The Magpie Bridge

by Liu Hong

Awoken one night by a strong floral fragrance and the whisper of her childhood nickname, Jiao Mei is confronted in her London bedroom by a woman claiming to be her grandmother. At first, she dismisses this encounter as a vivid dream—Tie Mei, her father’s mother, died years ago. Soon, though, the presence becomes powerfully insistent, and when Barbara, with whom she lodges, begins to behave strangely too, Jiao Mei must accept that this nighttime visitor is, indeed, her grandmother’s ghost. Her message—that Jiao Mei is carrying the child of her British boyfriend—is one that she can no longer ignore, and one that will force Jiao Mei to re-examine her family’s and China’s past.

Genres: China, Romance

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Liu Hong was born in 1965 and grew up in Liaoning, near the Chinese-North Korean border. She studied English, before going to Beijing, to work as a teacher and translator. She came to Britain in 1989, and took an MA in social anthropology at London. Since then she has worked as a Chinese teacher, and as a translator.
Liu Hong now lives in Wiltshire with her husband and their young daughter.

Reviews

[Claire Binkley · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book's saving grace was the titular magpie. These birds are not native to where I live but they live where this story is set!

It is set up in the fashion of any other folk tale as I've heard from my Chinese History course and the title femme Jiao Mei is trapped in the same way. If you've ever read any of those, you know exactly what to expect.

Personally, I think the writing is just fine, I am more uncomfortable with the idea of being told to get pregnant.

[Kathy Chung · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reviewed at :Mama Kucing Meow : The Magpie Bridge by Liu Hong

Reviewed on : 27 September 2010

To me this book tried to imitate Amy Tan's Joy Luck Club but fail.

There are flash back between present and past for Tie Mei, Jiao Mei and Barbara. Also trying the merge the western influence and eastern influence together. Instead of making the story flow nicely together, this confused me. The constant flash back and changing view point makes me unable to enjoy the "mood" of the story.

[Kiku · Rating 1 out of 5]

Trying way too hard to be "The Joy Luck Club", but ended up being disjointed and with characters that you just can't bring yourself to care about. Disappointing and hard to follow.

[Rieta Ganas · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was different - quiet interesting at times - shows the strength of a women even when you are in a subservient moment.The decription of plants and flowers were quite interestuing at times as well.