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vaekay's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
A truly upsetting allegory that counters Western colonialism and cultural dominance. Was brought to tears several times over the course of this very short novel, but would recommend especially to other Americans.
dajna's review against another edition
3.0
Una volta si chiamava amore e gelosia, oggi fortunatamente lo riconosciamo per quello che è: abuso e violenza domestica.
Non è necessario alzare le mani su una persona per annientarla. A volte basta soffocarla in un bozzo di attenzioni, allontanarla dagli affetti, costringerla a una routine estranea con l'idea di farla vivere meglio.
Wai Wai crede di aver trovato il principe azzurro: colto, moderno, integrato nella cultura inglese. Invece è un Barbablu che la chiude in una gabbia dorata e che la costringe a rinunciare alla sua cultura e ai suoi affetti.
Il finale è prevedibile.
Non è necessario alzare le mani su una persona per annientarla. A volte basta soffocarla in un bozzo di attenzioni, allontanarla dagli affetti, costringerla a una routine estranea con l'idea di farla vivere meglio.
Wai Wai crede di aver trovato il principe azzurro: colto, moderno, integrato nella cultura inglese. Invece è un Barbablu che la chiude in una gabbia dorata e che la costringe a rinunciare alla sua cultura e ai suoi affetti.
Il finale è prevedibile.
wisteria_may's review against another edition
4.0
This is not about character development. This is the decrease of characters.
At first, we see Wai Wai as cute, capable and energetic young woman. Helping her father's works, Wai Wai's life is so simple and peaceful, many bright futures ahead of her. But the whole thing change after marrying U Saw Han.
This is my third or fourth time reading and I still hate U Saw Han. I really can't like him.
Especially, when he doesn't let Wai Wai go to her father. Doesn't he have family? Doesn't he know her father is very important to Wai Wai??
Well, we can't completely blame him but his love for Wai Wai is just not right. I feel like Ma Ma Lay showed us that love can kill people, both inside and outside. Of course there are a lot of other messages but this is the only one I can think right now. Everytime I read this, I feel angry with U Saw Han and sad for Wai Wai. I feel angry with Wai Wai too. Why did she stay like that? She should at least say things that she likes or dislike! But I really love the characters of Htar Htar and Ko Nay Oo. Especially Htar Htar. She is such a calm and strong woman.
Anyway, this is a book that everybody should read. This is a very sad book with very extreme characters but still, everyone should read.
At first, we see Wai Wai as cute, capable and energetic young woman. Helping her father's works, Wai Wai's life is so simple and peaceful, many bright futures ahead of her. But the whole thing change after marrying U Saw Han.
This is my third or fourth time reading and I still hate U Saw Han. I really can't like him.
Especially, when he doesn't let Wai Wai go to her father. Doesn't he have family? Doesn't he know her father is very important to Wai Wai??
Well, we can't completely blame him but his love for Wai Wai is just not right. I feel like Ma Ma Lay showed us that love can kill people, both inside and outside. Of course there are a lot of other messages but this is the only one I can think right now. Everytime I read this, I feel angry with U Saw Han and sad for Wai Wai. I feel angry with Wai Wai too. Why did she stay like that? She should at least say things that she likes or dislike! But I really love the characters of Htar Htar and Ko Nay Oo. Especially Htar Htar. She is such a calm and strong woman.
Anyway, this is a book that everybody should read. This is a very sad book with very extreme characters but still, everyone should read.
readlahwei's review against another edition
4.0
my god, this book was heart-wrenching, and even though i want to say i felt sad reading it, i felt even more angry at a man's suffocating love, and helpless at the protagonist's plight. safe to say, this was a depressing read.
i was not wrong about how much i loved the footnotes on burmese culture, and how the ample footnotes added flavour to my understanding of the story's time, place and people.
will update with a longer review after the discussion with my book club!
i was not wrong about how much i loved the footnotes on burmese culture, and how the ample footnotes added flavour to my understanding of the story's time, place and people.
will update with a longer review after the discussion with my book club!
literaryinfatuation's review against another edition
3.0
Before you get married, people will tell you stuff like “marriage is complicated”, “marriage is compromise” or “love is not enough”. About love, we often hear the warning “Love someone who loves you”. But no one really warned Way Way. When the next door neighbor, Westernized businessman U Saw Han confessed his love, and Way Way’s sister advised her to marry him, Way Way didn’t protest. She went along. She liked him, she was attracted to him, she loved that he was crazy about her... but she wasn’t ready to marry him. She was shy and lacked the confidence to have the serious conversations that need to precede a marriage to someone from a different culture and background. U Saw Han was Burmese, but he might had been born and raised in London for all the difference it made. She assumed a lot. She assumed she’d be able to visit her family everyday. She assumed he would join family breakfasts and dinners. She assumed she’d be able to go about her life as normal. And, it happens. We assume a lot of stuff we do and how we interact with others is “normal” and possibly, how everyone goes about it. But it really varies greatly from our culture to the other and it is a great source of tension. And “Not Out of Hate” Ma Ma Lay is a story about an unhappy marriage between two very different people with different cultural expectations. More than that, it’s about love in all its varieties: selfish and possessive love, self-love, love for your country and religion, and unselfish, always giving love. U Saw Han saw his wife as a doll, his prized possession. He loved her dearly but didn’t see her. Way Way loved her family, but felt obligated by traditions and moral to obey her husband even against her own happiness. The book is set in Burma before WWII and a very interesting exploration of colonialism, Burmese history and culture, but more than anything our universal problems with love and marriage.
encgolsen's review against another edition
4.0
Tragic novel about a young Burmese woman who marries an older man in the colonial days shortly before World War II. Initially dazzled by her husband's adoption of British ways, she is soon stifled by his obsessive, controlling affections. A fascinating read.
yuzureads's review against another edition
4.0
Set towards the end of British colonial rule and amidst the rise in nationalist sentiment in Burma, Not Out of Hate has widely been interpreted as a metaphor for attitudes towards British colonial rule; read this way, U Saw Han is the coloniser while Way Way becomes the stand-in for Burma. But during our discussion hosted by @literasea.bookclub on Instagram, we focused instead on presentations of love and culture, against the sociopolitical backdrop of colonial rule and nationalist resistance. It would be reductive to see Way Way and U Saw Han as purely stand-ins for two different cultures and countries. Beyond that, they are, along with the cast of characters in this book, (fictional) individuals who are grappling with different understandings of love and duty. To me, the style reminded me almost of an Austen novel — it’s very domestic, it grapples with the struggles of women and their place in the home in relation to their immediate society — more than a critique of the coloniser carrying the White Man’s Burden.
SEAsia might be very known for having been left behind in terms of development thanks to its colonial past, but to see it through only a post colonial lens is limiting and erases the region’s identity separate from its colonial past and trauma. It’s still a region rich in culture, with individuals going through everyday experiences that don’t necessarily have to involve foreign influence. This wasn’t the most exciting novel, but the details of lifestyle, culture, and cuisine are still familiar to me as a Burmese emigrant living more than 50 years after this story was published.
SEAsia might be very known for having been left behind in terms of development thanks to its colonial past, but to see it through only a post colonial lens is limiting and erases the region’s identity separate from its colonial past and trauma. It’s still a region rich in culture, with individuals going through everyday experiences that don’t necessarily have to involve foreign influence. This wasn’t the most exciting novel, but the details of lifestyle, culture, and cuisine are still familiar to me as a Burmese emigrant living more than 50 years after this story was published.
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