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The Binding Chair or, A Visit from the Foot Emancipation Society
In poised and elegant prose, Kathryn Harrison weaves in The Binding Chair; or, A Visit from the Foot Emancipation Society a stunning story of women, travel, and flight; of love, revenge, and fear; of the search for home and the need to escape it. Set in alluring Shanghai at the turn of the century, The Binding Chair intertwines the destinies of a Chinese woman determined to forget her past and a Western girl focused on the promises of the future.
Beautiful, charismatic, destructive, May escapes an ar-ranged marriage in rural nineteenth-century China for life in a Shanghai brothel, where she meets Arthur, an Australian whose philanthropic pursuits lead him into one scrape after another. As a member of the Foot Emancipation Society, Arthur calls on May not for his pleasure but for her rehabilitation, only to find himself immediately and helplessly seduced by the sight of her bound feet. Reforming May is out of the question, so love-struck Arthur marries her instead and brings her home to live with him, his sister and brother-in-law, and their two girls, Alice and Cecily. In Alice, May sees the possibility of a surrogate for a child she has lost. And it is to May that Alice turns for the love her own mother withholds. But when the twelve-year-old is caught preparing her aunt's opium pipe, she is shipped off to a London boarding school, far from the dangerous influence of the woman who will come to reclaim her and to control the whole family.
The Binding Chair unfolds among scenes of astonishing beauty and cruelty, in a lawless place where traditions and cultures clash, and where tragedy threatens a world built on the banks of unsettled waters--from the bustling Whangpoo River to the lake of blood in the Chinese afterworld. By turns shocking, exquisite, and hilarious, The Binding Chair is another spellbinding literary triumph by the writer whose work Michiko Kakutani of The New York Times has called "powerful and hypnotic."
Beautiful, charismatic, destructive, May escapes an ar-ranged marriage in rural nineteenth-century China for life in a Shanghai brothel, where she meets Arthur, an Australian whose philanthropic pursuits lead him into one scrape after another. As a member of the Foot Emancipation Society, Arthur calls on May not for his pleasure but for her rehabilitation, only to find himself immediately and helplessly seduced by the sight of her bound feet. Reforming May is out of the question, so love-struck Arthur marries her instead and brings her home to live with him, his sister and brother-in-law, and their two girls, Alice and Cecily. In Alice, May sees the possibility of a surrogate for a child she has lost. And it is to May that Alice turns for the love her own mother withholds. But when the twelve-year-old is caught preparing her aunt's opium pipe, she is shipped off to a London boarding school, far from the dangerous influence of the woman who will come to reclaim her and to control the whole family.
The Binding Chair unfolds among scenes of astonishing beauty and cruelty, in a lawless place where traditions and cultures clash, and where tragedy threatens a world built on the banks of unsettled waters--from the bustling Whangpoo River to the lake of blood in the Chinese afterworld. By turns shocking, exquisite, and hilarious, The Binding Chair is another spellbinding literary triumph by the writer whose work Michiko Kakutani of The New York Times has called "powerful and hypnotic."
336 pages, Hardcover
First published April 5, 2000
54 people are currently reading
1545 people want to read
About the author
Kathryn Harrison
47 books296 followersKathryn Harrison is the author of the novels Envy, The Seal Wife, The Binding Chair, Poison, Exposure, and Thicker Than Water.
She has also written memoirs, The Kiss and The Mother Knot, a travel memoir, The Road to Santiago, a biography, Saint Therese of Lisieux, and a collection of personal essays, Seeking Rapture.
Ms. Harrison is a frequent reviewer for The New York Times Book Review; her essays, which have been included in many anthologies, have appeared in The New Yorker, Harper's Magazine, Vogue, O, The Oprah Magazine, Salon, and other publications.
She lives in New York with her husband, the novelist Colin Harrison, and their children.
She has also written memoirs, The Kiss and The Mother Knot, a travel memoir, The Road to Santiago, a biography, Saint Therese of Lisieux, and a collection of personal essays, Seeking Rapture.
Ms. Harrison is a frequent reviewer for The New York Times Book Review; her essays, which have been included in many anthologies, have appeared in The New Yorker, Harper's Magazine, Vogue, O, The Oprah Magazine, Salon, and other publications.
She lives in New York with her husband, the novelist Colin Harrison, and their children.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 227 reviews
May 25, 2016
Oh, goodness, another seemingly Chinese novel with supposedly historic details written by a white woman...
Here's my breakdown of why this book should not be read or bought:
First off, I can understand if a Chinese woman wrote about the life of a certain class of girls set in Shanghai in the 1920's - 1950's. Whenever Westerners write about foot binding, they seem to perpetually assume that it was for all girls in the time period. That simply isn't true at all. Also, not all men were even into that. Any man with any sort of education or was raised in the city did not prefer bound feet at all. I have no idea how accurate the sexual predilections this author wrote about are. Really, it was only very traditional, insular men back in that time period who thought deformed feet were hot. I need to clarify this fact because all the readers who are giving this book a 5-star review think they are learning some historical relevance about China, but really are only glimpsing a small fraction of people who are brought into this practice. I have grandmothers and great grandmothers who were in no danger of ever getting forced into this bound foot business because they lived in the city and were educated. It wasn't common at all in most of the country even in the early 1900's.
This novel's main downfall is that it was written in extremely bad taste. Kathryn Harrison heaps insults upon insults not only about Shanghai, but extends it to the Chinese culture and the Chinese people as a whole. She thinks she is getting away with it because her main protagonist is a Chinese native. However, this character is a grand figment of the author's imagination and has no root in reality or historical context. Instead, May's character serves as the author's own petty, racist, imperialistic (after all she is British) voice. I kid you not, she calls Chinese people less human than white people and instills this irrational hatred into the main character to despise all Chinese men as well since they are animals...
Building upon the main downfall is one that really irked me throughout the entire book. She completely butchers all Chinese words in her novel! It further convinces me that she did no research on what pinyin is and how to romanize Chinese words. She freaking called the Huangpu River the Whangpoo. There's not a single case of any word getting spelled correctly! She's not using the Cantonese spelling or any recognizable spelling. The author most certainly has never heard of Mandarin Chinese. Oy vey. She couldn't even get her main character's name right--Mei, not effing May. And it would have been Meiling or Meili. No one is just named Mei--that's just her vanilla white self assuming things again.
As for the story itself, she should have just focused on the main thread of the bound foot girl, but no, the author extends herself by creating all these unnecessary subplots and characters who nobody cared about.
This book gets one star for writing a mildly interesting section about the rubber trade and then a synthetic replacement. The Dick character is definitely the most likable despite that name ;).
Had Kathryn Harrison read anything remotely historically Chinese, she would have learned that the real foot emancipationist was Mao Ze Dong. It was communism that abolished foot binding, multiple wives practice and many degrading female practices that stemmed from Confucianism. Jesus, just talk to a real Chinese person!
This ain't The Good Earth, that's for sure, but I really expected something more intelligent. Pearl S. Buck was a legit white lady who wrote about Chinese culture.
Here's my breakdown of why this book should not be read or bought:
First off, I can understand if a Chinese woman wrote about the life of a certain class of girls set in Shanghai in the 1920's - 1950's. Whenever Westerners write about foot binding, they seem to perpetually assume that it was for all girls in the time period. That simply isn't true at all. Also, not all men were even into that. Any man with any sort of education or was raised in the city did not prefer bound feet at all. I have no idea how accurate the sexual predilections this author wrote about are. Really, it was only very traditional, insular men back in that time period who thought deformed feet were hot. I need to clarify this fact because all the readers who are giving this book a 5-star review think they are learning some historical relevance about China, but really are only glimpsing a small fraction of people who are brought into this practice. I have grandmothers and great grandmothers who were in no danger of ever getting forced into this bound foot business because they lived in the city and were educated. It wasn't common at all in most of the country even in the early 1900's.
This novel's main downfall is that it was written in extremely bad taste. Kathryn Harrison heaps insults upon insults not only about Shanghai, but extends it to the Chinese culture and the Chinese people as a whole. She thinks she is getting away with it because her main protagonist is a Chinese native. However, this character is a grand figment of the author's imagination and has no root in reality or historical context. Instead, May's character serves as the author's own petty, racist, imperialistic (after all she is British) voice. I kid you not, she calls Chinese people less human than white people and instills this irrational hatred into the main character to despise all Chinese men as well since they are animals...
Building upon the main downfall is one that really irked me throughout the entire book. She completely butchers all Chinese words in her novel! It further convinces me that she did no research on what pinyin is and how to romanize Chinese words. She freaking called the Huangpu River the Whangpoo. There's not a single case of any word getting spelled correctly! She's not using the Cantonese spelling or any recognizable spelling. The author most certainly has never heard of Mandarin Chinese. Oy vey. She couldn't even get her main character's name right--Mei, not effing May. And it would have been Meiling or Meili. No one is just named Mei--that's just her vanilla white self assuming things again.
As for the story itself, she should have just focused on the main thread of the bound foot girl, but no, the author extends herself by creating all these unnecessary subplots and characters who nobody cared about.
This book gets one star for writing a mildly interesting section about the rubber trade and then a synthetic replacement. The Dick character is definitely the most likable despite that name ;).
Had Kathryn Harrison read anything remotely historically Chinese, she would have learned that the real foot emancipationist was Mao Ze Dong. It was communism that abolished foot binding, multiple wives practice and many degrading female practices that stemmed from Confucianism. Jesus, just talk to a real Chinese person!
This ain't The Good Earth, that's for sure, but I really expected something more intelligent. Pearl S. Buck was a legit white lady who wrote about Chinese culture.
May 6, 2015
The hook was the title - perhaps a glimpse into the secret world of Chinese culture in times not too long gone by. The protagonist with her tiny feet and huge greed was quite a fascinating character, but when the focus changed to her extremely boring niece going to school it seemed the author had run out of steam and the book died for me. I tried several times to get back into it, but in the end, despite the pretty cover looking at me from the bedside table, gave it up.
July 13, 2009
I thought this book was going to teach me about what it was like for girls in China who used to bind their feet for beauty. I thought it would explain how this concept came into being, and why it was carried on for generations, and what brought about it's eventual decline. I thought I'd get an insight into one of the oldest countries in the world. Boy was I wrong. I should have suspected that an author named 'Kathryn Harrison' might not be of Chinese decent, but I foolishly gave her the benefit of the doubt. Instead of an insightful look into an ancient culture, I got a narrative that switched between a cranky Chinese lady with bound feet, to her Russion niece and her adventures. Not to mention that each chapter was a different time period and you never knew which character you'd be focusing on. Don't read this book. What a waste of time.
November 27, 2010
I picked up this book again the other day, and finished it for the second time rather quickly. I had bought the book originally because of my interest in Chinese foot-binding practices, but this is not really a book about foot-binding at all, other than the fact that the main character, May, has bound feet.
Kathryn Harrison's novel winds together so many stories and back stories, that if she were a lesser writer, you would leave this book behind confused. But the characters are so real and vivid and multi-dimensional, that you are quickly drawn in and can't put the book down.
I have read part of Harrison's biographical "The Kiss" but couldn't finish it--perhaps the story of incest was a little too distasteful, but this book is very different and absolutely spell binding. The story takes you to Shanghai, to London, across Siberia, and to Nice on the French Riveria. The words are a delight to read, and the choices each character makes only serve to draw you in deeper to their flaws and human principles.
Kathryn Harrison's novel winds together so many stories and back stories, that if she were a lesser writer, you would leave this book behind confused. But the characters are so real and vivid and multi-dimensional, that you are quickly drawn in and can't put the book down.
I have read part of Harrison's biographical "The Kiss" but couldn't finish it--perhaps the story of incest was a little too distasteful, but this book is very different and absolutely spell binding. The story takes you to Shanghai, to London, across Siberia, and to Nice on the French Riveria. The words are a delight to read, and the choices each character makes only serve to draw you in deeper to their flaws and human principles.
February 14, 2010
What a fascinating book! I could not put it down even though many, many parts were very disturbing and tragic. The title is also misleading. Foot binding is included but it is not the main theme of the book. The story takes place mostly in Shanghai where we follow the lives of Alice who is Caucasian and is focused on the future and her Aunt Mae who is a footbound Chinese courtesan who is determined to forget her past. This is one book i will never forget. Very haunting. I highly recommend it.
May 31, 2010
Oh, I loved this book! A fascinating, and often disturbing tale of a young Chinese girl who unwillingly has her whole life geared towards marriage, which ultimately results in soul crushing disappointment. After many years of having her life controlled by others, she decides to take her life into her own hands, and abruptly turns the steering wheel in a whole new direction. This deciscion ultimately leads to finding love, kindness and acceptance, more crushing losses and heart-break. A fascinating and haunting read that will stay in your mind, way after reading the last words.
March 6, 2022
Este libro lleva en casa desde que salió, allá por el 2001, si,ha llovido mucho, mi edición es del extinto Círculo de lectores, estaba enganchada y deseando que me trajeran la revista del mes, en fin, fueron otros tiempos, casi que parece otra vida, pero como cantaba Gardel, veinte años no es nada. Bueno, que me salgo del tema.Este libro lo compré después de leer la maravillosa “Memorias de una geisha” de Artur Golden, si no habéis leído os lo recomiendo, lo recuerdo a pesar de los años pasados desde su lectura. Bueno, pues este libro no es como el mencionado, si es verdad que, en este caso, se basa en la vida de May, una concubina que dejó de serlo y, uno de los temas principales son sus pies, vendados cuando era niña para convertirlos en algo deseable. La historia está bien contada, aunque va dando saltos en el tiempo para relatar su vida y la de su familia, un marido australiano y una sobrina que no es china pero que se convertirá prácticamente en su hija. Una novela entretenida pero que no me ha llegado a enganchar demasiado.
September 21, 2015
I really struggled to read this book and didn't enjoy the experience. I love reading books about or set in China, whether factual or fictional, so I think this book came as a double disappointment.
Harrison has created a book which is just overflowing with characters. The main characters number 16 (May, her father, mother & grandmother, nieces Alice and Cecliy, her husband Arthur, his sister Dolly and her husband Dick, the childrens' governesses Miss Waters and Miss Clusburton, not to mention Captain Litovsky, Suzanne Petrovna and Evlanoff and Agnes and Rose) with a supporting cast of as many if not more. The story is also set along multiple time-lines in both May's life and that of her niece, Alice. As such the story jumps around from year to year - but not in chronological order. Unfortunately Harrison is not skilled enough as a writer to either be able to handle the cast of thousands she has created, nor keep the story flowing well enough over the different time periods, and I found myself struggling to follow what was happening. Had this book been written in chronological order, with fewer key characters, I think this could have been a good read. As it is the book ends up being shallow, confusing and disjointed. Characters seem to take key decisions in their lives without the reader being aware of what has prompted them to do so, and in the end it's just a guddle of stories (reading almost like a collection of short stories by the same author).
Unfortunatley Harrison has now made it on to my "never to be read again" author list.
Harrison has created a book which is just overflowing with characters. The main characters number 16 (May, her father, mother & grandmother, nieces Alice and Cecliy, her husband Arthur, his sister Dolly and her husband Dick, the childrens' governesses Miss Waters and Miss Clusburton, not to mention Captain Litovsky, Suzanne Petrovna and Evlanoff and Agnes and Rose) with a supporting cast of as many if not more. The story is also set along multiple time-lines in both May's life and that of her niece, Alice. As such the story jumps around from year to year - but not in chronological order. Unfortunately Harrison is not skilled enough as a writer to either be able to handle the cast of thousands she has created, nor keep the story flowing well enough over the different time periods, and I found myself struggling to follow what was happening. Had this book been written in chronological order, with fewer key characters, I think this could have been a good read. As it is the book ends up being shallow, confusing and disjointed. Characters seem to take key decisions in their lives without the reader being aware of what has prompted them to do so, and in the end it's just a guddle of stories (reading almost like a collection of short stories by the same author).
Unfortunatley Harrison has now made it on to my "never to be read again" author list.
October 8, 2011
A beautiful narrative about broken people (are there any other kind the novel seems to ask?): May's feet, Arthur's tinnitus, Dolly's madness, Eleanor's crippling lisp, the list goes on and on. It's almost as if the novel is a book-length illustration of Hemingway's nostrum "The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places." Harrison is a lovely novelist, with style and confidence to burn. The narrative is told in two alternating sequences, roughly (past and present), which makes perfect sense over time, because ultimately the book is about how past choices inform some present actions. Harrison is too smart a writer, however, to think the past explains the present fully. Over and over, her novel demonstrates that some of our actions are irreducible and unknowable and inexplicable, most of all to ourselves. Loosely speaking, the story is the life of a Chinese woman subject to the practice of foot-binding. Don't read this book for some in-depth explanation for the practice however. It's not a history, it's a novel, and it tells the story of the protagonist May's life. She is much more than the product of footbinding, though to be sure, that crippling practice has ramifications for the lives of everyone she touches in her story. Harrison is a beguiling stylist and renders many moments indelibly, so that this story--which contains much cruelty and inhumanity--is nevertheless a thing of lasting beauty.
March 14, 2010
A) To Jeremy J. Green (August, '09, comment):
Jeremy -
Before I give you my gut reaction, let me ask what you were thinking when you wrote this.
There. Now I've asked.
_____________________________
Let's see: break a baby girl's feet in half, bind them to fester and ooze and cripple her for the rest of her life so that she is incapable of ever again running or dancing or even walking properly, and condemn her to excruciating pain until she dies....
This is a *style* - like short hair or long skirts or plaid ties???
I am astonished that anyone on this site would post such a hurtful and offensive comment.
____________________________________
________________________________________
B)Although sometimes difficult to read, this was an astounding book. Its range, its multi-cultural and multi-generational explorations, its haunting and magical portrayals - all lingered long with me after I completed this work. I believe that I have been changed in some ways from reading it, though I'm not sure I could put into words exactly how, and isn't this, after all, one of the best recommendations for any good read?!
Jeremy -
Before I give you my gut reaction, let me ask what you were thinking when you wrote this.
There. Now I've asked.
_____________________________
Let's see: break a baby girl's feet in half, bind them to fester and ooze and cripple her for the rest of her life so that she is incapable of ever again running or dancing or even walking properly, and condemn her to excruciating pain until she dies....
This is a *style* - like short hair or long skirts or plaid ties???
I am astonished that anyone on this site would post such a hurtful and offensive comment.
____________________________________
________________________________________
B)Although sometimes difficult to read, this was an astounding book. Its range, its multi-cultural and multi-generational explorations, its haunting and magical portrayals - all lingered long with me after I completed this work. I believe that I have been changed in some ways from reading it, though I'm not sure I could put into words exactly how, and isn't this, after all, one of the best recommendations for any good read?!
July 6, 2011
This didn't quite work for me. The author seemed to be exploring the restricted lives open to women in various cultures in the early part of the 20th century. However, she was trying too hard for my taste. There was no contrast. Even the youngest women in the book seemed to be unhappy and trapped. I think a few counter examples would have kept my interest and made me think more about her theme. She also relied on sex or sexual experiences too much to try to make her points. It all got a bit predictable and tedious.
April 28, 2008
While this could have been really interesting because of the cultural setting of the story, the writing seemed to jump from timeframe to timeframe without any good transition. It totally distracted me from the characters, all of whom I felt I knew only a little bit better by the end than I did at the beginning. That said, it was good enough that I actually made it to the end, but that's not saying much.
February 14, 2010
This book had been sitting on my bookshelf for at least 10 years. I can't remember why I bought it in the first place, or why I never picked it up until now.
It's not at all what I expected it to be from the title. Much less an exploration of footbinding than say, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, which I read recently. Footbinding is really just a metaphor the author uses as a device to delve into all the ways women are controlled through various societal, mental and physical restraints.
I'm guessing that the visceral scenes the author uses are meant to be an assault on the reader's own expectations and sense of what is proper. Some of it is really quite shocking and disturbing. It took me until about halfway through the book to see that it wasn't just gratuitous.
The language itself is gorgeous. Lots of period details. The characters are complicated and fabulously interesting. And the structure of the book with its flashbacks and forwards held my attention.
Overall, it was a much richer read than I was expecting. And I'm curious about the author's other books now.
It's not at all what I expected it to be from the title. Much less an exploration of footbinding than say, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, which I read recently. Footbinding is really just a metaphor the author uses as a device to delve into all the ways women are controlled through various societal, mental and physical restraints.
I'm guessing that the visceral scenes the author uses are meant to be an assault on the reader's own expectations and sense of what is proper. Some of it is really quite shocking and disturbing. It took me until about halfway through the book to see that it wasn't just gratuitous.
The language itself is gorgeous. Lots of period details. The characters are complicated and fabulously interesting. And the structure of the book with its flashbacks and forwards held my attention.
Overall, it was a much richer read than I was expecting. And I'm curious about the author's other books now.
May 15, 2017
Honestly hated this book. Hated it to the point that when a friend and I talked about books as we do every few days was almost screaming in annoyance over it at the top of my lungs.
What started out with an intriguing look at the protagonist and her story quickly turned in to a stunted personality, shallow and weary to read. Just as I hoped it would pick up as the narrative grabbed at a new thread...it switches to her niece. Her somehow-even-more-insipid and dull niece. We then jump between two different intersecting storyline, both of which aren't worth the time for lack of personality and flow. Harrison somehow made her work a little odd in said flow tho since while reading it felt like the story would never end and yet it felt rushed because of all the wasted potential.
I really wouldn't recommend this to anyone. There are a good number of books based on historical China that are MUCH better researched and have depth above Binding Chair.
What started out with an intriguing look at the protagonist and her story quickly turned in to a stunted personality, shallow and weary to read. Just as I hoped it would pick up as the narrative grabbed at a new thread...it switches to her niece. Her somehow-even-more-insipid and dull niece. We then jump between two different intersecting storyline, both of which aren't worth the time for lack of personality and flow. Harrison somehow made her work a little odd in said flow tho since while reading it felt like the story would never end and yet it felt rushed because of all the wasted potential.
I really wouldn't recommend this to anyone. There are a good number of books based on historical China that are MUCH better researched and have depth above Binding Chair.
April 10, 2009
I enjoyed this book, and in some respects better than say Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. The foot binding process was just as vivid but it delved into more of how it effected women. Plus, being in Shanghai right now, it was interesting to picture this city at the turn of the 20th century.
My only "complaint" was that the main character was Chinese and this was written by a British caucasian. If you've read any "real" chinese stories, I just felt that May would never had made that decision at the end. It felt tragic for tragedy's sake and not true to the character. For that reason, I couldn't give this one a fourth star.
But I would recommend it for those who may want to know a bit about what China was like a century ago.
My only "complaint" was that the main character was Chinese and this was written by a British caucasian. If you've read any "real" chinese stories, I just felt that May would never had made that decision at the end. It felt tragic for tragedy's sake and not true to the character. For that reason, I couldn't give this one a fourth star.
But I would recommend it for those who may want to know a bit about what China was like a century ago.
March 2, 2013
I was watching through some of the descriptions of the four binding in this one (and then foolishly got into a lengthy discussion with eldest child about what I'm reading now and foot binding..remove to self, don't Google images ever again).
Although it was a story of a strong Chinese female and all that she endured,I spent a lot of my time being abused by it...May was such a funny character that got into ridiculous situations (especially the trip to fortnums).
To begin with she came across as quite uncaring, but as the story unfolded, and more of her character revealed,I wanted to her more.
Not sure if I find the ending a bit of a cop out.....
Although it was a story of a strong Chinese female and all that she endured,I spent a lot of my time being abused by it...May was such a funny character that got into ridiculous situations (especially the trip to fortnums).
To begin with she came across as quite uncaring, but as the story unfolded, and more of her character revealed,I wanted to her more.
Not sure if I find the ending a bit of a cop out.....
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 24, 2009
An interesting parallel between "old" China and "new" China. The characters struggle with who they are and their "station" in life. The book jumps between stories and throughout the timeline. The writing was interesting, but just a little too much sexual content for my taste. The Binding Chair didn't add much to my knowledge of this time period. The ending of the book left me feeling empty and sort of wishing I'd never read the book at all.
January 29, 2011
I really liked it *while* reading it, but toward the end, I had a sinking feeling that nothing would come together. I was right. There were some great sentences, which is a big part of the reason I gave it as many stars as I did, and a few killer images, but I felt like there was no heart. No one to love. The characters were very 2 dimensional :( I know I just lost all my library-cred by using an emoticon, but that's how I felt. I wanted it to be great; it was only good.
Read
January 2, 2008I was excited to read it, but quickly put it down with all the disgusting things that happened. I'm not talking about foot-binding, either, I'm talking about things like a man liking to insert his wife's foot into his anus. Despite my interest in China and some of its customs, this was not something I wanted to read.
August 29, 2015
במקום שתהיה בו איזו אמירה פמניסטית, במקום לנצל את הממונטום ולתת לקוראת איזה משהו מתחושת העוצמה של הנשים היפניות (על כל המורכבות שלה), קרתין הריסון הפכה את זה לרומן זול, בלי שום אמירה לא חברתית ובטח ובטח שלא נשית.
אני התאכזבתי קשות ! אני מתעבת סופרות שמתיימרות להגיד איזה אמירה שבסוף יוצאת בקול ציוץ עלוב. לא כיסא הקשירה ולא בטיח המטפורה נשארת חלולה כמו כל הספר הזה.
אני התאכזבתי קשות ! אני מתעבת סופרות שמתיימרות להגיד איזה אמירה שבסוף יוצאת בקול ציוץ עלוב. לא כיסא הקשירה ולא בטיח המטפורה נשארת חלולה כמו כל הספר הזה.
December 30, 2018
Ha sido como una película de sobremesa hecha libro, no me ha aportada nada. La historia no seguía un orden cronológico sino que iba saltando a diferentes momentos causando confusión. La parte que más me ha gustado es en la que se trata los años de juventud de May y es a la que menos tiempo le ha dedicado la autora.
December 6, 2017
Onvan : The Binding Chair or, A Visit from the Foot Emancipation Society - Nevisande : Kathryn Harrison - ISBN : 60934425 - ISBN13 : 9780060934422 - Dar 336 Safhe - Saal e Chap : 2000
August 29, 2021
Es un libro que me ha encantado. Lo he leído en apenas 4 días. Cuenta la historia de una mujer que sufre la crueldad de que le venden los pies a finales del siglo XIX. Va dando saltos en el tiempo contando su historia de forma desordenada pero esto hace que resulte más interesante. Una mujer muy complicada de entender a la que le pesan las vivencias. Lo recomiendo absolutamente.
October 12, 2023
This book shows was written well and shows the pain, purpose, and agony of a child and then woman going through the foot binding progress, trying to assimilate into various cultures and backgrounds that are not her own and how she made her way to independence of a sort. It is not a pretty story and is in fact heartbreaking at times but it is still a tale that deserves to be told.
December 14, 2016
May is only five years old when her grandmother imposes the Chinese tradition of foot binding to her. This affects her whole life, but being the strong person she is, she refuses to let it hinder her in her ambitions. Married to an older man who already have three wives, she is faced with a cruel man, his wives and a humiliating life. But May is not the person to suffer silently, so she breaks away and starts a new life as a prostitute. The aim is to find a wealthy Englishman to marry. She starts by learning English.
Life does not always turns out as is expected and May stays longer in her profession as she had anticipated. But one day Arthur Cohen turns up in her room and her life changes forever. He is not there for the usual reason, but comes as a representative of the "Foot Emancipation Society". He is there to help her, but falls hopelessly in love. He proposes to May who is reluctant to venture into a marriage with Arthur, who is a somewhat confused man. However, his insistency pays out and they marry.
As Arthur's wife she enters the life of a Jewish business family living in Shanghai. Arthur is living with and from his brother who is a wealthy businessman, while Arthur ventures into schemes bound to fail even before they start. May forms a bond with Arthur's niece Alice, and the story is set from the point of view of these two characters. It takes place in the beginning of the 20th century in Shanghai, London and Nice. Along the way May and Alice meet a set of colourful women, all of them disfigured, either physically or mentally. Alice is set to make life easier for May who consistently resists, and May is trying to prevent Alice from falling in love and make decisions that will effect her whole life. In the end all women meet in Nice, in another setting, another kind of world, but all stuck in their own life's tale.
Through and through the book we get an insight into the complicated life of women exposed to foot binding. It is often horrific reading, and you can just imagine, or maybe not, the pain and complications that followed them during their whole life.
It is a wonderfully written book, well researched, compassionate and thrilling. Life in China with its traditions and culture and the clashing with European values, makes this an intriguing story.
Wonderful characters, quite different who, by destiny, are intermingling in each others life. Well written, well developed characters and times. She writes about the essential questions of life; who are we? Are we formed by our past, traditions and culture? It is a story about class, race and gender, beautifully and engagingly written. Makes you want to read more by Kathryn Harrison. She has written several books; both fiction and non-fiction.
Review form my blog: thecontentreader.blogspot.com
Life does not always turns out as is expected and May stays longer in her profession as she had anticipated. But one day Arthur Cohen turns up in her room and her life changes forever. He is not there for the usual reason, but comes as a representative of the "Foot Emancipation Society". He is there to help her, but falls hopelessly in love. He proposes to May who is reluctant to venture into a marriage with Arthur, who is a somewhat confused man. However, his insistency pays out and they marry.
As Arthur's wife she enters the life of a Jewish business family living in Shanghai. Arthur is living with and from his brother who is a wealthy businessman, while Arthur ventures into schemes bound to fail even before they start. May forms a bond with Arthur's niece Alice, and the story is set from the point of view of these two characters. It takes place in the beginning of the 20th century in Shanghai, London and Nice. Along the way May and Alice meet a set of colourful women, all of them disfigured, either physically or mentally. Alice is set to make life easier for May who consistently resists, and May is trying to prevent Alice from falling in love and make decisions that will effect her whole life. In the end all women meet in Nice, in another setting, another kind of world, but all stuck in their own life's tale.
Through and through the book we get an insight into the complicated life of women exposed to foot binding. It is often horrific reading, and you can just imagine, or maybe not, the pain and complications that followed them during their whole life.
It is a wonderfully written book, well researched, compassionate and thrilling. Life in China with its traditions and culture and the clashing with European values, makes this an intriguing story.
Wonderful characters, quite different who, by destiny, are intermingling in each others life. Well written, well developed characters and times. She writes about the essential questions of life; who are we? Are we formed by our past, traditions and culture? It is a story about class, race and gender, beautifully and engagingly written. Makes you want to read more by Kathryn Harrison. She has written several books; both fiction and non-fiction.
Review form my blog: thecontentreader.blogspot.com
November 18, 2012
Story Description:
HarperCollins|June 14, 2001|Trade Paperback|ISBN: 978-0-06-093442-2
In poised and elegant prose, Kathryn Harrison weaves a stunning story of women, travel, and flight; of love, revenge, and fear; of the search for home and the need to escape it. Set in alluring Shanghai at the turn of the century, The Binding Chair intertwines the destinies of a Chinese woman determined to forget her past and a Western girl focused on the promises of the future.
My Review:
After having read Snowflower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See, I was familiar with the age old torture of foot binding performed on young girls in early China. A year long process that I couldn’t imagine having had to endure. Poor May had to endure foot binding in this story as done by her grandmother as her own mother just didn’t have the heart to do it herself. Gramma however, was relentless and forced May to make the long walk from the binding chair to her mother’s room where she laid on the bed wrapped in her mother’s arms sobbing. May’s mother cried as hard as she did.
Overall, the story itself wasn’t as good as I thought it was going to be which annoyed me as I’d waited eight months for this book to come out of “temporarily out of stock!” I found the characters boring and flat, there was no warmth or “real” personality to the characters. Developing the personalities a lot more would have taken this story much further. I found myself becoming more and more bored and less enamoured with the story as I read deeper into the book.
The narrative went back and forth in time and place as it stuttered to what I’d call a ‘dying end.’ NOT a book I would recommend to family and friends.
HarperCollins|June 14, 2001|Trade Paperback|ISBN: 978-0-06-093442-2
In poised and elegant prose, Kathryn Harrison weaves a stunning story of women, travel, and flight; of love, revenge, and fear; of the search for home and the need to escape it. Set in alluring Shanghai at the turn of the century, The Binding Chair intertwines the destinies of a Chinese woman determined to forget her past and a Western girl focused on the promises of the future.
My Review:
After having read Snowflower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See, I was familiar with the age old torture of foot binding performed on young girls in early China. A year long process that I couldn’t imagine having had to endure. Poor May had to endure foot binding in this story as done by her grandmother as her own mother just didn’t have the heart to do it herself. Gramma however, was relentless and forced May to make the long walk from the binding chair to her mother’s room where she laid on the bed wrapped in her mother’s arms sobbing. May’s mother cried as hard as she did.
Overall, the story itself wasn’t as good as I thought it was going to be which annoyed me as I’d waited eight months for this book to come out of “temporarily out of stock!” I found the characters boring and flat, there was no warmth or “real” personality to the characters. Developing the personalities a lot more would have taken this story much further. I found myself becoming more and more bored and less enamoured with the story as I read deeper into the book.
The narrative went back and forth in time and place as it stuttered to what I’d call a ‘dying end.’ NOT a book I would recommend to family and friends.
February 14, 2013
Slow to start, this book ended up not as disappointing as I originally thought it would be. I was so bored in the beginning I was losing the connection between May, Alice and what seemed to be a random character named Suzanne.
As the book progressed, I began to see the comparison of the three women against each other. Which one was the strongest? In their portrayal of strength were they instead really weak?
One may look at May as a self-centered, mean spirited woman. Yet was this just an act for survival? We forget so quickly what a loving, carefree spirit she had been as a child. She remembers herself at the end. What makes us who we are? The person we are born or our life experiences? Do life experiences harden or soften us as time goes on? In the end, which was May?
I also loved the symbolism of the foot binding. It crippled May in more ways than one. Not only could she not walk, it affectd the way people viewed her. She saw it as binding her to a life she would not have chosen for herself. Yet at the same time, May's footbinding made her free-to accept herself and force herself to do things people never thought she was capable of like learning various languages and escaping an abusive husband.
At one point in the book, someone points out to May that she only loves people she sees as weak. Is Arthur weak? Yet he fights for causes for the " weak" and loves May regardless of societal taboo. Is it May who instead is weak and needs to find love of people she knows will love her no matter what?
As the book progressed, I began to see the comparison of the three women against each other. Which one was the strongest? In their portrayal of strength were they instead really weak?
One may look at May as a self-centered, mean spirited woman. Yet was this just an act for survival? We forget so quickly what a loving, carefree spirit she had been as a child. She remembers herself at the end. What makes us who we are? The person we are born or our life experiences? Do life experiences harden or soften us as time goes on? In the end, which was May?
I also loved the symbolism of the foot binding. It crippled May in more ways than one. Not only could she not walk, it affectd the way people viewed her. She saw it as binding her to a life she would not have chosen for herself. Yet at the same time, May's footbinding made her free-to accept herself and force herself to do things people never thought she was capable of like learning various languages and escaping an abusive husband.
At one point in the book, someone points out to May that she only loves people she sees as weak. Is Arthur weak? Yet he fights for causes for the " weak" and loves May regardless of societal taboo. Is it May who instead is weak and needs to find love of people she knows will love her no matter what?
October 22, 2014
Last read a number of years ago I decided to re-read this in order to decide whether or not I wanted to keep it/ pass it on/donate it to a charity shop.
Sadly not a novel I enjoyed second time around. I don't know whether my tastes have changed since I last read it or that at the time we had plenty of shelf space and I wasn't so strict with myself as to only keep books I knew I'd re-read at some point in time.
Whilst at heart a story of China The Binding Chair isn't written by a Chinese author. Not that this usually matters, after all how many paranormal novels are written by vampires, werewolves or the like? Its just that I felt the author did not write with authority or for that matter much conviction.
Not so much a confusing read as what I'd describe as a fragmented one. I'm afraid the to-ing and fro-ing between decades and cities not to mention main characters, May, and her niece/surrogate child, Alice, made for a disjointed story.
A story of obsessions, of what it is to be beautiful, of the sometimes perverse nature of man's desire - the author makes a great (and very graphic) deal of how erotically enticing May's English husband (and her Chinese father before him) found her (and her mother's) bound feet - whilst the book does go some way in exploring the cost to women I'm afraid for me much was eclipsed by the fact that at times it felt as if the author relied too heavily on shock tactics where none were needed.
Copyright: Tracy Terry @ Pen and Paper.
Sadly not a novel I enjoyed second time around. I don't know whether my tastes have changed since I last read it or that at the time we had plenty of shelf space and I wasn't so strict with myself as to only keep books I knew I'd re-read at some point in time.
Whilst at heart a story of China The Binding Chair isn't written by a Chinese author. Not that this usually matters, after all how many paranormal novels are written by vampires, werewolves or the like? Its just that I felt the author did not write with authority or for that matter much conviction.
Not so much a confusing read as what I'd describe as a fragmented one. I'm afraid the to-ing and fro-ing between decades and cities not to mention main characters, May, and her niece/surrogate child, Alice, made for a disjointed story.
A story of obsessions, of what it is to be beautiful, of the sometimes perverse nature of man's desire - the author makes a great (and very graphic) deal of how erotically enticing May's English husband (and her Chinese father before him) found her (and her mother's) bound feet - whilst the book does go some way in exploring the cost to women I'm afraid for me much was eclipsed by the fact that at times it felt as if the author relied too heavily on shock tactics where none were needed.
Copyright: Tracy Terry @ Pen and Paper.
March 5, 2010
I love reading novels about Asian culture and I have read all of Amy Tan's books as well as such masterpieces as "Memoirs of a Geisha". This book,while seemingly well-written and promising at its onset, left me flat (and slightly confused and depressed) at the end. I found that while the general ideas of family relationships and Chinese cultures explored in this tale were somewhat akin to those topics explored by Amy Tan (one of my favorite authors), the characterization and story line lacked Amy Tan's depth.
May was the protagonist whose life seemed to begin with the cruel yet traditional binding of her feet when she was 5-years-old in China. If anything, Ms. Harrison brings to light the cruelty of this practice as well as Western ignorance of Asian culture. The foot binding was the only time I really felt sympathy toward May. ...And I didn't find Alice or any of the other characters terribly likable either.
If you are craving literature dealing with Eastern Culture of the past and present, better to stick with books like "The Bonesetter's Daughter", "The Kitchen God's Wife", or "Memoirs of a Geisha".
May was the protagonist whose life seemed to begin with the cruel yet traditional binding of her feet when she was 5-years-old in China. If anything, Ms. Harrison brings to light the cruelty of this practice as well as Western ignorance of Asian culture. The foot binding was the only time I really felt sympathy toward May. ...And I didn't find Alice or any of the other characters terribly likable either.
If you are craving literature dealing with Eastern Culture of the past and present, better to stick with books like "The Bonesetter's Daughter", "The Kitchen God's Wife", or "Memoirs of a Geisha".
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February 19, 2016Her new novel, 1CThe Binding Chair, 1D allows Harrison to add to her repertoire of physical cruelty the (discontinued) upper-class Chinese ritual of binding women 19s feet. Set in Shanghai and France, 1CThe Binding Chair 1D tells the intertwined stories of two women: May, the daughter in a well-to-do Chinese family growing up in the last decades of the 19th century, and Alice, an English girl born in the first decade of the 20th. When May is 5 years old, her grandmother 1Csits her on a red chair decorated with characters for obedience, prosperity and longevity 1D and binds her feet 14 a literally bone-breaking and flesh-annihilating process that Harrison describes in loving detail. Through the journeys of May, a beautiful Chinese woman determined to forget the ritualistic foot binding and the bad marriage of her past, and Alice, the Jewish nice of her new Western husband, we encounter a colorful cast of women, each suffering a physical or mental disfigurement, as they come together to work out their destinies.
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