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FireWife
The Chinese creation myth includes the battle between fire and water. As the battle continues, it shapes the lives and fates of every person. Some will know fire love, the wild passion that passes quickly. For others, there is water love, like the great rivers that defy place and time.
Tinling Choong draws on this powerful legend in FireWife to tell the fictional story of a fledgling photographer, Nin, who leaves her corporate job in California to photograph women throughout the world. Her journey turns into a search for the truth about women: the women of fire and the women of water. At each stopping place, she uncovers the tale of a woman who has been marginalized by her sexuality. In Taipei, she meets Zimi, who leases her forehead as advertising space and wants to donate her eggs to an infertile friend; in Bangkok, she photographs Ut, a fourteen-year-old girl forced into prostitution; in Tokyo, Nin’s subject bares her body so that sushi may be served upon her daily to groups of salivating men. Each of their lives echoes a stage in Nin’s own journey of discovering her raw sexual self, her true fire self.
Original, courageous, and intensely moving, FireWife is a poetic exploration of contemporary Asian women unknowingly connected over time. It introduces an astonishing new literary voice.
- GenresFictionShort Stories
201 pages, Hardcover
First published January 23, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
July 17, 2007
Great collection of short stories from various interesting perspectives! I went to a book reading for the author and she took almost 10 years to complete this collection, pulling from observations of the news, internet and other news sources. Powerful characters! A great read!
December 13, 2015
If I could give this one 10 stars I would. ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS writing! Each reader will get something different from this innovative retelling of an ancient myth. The imagery conjured by this exquisite writer is stunning!
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April 1, 2020Written on my blog...
I was browsing through this book and saw a reference to Wellesley College. ONLY after I bought it did I realize that Tinling Choong is a fellow alumnae. The stories are memorable and they interweave in a very clever way.
I was browsing through this book and saw a reference to Wellesley College. ONLY after I bought it did I realize that Tinling Choong is a fellow alumnae. The stories are memorable and they interweave in a very clever way.
March 27, 2007
Such fun, haunting, beautiful writing. I found that I understood myself better while reading this (fire/water). Profound and lovely.
April 11, 2011
Due to the subject matter, this was a very difficult book to read. However, Tinling lives in my town and I work with her husband, so it was important to support her. She is a beautiful writer.
January 27, 2014
I truly enjoyed this, but given the dark, and sometimes strange, matter I am not sure why. Wish I had know the prologue was at the end - would have read first.
September 28, 2018
WHAT! WILD! WEIRD! INTERESTING! how many more can I think of to describe not the book but my reaction to it. (note I didn't add wonderful)
Amazon: An original, courageous novel, FireWife draws on the powerful Chinese myth of fire and water to explore how women's sexuality and fate are intertwined.
Nin, a photographer, embarks on a five-month journey to photograph women around the world. Her travel turns into a search for the truth about women: the women of fire and the women of water. Each of her subjects' lives echoes a stage in Nin's discovery of her true “fire self.” FireWife illuminates the gap between merely knowing and actually living one's true self. Poetic and intensely moving, FireWife is an exploration of contemporary Asian women unknowingly connected over time.
Amazon: An original, courageous novel, FireWife draws on the powerful Chinese myth of fire and water to explore how women's sexuality and fate are intertwined.
Nin, a photographer, embarks on a five-month journey to photograph women around the world. Her travel turns into a search for the truth about women: the women of fire and the women of water. Each of her subjects' lives echoes a stage in Nin's discovery of her true “fire self.” FireWife illuminates the gap between merely knowing and actually living one's true self. Poetic and intensely moving, FireWife is an exploration of contemporary Asian women unknowingly connected over time.
August 26, 2008
My dearly departed mother once said, "The problem with preaching against poverty is that only the poor will come to the service." Oh, how the wisdom of women have shaped my life.
Choong's, FireWife, follows the tortured soul of Nin, a California architect, who on her thirty-first birthday temporarily leaves her job and her husband behind to embark on her soul-saving FireWife project. The FireWife project, a photo essay endeavor that requires Nin to photograph women of various places in the world, is a personal undertaking of Nin's to be carried out in the memory of her younger sister who drowned as a child; or perhaps to atone for her involvement in that family tragedy. It is during this journey of spirit that Nin meets the eight tragic personalities that comprise this tale.
In FireWife, Choong's debut novel, the discontent and angst many women feel across the globe owing to the legacy of unjust societal norms under which many still toil, is captured and displayed under the brilliant light of truth for all the world to see. Choong's narrative voice, both poetic and engagingly cryptic, bears an intonation of sobriety; sobriety of literary thought; sobriety in social criticism. Though some of the afflictions which beset Choong's characters, i.e. Yun in Taipei who leases advertising space on her forehead, can be blamed most immediately on trading regimes which encourage the indiscriminate outsourcing of misery by the west and not on male dominated governments and corporate boardrooms somehow enamored with the notion of female subjugation, the message is clear: women in many parts of the world are treated as a helot class.
It's worthwhile noting that Nin had to leave her cushy architectural job in sunny California and travel to what may ostensibly be considered emerging nations, or nations in need of economic reform, to witness these abuses against women. This begs the question, "To improve the welfare and strengthen the rights of women on the global stage, isn't it best to focus on improving the general welfare of humankind through investment, education, and political reform?" Of course, neither the text nor subtext of Choong's work suggest otherwise.
The mood of FireWife, may be best described as contemplative. Though her voice is strong and her message important, I fear that Choong may be preaching to the poor on this one. Nevertheless, it is a sermon worth hearing.
Joel Glenn, The NYLS Book Review. All Rights Reserved
Choong's, FireWife, follows the tortured soul of Nin, a California architect, who on her thirty-first birthday temporarily leaves her job and her husband behind to embark on her soul-saving FireWife project. The FireWife project, a photo essay endeavor that requires Nin to photograph women of various places in the world, is a personal undertaking of Nin's to be carried out in the memory of her younger sister who drowned as a child; or perhaps to atone for her involvement in that family tragedy. It is during this journey of spirit that Nin meets the eight tragic personalities that comprise this tale.
In FireWife, Choong's debut novel, the discontent and angst many women feel across the globe owing to the legacy of unjust societal norms under which many still toil, is captured and displayed under the brilliant light of truth for all the world to see. Choong's narrative voice, both poetic and engagingly cryptic, bears an intonation of sobriety; sobriety of literary thought; sobriety in social criticism. Though some of the afflictions which beset Choong's characters, i.e. Yun in Taipei who leases advertising space on her forehead, can be blamed most immediately on trading regimes which encourage the indiscriminate outsourcing of misery by the west and not on male dominated governments and corporate boardrooms somehow enamored with the notion of female subjugation, the message is clear: women in many parts of the world are treated as a helot class.
It's worthwhile noting that Nin had to leave her cushy architectural job in sunny California and travel to what may ostensibly be considered emerging nations, or nations in need of economic reform, to witness these abuses against women. This begs the question, "To improve the welfare and strengthen the rights of women on the global stage, isn't it best to focus on improving the general welfare of humankind through investment, education, and political reform?" Of course, neither the text nor subtext of Choong's work suggest otherwise.
The mood of FireWife, may be best described as contemplative. Though her voice is strong and her message important, I fear that Choong may be preaching to the poor on this one. Nevertheless, it is a sermon worth hearing.
Joel Glenn, The NYLS Book Review. All Rights Reserved
August 8, 2012
Firewife was sometimes difficult and painful to read due to the topics - you feel for the woman and young girls described, I was aware of the topics but it's hard to read. I loved the start and the whole idea for the book and was excited to go on this journey with Nin but she lost me a bit towards the end and don't know really what to do with the ending.
February 25, 2009
one of the most unusual, curious and intriguing books i've read, sensual and titilating, heart-wrenching and provocative. i don't use this word often but i will do so here: a masterpiece. perhaps the only book i've finished then literally started over- immediately. thank you mati!
June 3, 2016
It's a confusing read for me, can't quite grasp it and need to compose my thoughts. About women, sexuality, hardship, desires and freedom.
You can read my full review here:
http://www.sholee.net/2016/06/mpov-fi...
You can read my full review here:
http://www.sholee.net/2016/06/mpov-fi...
May 14, 2011
...........
May 28, 2011
interesting subject matter, deep, thoughtful and soulful. rather deeper than the average Malaysian writer. just felt the ending was rather unfinished.
September 25, 2011
I had high hopes. Oh well, at least it was short. I will not seek out this author again.
June 9, 2007
Great Book!!!!
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews