Saturday, March 05, 2005

2005 book 21

gish jen's the love wife
another fine novel from jen, this is the story of a mixed-race family with two adopted daughters dealing w/ upheavals after the birth of a son, the death of a mother-in-law, and especially the arrival of a relative from mainland china. it's narrated by all the characters in chunks--not chapter by chapter, more usually page by page, which is very effective at times, as though they're all interrupting each other while telling the story. things do go a bit haywire toward the end, as a big ol' plot twist comes up and things get somewhat dramatic, but on the whole i enjoyed this story, and especially thought the characters of the two daughters were well-done.

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