All the Flowers in Shanghai

In the interests of reading background material for my upcoming trip to China, and also adding another book in my quest to be a Queen (or even possible Empress!) in the Good Reads 2012 Historical Fiction Challenge, I have just finished reading Duncan Jepson's newly released novel All the Flowers in Shanghai (#151).

The story is told in retrospect in a series of letters to her daughter from the viewpoint of a young woman in 1930s Shanghai.  Born for the sole purpose of caring for her parents as they age, every family resource has been poured into finding a rich husband for her older sister.  Only her grandfather takes the slightest notice of Feng.  The son of the seamstress who has come to sew her sister's elaborate wedding dress befriends Feng, but he soon returns to his home in the country.  When tragedy strikes the family, Feng is substituted at the last moment as the bride in her sister's place where her duty will be to produce an heir for the wealthy Sang family.  In her desire for revenge, Feng will commit an act that will haunt her for the rest of her life.

I cannot say that I liked this book.  In fact, I'm surprised I actually made it all the way through it.  Feng starts off as a character so ignorant of everything that it appears that she doesn't have two thoughts to bump together in her brain, and she can never find the words to express herself.  It's annoying, really.  After she is married off (Again, without anyone telling her anything the least bit useful; why is anyone surprised she cannot properly do her duty?!) Feng hates everybody; her mother, her father, her older sister, her grandfather.  Everyone has failed her.  And as for the family she has married into?  Her attitude towards them is even worse.  She becomes a royal pain to everyone around her.  When bad things happen to Feng, I had not the slightest sympathy.  The story skips over World War II to the rise of Chairman Mao in the late 50s.  Feng is angry again because her best friend comes to say good-bye before leaving for America, but Feng can't be bothered paying attention to what is going on around her.  When she is confronted by her past, instead of facing up to things, she deserts her family and runs away to a rural Chinese town where she becomes one of the "People".  Eventually one member of her family tracks her down, but Feng will never see any of them again and will end her days in the commune. 

What I took away from this book was that Feng and the people around her were not likeable or sympathetic.  I couldn't relate to her consistent whining and "poor me" attitude, and that her problems were all of someone else's making.  She couldn't see that she attempted to manipulate everyone around her in the very same way that she so bitterly resented.  For my money, I'd much rather read Lisa See any day!