A review by rebeccahussey
Fu Ping by Wang Anyi, Howard Goldblatt

Fu Ping is a fascinating look at what life was like for working-class women in Shanghai in the mid-20th century. Fu Ping is a young woman from the countryside who comes to Shanghai to stay with Nainai, whose grandson she has agreed to marry. But Fu Ping is less agreeable than Nainai expects, and she refuses to talk about her future plans and even whether she will marry the grandson at all. Nainai—and no one else, for that matter—doesn’t know quite what to make of her. The novel is digressive, full of stories about Nainai’s friends and neighbors, Fu Ping’s family members, and various other people in their circles. The plot is very simple, but the book is really most interested in capturing what daily life was like, especially for women and children. It’s about their struggles to find work, put food on the table, and find ways to improve their difficult lives. It’s an invaluable look at a world shaped by tradition but subject to changes brought by city life and shifting political structures.

https://bookriot.com/2019/08/18/august-indie-press-books/