Napoli, Donna Jo - Bound
(re: HP and the Racist DD Mods, I am still going through comments and unscreening things and may take a while to reply, depending on what level my blood pressure is at.)
Napoli writes another fairy tale take, but this time with the Chinese variant of Cinderella: Xing Xing's father has died, and her stepmother is trying to marry off her half-sister Wei Ping(or step-sister? I can't recall). Alas for Wei Ping, this means binding her feet to make her a better catch. Xing Xing has been untraditionally taught to read and write, and her father previously was against foot-binding.
So far, to me, this sounds like a recipe for disaster, given how many well-meaning books yet totally anvilly books attempt to tackle foot-binding.
Thankfully, Napoli does it well.
Xing Xing's father is from the south (or the north, I can't recall), where foot-binding is a fairly recent practice, and he largely likes the idea of Xing Xing and Wei Ping being able to help him out at work. Napoli doesn't specifically mention this issue, but I suspect class issues are involved as well -- foot-binding probably being a symbol of the upper class, who can afford to have immobile women.
Xing Xing's an interesting character to look at in terms of balancing historical mindsets with stereotypes. When her stepmother tells her that she must help Wei Ping and the family out by doing housework and by putting off her own marriage for Wei Ping's, Xing Xing doesn't protest that much. She generally accepts it as good for the family, even though she is a little resentful. I am always wary of the filial daughter who sacrifices everything and never protests. I still didn't quite buy Xing Xing's original portrayal -- that is to say, I believe it, but she didn't quite feel like a fully-fleshed character to me, though that may be more me personally than anything else. On the other hand, I did buy her change at the end.
I also liked that Napoli had the book set in a very specific place and time. She doesn't specify the exact year or location, but it's definitely not handwavy-China. There's difference between the northerners and the southeners, the rich and the poor, and those of different occupations. There's also a tiny note in there about the invention of chopsticks, which sounds like it is true because otherwise it would be odd putting it in there. I didn't catch all the puns and allusions that keilexandra refers to in her post (link below), though I did catch some fairly traditional ones in the poetry. I also totally nitpicked at the poetry; I am not sure what forms they were, but I do not it's not classical Tang poem style. They were a little awkward, but honestly, I am totally splitting hairs now.
Anyway, yay! YA with female POC protagonist! Xing Xing doesn't kick ass on the surface, but I do like how her story ends up going. And now I want to know more about Ming dynasty China.
Links:
- keilexandra's review
Napoli writes another fairy tale take, but this time with the Chinese variant of Cinderella: Xing Xing's father has died, and her stepmother is trying to marry off her half-sister Wei Ping(or step-sister? I can't recall). Alas for Wei Ping, this means binding her feet to make her a better catch. Xing Xing has been untraditionally taught to read and write, and her father previously was against foot-binding.
So far, to me, this sounds like a recipe for disaster, given how many well-meaning books yet totally anvilly books attempt to tackle foot-binding.
Thankfully, Napoli does it well.
Xing Xing's father is from the south (or the north, I can't recall), where foot-binding is a fairly recent practice, and he largely likes the idea of Xing Xing and Wei Ping being able to help him out at work. Napoli doesn't specifically mention this issue, but I suspect class issues are involved as well -- foot-binding probably being a symbol of the upper class, who can afford to have immobile women.
Xing Xing's an interesting character to look at in terms of balancing historical mindsets with stereotypes. When her stepmother tells her that she must help Wei Ping and the family out by doing housework and by putting off her own marriage for Wei Ping's, Xing Xing doesn't protest that much. She generally accepts it as good for the family, even though she is a little resentful. I am always wary of the filial daughter who sacrifices everything and never protests. I still didn't quite buy Xing Xing's original portrayal -- that is to say, I believe it, but she didn't quite feel like a fully-fleshed character to me, though that may be more me personally than anything else. On the other hand, I did buy her change at the end.
I also liked that Napoli had the book set in a very specific place and time. She doesn't specify the exact year or location, but it's definitely not handwavy-China. There's difference between the northerners and the southeners, the rich and the poor, and those of different occupations. There's also a tiny note in there about the invention of chopsticks, which sounds like it is true because otherwise it would be odd putting it in there. I didn't catch all the puns and allusions that keilexandra refers to in her post (link below), though I did catch some fairly traditional ones in the poetry. I also totally nitpicked at the poetry; I am not sure what forms they were, but I do not it's not classical Tang poem style. They were a little awkward, but honestly, I am totally splitting hairs now.
Anyway, yay! YA with female POC protagonist! Xing Xing doesn't kick ass on the surface, but I do like how her story ends up going. And now I want to know more about Ming dynasty China.
Links:
- keilexandra's review