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jola_g's review against another edition
3.0
It’s difficult to point out the exact moment when a moving, thought-provoking story turned into a pretentious mess. Unfortunately that’s exactly what I experienced while reading The Bathing Women. Such a pity! At first I was surprised by rather low rating of Tie Ning’s book but now I can relate to frustrated readers.
Three things that especially got on my nerves:
1. In my opinion the novel is too long. At times I had a feeling that Tie Ning was assigned a set number of pages to write and having literary material for fewer she struggled hard to meet the requirements. The result? Repetitions, for example a remark about the standard of living in China which according to Tie Ning is similar to the United States nowadays. Plus a depressing image of emigrant’s life. Besides, some parts of the book are boring, eg. the passage about Balthus, which probably was supposed to make the novel more ambitious but to me sounded a bit artificial.
2. Neglecting Youyou. Such a pity she didn’t play a more important role in the story.
3. I really prefer when authors trust reader’s imagination and explicit, detailed sex scenes is not something I enjoy in literature. Here they happened a few times. I’m aware of the importance of the symbol of nakedness in this book, implied by the title also, but sometimes I was overwhelmed with details of Tiao and Fei's erotic life.
My troubles with The Bathing Women mentioned above were irritating, no doubt about that, but I’m going to follow Tie Ning’s literary career with a great interest, as she revealed some abilities I treasure most. She can create unforgettable scenes. The one with a teacher accused and ridiculed by students still makes me shiver. Besides, Tie Ning turned out to be a subtle literary psychologist, very good at weaving characters. For instance the way she depicted Tiao’s parents and their conflict is really impressive.
The Bathing Women show the ambivalence of human nature. There are both good and bad things about people. Maybe it’s obvious but some writers tend to forget about it, pushing their heroes into “the good” and “the bad” category, nothing in between. Tie Ning definitely can see the complexity and a wide spectrum of human nature colours.
Three things that especially got on my nerves:
1. In my opinion the novel is too long. At times I had a feeling that Tie Ning was assigned a set number of pages to write and having literary material for fewer she struggled hard to meet the requirements. The result? Repetitions, for example a remark about the standard of living in China which according to Tie Ning is similar to the United States nowadays. Plus a depressing image of emigrant’s life. Besides, some parts of the book are boring, eg. the passage about Balthus, which probably was supposed to make the novel more ambitious but to me sounded a bit artificial.
2. Neglecting Youyou. Such a pity she didn’t play a more important role in the story.
3. I really prefer when authors trust reader’s imagination and explicit, detailed sex scenes is not something I enjoy in literature. Here they happened a few times. I’m aware of the importance of the symbol of nakedness in this book, implied by the title also, but sometimes I was overwhelmed with details of Tiao and Fei's erotic life.
My troubles with The Bathing Women mentioned above were irritating, no doubt about that, but I’m going to follow Tie Ning’s literary career with a great interest, as she revealed some abilities I treasure most. She can create unforgettable scenes. The one with a teacher accused and ridiculed by students still makes me shiver. Besides, Tie Ning turned out to be a subtle literary psychologist, very good at weaving characters. For instance the way she depicted Tiao’s parents and their conflict is really impressive.
The Bathing Women show the ambivalence of human nature. There are both good and bad things about people. Maybe it’s obvious but some writers tend to forget about it, pushing their heroes into “the good” and “the bad” category, nothing in between. Tie Ning definitely can see the complexity and a wide spectrum of human nature colours.
lamusadelils's review against another edition
3.0
Es un dramón, lo cual no necesariamente me desagrada, pero suelo interesarme más cuando los dramones no son tan serios, cuando hay una sensación de exageración intencional y juguetona.
No sé que tanto sea problema de la traducción o del libro en si pero me da la impresión de que había momentos que tenían lenguaje muy bello y se convirtieron en demasiado enredados o perdieron el ritmo. Aún así, si están en mood de drama creo que es una buena historia para intensear.
No sé que tanto sea problema de la traducción o del libro en si pero me da la impresión de que había momentos que tenían lenguaje muy bello y se convirtieron en demasiado enredados o perdieron el ritmo. Aún así, si están en mood de drama creo que es una buena historia para intensear.
tomkipp's review
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.25
zunia's review against another edition
2.0
I want to mention the Polish translation done by Anna Gralak. Although the book wasn’t translated directly from Chinese, but English, which I normally don’t support, the translation was brilliant and I believe it was what made the book enjoyable to read.
The story itself, however, was really upsetting. It talks about trauma cycles and self sabotage. Even though it was meant to be about women, we can tell the characters’ entire lives are mostly ruled by men. The book wasn’t so much about “women”, but rather the characters’ extreme emotions. If we take Fan for example, her behavior was so childish that a lot of the dialogues between her and Tiao were just ridiculous.
There are quite a few graphic sex scenes. At first I didn’t mind, but once we got to Tiao and Chen Zai being together, the descriptions got so “poetic” that I couldn’t help but cringe.
The Cultural Revolution is present, but it only seems to be the core of the older generation’s (namely, Wu and Yixun’s) problems. Tie Ning — as an author promoted by the Communist Party — criticized the Revolution, but also used it to emphasize the “positive change” in the 80s/90s (“more Western products on the market, lots of new restaurants opening, students get opportunities abroad”)…
The differences between “the West” aka the US and “the East” aka China shown in the book were extremely superficial so I won’t get into detail.
When it comes to the ending, I’ve seen a lot of frustrated reviews which I personally don’t really get. The story was frustrating for me as well but I didn’t really see any happy future for Tiao and Chen Zai anyway. What I disliked about the ending, however, was when the narrator compared Wu and Meicheng to each other, saying they’re both “women who tried to live up to men’s expectations”. Yes, except one of them is a cheater and a bad parent living in guilt and the other is a victim that can’t seem to move on from a relationship that was a mistake.
Overall, the book wasn’t bad but it’s not a must-read. I expected way more having seen Oe Kenzaburo’s positive review.
The story itself, however, was really upsetting. It talks about trauma cycles and self sabotage. Even though it was meant to be about women, we can tell the characters’ entire lives are mostly ruled by men. The book wasn’t so much about “women”, but rather the characters’ extreme emotions. If we take Fan for example, her behavior was so childish that a lot of the dialogues between her and Tiao were just ridiculous.
There are quite a few graphic sex scenes. At first I didn’t mind, but once we got to Tiao and Chen Zai being together, the descriptions got so “poetic” that I couldn’t help but cringe.
The Cultural Revolution is present, but it only seems to be the core of the older generation’s (namely, Wu and Yixun’s) problems. Tie Ning — as an author promoted by the Communist Party — criticized the Revolution, but also used it to emphasize the “positive change” in the 80s/90s (“more Western products on the market, lots of new restaurants opening, students get opportunities abroad”)…
The differences between “the West” aka the US and “the East” aka China shown in the book were extremely superficial so I won’t get into detail.
When it comes to the ending, I’ve seen a lot of frustrated reviews which I personally don’t really get. The story was frustrating for me as well but I didn’t really see any happy future for Tiao and Chen Zai anyway. What I disliked about the ending, however, was when the narrator compared Wu and Meicheng to each other, saying they’re both “women who tried to live up to men’s expectations”. Yes, except one of them is a cheater and a bad parent living in guilt and the other is a victim that can’t seem to move on from a relationship that was a mistake.
Overall, the book wasn’t bad but it’s not a must-read. I expected way more having seen Oe Kenzaburo’s positive review.
sheidhrbeh7's review
challenging
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
gemmadee's review against another edition
4.0
I couldn’t resist a story about the intersecting lives of a group of women shaped by the Cultural Revolution. I read it almost in one sitting, gulping down the last chapter hours after my bedtime. I wish I had gone to bed instead of reading the last chapter. I would have loved the book so much more.
it was a beautifully told story about genuinely complex characters who belonged to their time and were affected by politics without being particularly political. Although they are guilty of an almost inconceivable crime, it is easy to hope for their happiness as they make the best of what is left of their damaged lives. It is especially easy to sympathize with Tiao, who like Ethan Allen in The Winter of Our Discontent, realizes that many people live exemplary lives in compensation for past sin.
Until the last chapter. Suddenly, Tiao broke from the hard won life that she had been building in a way that made this down-to-earth human drama feel like a religious parable. It was a baffling and disappointing end to an engaging, richly characterized story.
it was a beautifully told story about genuinely complex characters who belonged to their time and were affected by politics without being particularly political. Although they are guilty of an almost inconceivable crime, it is easy to hope for their happiness as they make the best of what is left of their damaged lives. It is especially easy to sympathize with Tiao, who like Ethan Allen in The Winter of Our Discontent, realizes that many people live exemplary lives in compensation for past sin.
Until the last chapter. Suddenly, Tiao broke from the hard won life that she had been building in a way that made this down-to-earth human drama feel like a religious parable. It was a baffling and disappointing end to an engaging, richly characterized story.
cyndin's review against another edition
3.0
Follows the lives of two sisters and a close friend as they grow from childhood through to mid adulthood. The title makes no sense (there is no bathing involved) and the jacket says the book follows 4 women, but the 4th is a minor character without her own viewpoint chapters and really the 4th ought to be the sisters' mother who has a secondary role. Blame the translation from Chinese. It may have made more sense in the original.
The story itself is good, showing the structures of life in China and how they changed over time. With insights into the women's thoughts and those of the men in their lives as well. Much of the book is hard for an American to grasp...not the main points, but a lot of the details which seemed to me that they would have meant more had I understood the underlying culture better.
The story itself is good, showing the structures of life in China and how they changed over time. With insights into the women's thoughts and those of the men in their lives as well. Much of the book is hard for an American to grasp...not the main points, but a lot of the details which seemed to me that they would have meant more had I understood the underlying culture better.
kej182's review
1 star Very slow, boring at times and just seemed to get even more boring as it went on, couldn't force myself to keep reading.
Not sure if it's a translation problem or just the book in general.
Not sure if it's a translation problem or just the book in general.
ksparks's review
2.0
This is an enjoyable novel. At times I was reminded of the writer Anais Nin. The characters were interesting. The family relationships were pretty ugly, however, and in the end I felt like the author was trying to tie up these ugly relationships in a bow to make something beautiful of them. In my opinion there are some people you should just cut all ties with, not honor forever because they are related to you by blood. Near the end I found myself skimming.
sheilasamuelson's review
1.0
Rating: 1 star!!
Review:
I was given this book as a gift for Christmas BUT i did NOT love it!! It was hard to get into, the changing of language was very annoying to me which is why i rated it 1 star.
I defiantely wont be reading more books by Tie Ning in the future!!
Review:
I was given this book as a gift for Christmas BUT i did NOT love it!! It was hard to get into, the changing of language was very annoying to me which is why i rated it 1 star.
I defiantely wont be reading more books by Tie Ning in the future!!
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