A review by nixiethepixie
Braised Pork by An Yu

emotional reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

read this in one night – which in itself was a lovely experience. i felt lured in to the quiet storytelling an yu presents. the narrative voice felt both stream of consciousness and omnipresent, making it an engaging read for me. at times the narrative voice moved between perspectives, creating an allusive atmosphere. i saw somewhere that the book was described as 'cinematic', and after reading it, that description has some resonance. 

i enjoyed the beijing locality, and the gentle but undeniable influence of mainland chinese ways of thinking that exist throughout the book. a gentle mediation on grief, family, journey and selfhood – i felt engaged in jia jia's journey throughout. 

it's interesting to observe that the majority of interactions were occurring in language other than english, and between chinese characters in china – as a chinese reader, it was interesting having things shared in english, as i observed a process of translation in my own head as i interpreted or imagined them occurring in chinese/between chinese people. i suppose it opens questions of the role of language and storytelling. made me want to go to beijing, and also travel. 
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