Whenever I
stumble upon a good book or interesting narratives by a writer in terms of voice and
writing style, I think of getting another copy of the book as I am so excited
about the find that I want to give a copy of it to a friend.
Storytelling is
an essential part of our collective understanding about humanity. Be it through
fiction, non-fiction, writers translate facts, figures, ideas, perceptions and
experiences into empathy and understanding. When a story is being told, it is
the writer’s voice that engages a
reader’s attention.
This year I
picked up the novel I am China from
Borders and then I picked up 20 Fragments of a Ravenous Youth from an independent bookshop that sells used and
overrun books. I had unwittingly picked up two novels by XiaoLu Guo click without
realizing that both novels were by the same author. Guo’s writing style comes across as a hybrid between Chinese
and English. Twenty Fragments was
originally written in Chinese, then when it was translated into English, Guo
rewrote in English on top of the translation.
After reading
books by writers whose native language is English, Guo’s voice offers a breath
of fresh air and a certain charm. Her voice is authentic, instinctive and
effective.
20 fragments
of a Ravenous Youth reminds us of the
frailty of youth and modern city living. The story is about Fenfang, a young
film extra who has travelled 1800 miles to seek a life outside her sweet
potato fields back home. She wants to have those shiny things in life. When she is in urban Beijing, she works
as a cleaner in the Young Pioneer’s movie threatre, falls in love with
unsuitable men and her dinner is UFO noodles when she is dire straits.
“ Heavenly
Bastard in the Sky” is Fenfang’s favourite phrase. Betty Blue -37’2 le matin is Fenfang’s favourite film.
‘ Even after 15 times. I could
never forget the end. Betty was dead and her man Zorg was writing alone at a
table. Suddenly, his cat jumped on the table and stared at Zorg. And then it
spoke. Oh, Heavenly Bastard in the Sky. The cat started to speak and it was
Betty’s warm voice asking Zorg, are you writing now? Zorg looked at the cat. And
that was it. The End. Heavenly Bastard in the Sky! Even just thinking about
this made me want to cry.'
The novel is
written in twenty fragments in the protagonist’s voice and each fragment is a
segment of her youthful experience. It is a coming of age story.
In Fragment Seven, Guo writes,
‘I HAD ALWAYS WANTED TO LEAVE my
village, a nothing place that won’t be found on any map of China. I had been
planning my escape ever since I was very little. It was the river behind our
house that started it. Its constant gurgling sound pulled at me . But I couldn’t
see its end or its beginning. It just flowed endlessly on. Where did it go? Why
didn’t it dry up in the scorching heat like everything else?’
‘I used to imagine the source of the river. Some faraway
hidden cave that was home to a beautiful fairy. From there, the water flowed
through our world to yet another world, a magical place close to heaven where
lucky people lived, or animals perhaps-foxes maybe, or rabbits, owls, even
unicorns. Wherever it was , it was not a place the people from my village could
ever enter.’
In Fragment
Nine, Guo writes,
‘ Kafka said, anyone who can’t
come to terms with his life while he is alive needs one hand to wave away his
despair and the other to note down what he sees among the ruins. I thought
about the diary I used to keep. I wished
I still had it. By now I would have had a whole library of my thoughts
to look back on. But I stopped writing it when I was with Xiaolin. He treated
it as his evening newspaper. He would leaf through its pages when he was bored,
looking for stories. So instead, I kept my true thoughts , desires and dreams
hidden deep within. I became a person who was very good at hiding her emotions.
Maybe that was why people thought I was heartless. Apparently my face often had
a blank expression. Huizi, my most intellectual friend, would say, ‘Fenfang,
yours is the face of a post-modern woman.’
20 Fragments
of A Ravenous Youth is melancholic yet
hopeful. I have been to a few big cities in China and I find that
Guo’s narratives about modern China are insightful and aptly descriptive.
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