Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress

Our last discussion, on Hannah Coulter (Wendell Berry), was so good -- probably our best. One of our members said she'd been feeling a deep pull toward rural life, and the book accorded with that. I'm not going to summarize our discussion yet, because as usual I've since read something else that I need to share.

We also discussed what to read during the months for which we still had no titles. Another member suggested we take up Red Scarf Girl: A Memoir of the Cultural Revolution by Ji-li Jiang. It's a memoir about the Cultural Revolution in China. I don't know which month we'll plug it into.

I needed something to read over our holiday break (we don't meet in December), so I went to the library and noticed a display of books by Asian writers. Didn't see Red Scarf Girl, but noticed one with red shoes on the cover. It was Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, by Dai Sijie. I thought, since it's short and also about the Cultural Revolution, it might be a good companion to Red Scarf Girl.

It is a quick read, and a good story. If anyone wants to supplement their reading for the month we finally do Red Scarf Girl, I recommend this one. It would make for an interesting discussion, especially as it offsets the viewpoint of Hannah Coulter. As the story opens, we learn that the two main characters are being forcibly moved to a back-country village for their re-education. They are "young intellectuals" according to Mao, and need to learn peasant ways. Actually, their "crime" consists of having a high school education and being the sons of medical professionals. Needless to say, this is hardly the idyllic picture of rural life that Wendell Berry paints. Certainly, a move to the countryside should be one's own choice!

I also picked up Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry, which is turning out to be much the same in writing style to Hannah Coulter. I had hoped for a different voice -- didn't care for Hannah's narrative so much -- and this is a slight improvement. There is the same reflective tone -- you can tell it's by the same author -- but this first-person narrative is a bit crisper and more interesting. I think there's more description, and certainly more action, and I have a better sense of who the narrator (the barber of Port William) is. Naturally, a barber (Jayber Crow) is going to have a lot of insight into the town's characters, so that makes it interesting. And he is a friend of Burley Coulter's -- a character we all wished for more of in Hannah Coulter. Actually, this story reminds me a lot of Gilead. Jayber is a solitary person, much like the old, dying pastor in that book.

Isn't it interesting how so many of our books have some relation to each other?

Added later (2/21/09): I just remembered something that I really liked about Jayber Crow. His love is pure and sacrificial. I'd say that it's in contrast to Max DeWinter's, for either of his wives. I don't want to give anything away, so you'll have to read Jayber. But really, do read it. He's a wonderful character.