Friday, 31st October 2008

My Favourite Wife

The main book of this half term was My Favourite Wife by Tony Parsons. It’s about a lawyer called Bill who, at his wife’s suggestion, moves his wife (Becca) and young daughter (Holly) to Shanghai to make some DOLLAZ. However, the plan all goes a bit dodgy when Becca and Holly are forced to return to England and Bill is left alone in a block of flats which is home to many Shanghai girls searching for a Western patron, in exchange for…certain privileges.

Okay, so it SOUNDS like it’s a love story, all about Bill and his dirty Chinese mistress and his grieving, long suffering wife stuck in England with no idea of what’s going on blah blah blah, and I guess it is. But it’s also very much about 21st century China. Parsons’ portrayal of modern day China, “a medieval country with Broadband” is what actually sticks in my mind about this book. He did it extremely well, managing somehow to convey the insane balance between the new money and the flashy new buildings and the new businesses and the alarmingly expanding economy and the 5 million people still on bicycles and in stalls on the high street selling fake everything to anyone who will listen. Just the concept of China is actually extremely difficult to understand, and through Bill, as he stays longer in Shanghai and visits other areas of the country, his own understanding changes. Every character in the book has a different take on China; the economy, the foreign investors, the appeal of China, the nature of Shanghai, the identity of the girls in Bill’s block, the role of everyday Chinamen and women in this country’s evolution…Through all of them, not just Bill, we can see the different aspects of China, the shiny and the bleak, and by the end of the book formulate our own opinions.

Many of the events and themes of this book could make it serious literature, but it isn’t serious, and Parsons doesn’t try to make it serious. Because of this, it’s very easy to absorb his descriptions of China, the individual characters we meet and the way they blend back into the 1 billion supporting cast. It’s not a serious book, but it’s definitely an enjoyable book which leaves you thinking seriously about things. You should read it.

(By the way, sorry if that sounded like a piece of English coursework. I’m in my coursework head right now.)