lan looks back too. The idea of return is important to her. As for so many Chinese, it lies behind her seeming modernity and interest in capitalism. This is one of the best books I have ever read, a spectacular and groundbreaking achievement I recommend to all.

When I saw that the NYT's tough Michiko Kakutani gush over The Love Wife , I had to take a look. Wow! This couldn't be a more timely novel with all the cross-cultural clashes front page news; here's a novel both about families mixed-raced and mixed-adoption/bio but also about America, nationhood, & the challenges that cultural misperceptions create. The reviews I've seen comment on the amazing Mama Wong, but all the characters are so real they become 'family' by the end. Kakutani's comment that this is a "big-hearted" book is right on; you feel that the author love's all these characters and you do to -- though at times you want to shake them too! And, the ending is a heart-stopper.

This book piqued my interest from page one. I became attracted to the characters instantaneously. Each one has his/her own comical neuroses and depth. The author's style of shifting narrators provides a shift in perspective which made me feel like I had become intimately involved with the characters--as if I had the opportunity to read their journal entries and understand their private points of view. The Love Wife tells the story of the new American family. The cast of characters include Carnegie, a Chinese American,his mother Mama Wong, his "midwestern white" wife Janie/Blondie, their three children--2 adopted Chinese girls and one biological boy, and Mama Wong's distant relative from mainland China, Lan, who flies in like Mary Popins after Mama Wong's death. In her will, Mama Wong has bequeathed Lan. Lan arrives with her parasol and exotic stories from the mainland. As a result of her appearance, each character redefines who he/she is culturally and personally. This new redefinition brings about huge change in the family dynamics. Gish Jen brings up the ever prominent question and theme: what makes an American family? Well today, an American family can be everything and anything and Gish Jen clearly demonstrates this sentiment. Although this book is fiction, what makes it so delightful is that it reads as non-fiction. Gish Jen's knowledge of popular culture, family interactions, history, and attention to detail make the reader believe that she is talking about your next door neighbor. This book is a winner--you won't want to put it down and you will laugh out loud many times as you become engrossed in the story.

I opened The Love Wife last week, meaning just to take a quick look, and have been reading it in every spare moment since. I was immediately captivated by Gish Jen's beautiful prose, her vivid, unpredictable, utterly human characters and her intricate plot. The novel is told in the voices of the several main characters - Blondie, her husband, Carnegie, their daughters, their mysterious nanny. As I turned the pages I realised I was beginning to think of them as neighbours or friends; it was impossible not to sympathise with their arguments and desires. I love the way this novel is both so completely contemporary and yet so fully connected with the past. And I love the way Jen shows the possibilities for inventing and reinventing the family in modern America. It was with real sorrow that I saw the pages dwindle and finally reached the splendid ending. I can't recommend this book too highly.

I've thoroughly enjoyed Jen's critically-acclaimed first two novels (Typical American, Mona in the Promised Land) but I think this is a huge leap for her. Jen's trademark humor is here, as is her skillful portrayal of the dark side of human relations, miscommunications, motivations. But she lets her characters -- all of them! -- speak for themselves, almost in a radio drama kind of way, which both drives the narrative at breakneck speed but more importantly makes them all sympathetic, even as we see their many failings. (Mama Wong is amazing, a force to be reckoned with who is the most memorable character I've come across in years -- even after she's dead!). This book goes way beyond the sweet deserving immigrant stories so typical in fiction. Jen's portrayal of cultural differences is done with an accuracy (and a sympathy) that I've not seen before. Lan thinks in truly Chinese terms, and Blondie's ethnic heritage and her ideas about self-realization are also dead on. Jen's interest in what makes one American is here as well, but now augmented by concerns about what makes a family (and nation) `natural'. The Wong family, with an interracial couple that both conceives and adopts children, is unnatural according to Mama Wong. What's natural/unnatural to a family, or to America, or to the world, is an important question in these times of rampant extremism and fundamentalism. With The Love Wife, we get a funny, intimate, and provocative view into these questions. This is an important book & a must read.