I FINALLY READ A BOOK AND I DIDN'T LIKE IT

Xinmei Liu

The Song of Everlasting Sorrow
by Wang Anyi

Columbia University Press | March 1, 2008

     Set in post-World War II Shanghai, "The Song of Everlasting Sorrow" follows the adventures of Wang Qiyao, a girl born of the "longtong," the crowded, labyrinthine alleys of Shanghai's working-class neighborhoods.
     Infatuated with the glitz and glamour of 1940s Hollywood, Wang Qiyao seeks fame in the Miss Shanghai beauty pageant, and this fleeting moment of stardom becomes the pinnacle of her life. During the next four decades, Wang Qiyao indulges in the decadent pleasures of pre-liberation Shanghai, secretly playing mahjong during the antirightist Movement and exchanging lovers on the eve of the Cultural Revolution. Surviving the vicissitudes of modern Chinese history, Wang Qiyao emerges in the 1980s as a purveyor of "old Shanghai"--a living incarnation of a new, commodified nostalgia that prizes splendor and sophistication--only to become embroiled in a tragedy that echoes the pulpy Hollywood noirs of her youth.
     From the violent persecution of communism to the liberalism and openness of the age of reform, this sorrowful tale of old China versus new, of perseverance in the face of adversity, is a timeless rendering of our never-ending quest for transformation and beauty. 

I read this book for my Modern Chinese Literature in translation course. It wasn't my favorite. When I was reading it, I constantly felt the urge to stab my eyeballs. When I wrote up my final paper for the book, I painted the book in such a great light while showing sympathy for the protagonist that I started to manipulate myself into thinking the book was that great. To be fair, the book is not terrible; I simply wasn't in the mood to read. The prose is incredibly vivid and rich that it feels suffocating sometimes. I remember having a lot of difficulties getting through the first couple of "subchapters." A tiny tangent on the novel's format: it's split into three parts, each part has a couple of chapters, and each chapter is further broken down into "subchapters." This was such a cruel thing because you think you're done with one chapter or part, but there's more! I guess this formatting detracted from my overall enjoyment of the novel.

The story follows a Shanghai beauty name Wang Qiyao and her life of everlasting sorrow. Even though her life is quite shit, I could not sympathize with her. I think it's all because of the first part of the novel, which cemented my belief of her as a duplicitous bitch. What language! This is what I had to suppress while writing that paper. In the first part, she exemplifies the humblebrag. "I am so beautiful, I know I am beautiful, I have to be a little more modest to let the other girls have a chance, this friend that is not as pretty as me (I call this friend the charity case) highlights my perfection, this other friend I dumped the other for is so hopeless, I'll just go through with the pageant since everyone is putting in so much effort, etc." There is no agency. She claims to be a modern woman with agency, supports equal rights, and be such a kind person, but her actions contradict her. And don't even get me started on her spawn. Makes my blood boil that one. It's because of this she-devil that I somewhat begin to sympathize with Qiyao. Be nice to your mother. 

Hate the characterization, but the writing is superb. It's brilliant because the author has dropped hints that you wouldn't pick up on until you reread the novel, or in my case, read the spoilers. The way things start to make sense and connect is quite the experience. The author illustrates three different time periods, develops relationships between characters, and adds drama (sometimes the drama is too much). The author has these great spiels about feminism/being a woman, love, and life. Sometimes the descriptions are such a drag to trudge through, but I can't deny the writing is quite beautiful. Here are some lines that stood out to me:

"Each individual has a certain amount of happiness he is entitled to, and that amount is predestined and different for each individual."

"Steadfastness means suffering. Only love means happiness. Steadfastness implies suffering together; love implies enjoying one another's company together. Which would you choose."

"A woman has so little control over her fate..."

"That's because she had to use part of her energy to cope with the changes in her life and keep herself together."