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Celia, Misoka, I
A meditation on the meaning of life in an increasingly global world, from acclaimed Chinese-Canadian author Xue Yiwei.
Set in modern-day Montreal, Celia, Misoka, I is the story of a middle-aged Chinese man who has been living in the city for fifteen years. After the death of his wife, he begins to reflect on his past and how he has ended up alone in Canada, a solitary member of the Chinese diaspora. It is in this period of angst and uncertainty, during the most unusual of winters, that he meets two women by Beaver Lake, on Montreal’s Mount Royal. They, too, have their own stories of their own personal plights, which connect present to past, and West to East.
The distinct paths taken by these three characters ― Celia, Misoka, and “I” ― span continents and decades, but, whether by chance or design, converge in Montreal, like mysterious figures in an ancient Chinese Zen painting. After coming together, the three begin to examine who they are, where they might belong, and how to navigate otherness and identity in a globalized world.
A RARE MACHINES BOOK
Set in modern-day Montreal, Celia, Misoka, I is the story of a middle-aged Chinese man who has been living in the city for fifteen years. After the death of his wife, he begins to reflect on his past and how he has ended up alone in Canada, a solitary member of the Chinese diaspora. It is in this period of angst and uncertainty, during the most unusual of winters, that he meets two women by Beaver Lake, on Montreal’s Mount Royal. They, too, have their own stories of their own personal plights, which connect present to past, and West to East.
The distinct paths taken by these three characters ― Celia, Misoka, and “I” ― span continents and decades, but, whether by chance or design, converge in Montreal, like mysterious figures in an ancient Chinese Zen painting. After coming together, the three begin to examine who they are, where they might belong, and how to navigate otherness and identity in a globalized world.
A RARE MACHINES BOOK
280 pages, Paperback
Published March 29, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
December 27, 2021
I am a little ambivalent about this book. On the one hand I think I understand what Xue Yiwei is trying to do in this book: talk about second (or third...) opportunities, about how mistakes change us but also help us evolve, about the importance of family in our daily life, about the fear of losing close ones by death or by estrangement, about how random encounters can have far reaching consequences... And in that respect the first part of the story I think it is quite good: a man trying to connect with 'random' people after he loses his wife and his daughter decides to cut ties with him out of the blue. It is interesting to see how the author creates a story, new relationships, out of a chance encounter.
However, this goodwill from the first part of the book is lost for me because of the shortcomings: first, the main character is annoying and childish. He is always the victim in the story (normally because female characters have been mean to him; I have to wonder if that is on purpose or the choice of female characters is just an accident), he is always asking questions and then is extra sensible to any answer he receives, as he if still three years old and still learning about rejection... He is quite smug. Maybe if his inner world was better developed it would be more interesting, but Xue Yiwei seems to believe that making him read Shakespeare is the same as creating a character with depth. Sadly, it is not. The same happens with the conversations he has with other characters that in the end revolve more about himself than around the people he meets.
It is, then, a head-scratching thing that all female characters seem to be fawning around him. Why Celia or Misoka (or some of the other females that appear in the story) would even want to exchange anything but a 'hello' with a person like him? The author does not justify that attraction and the story loses all credibility because of that. Just imagine if a 50-odd-year-old started to talk to you out of the blue in a library, or while you are in a park, etc., and after interrupting you was super sensible to any of your comments. And that expands to the force ending, where things come to a too fairy tale conclusion for my taste (also, out of the blue).
And because of the male character being so childish, selfish and, well, maybe misogynist, and, however, women falling for him when he is not interesting at all, it feels more like a wish fulfillment story for the author than a story of loss and re-connection for the reader. Which is a pity, because the beginning is really engaging.
The best: the beginning, with the main character trying to find meaning in small things after the death of his wife and the disappearance of his daughter
The worst: it feels like a male wish fulfillment story
Alternatives: it might sound strange, but Bernardine Evaristo's "Girl, Woman, Other"
4/10
(English translation)
*Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the copy*
However, this goodwill from the first part of the book is lost for me because of the shortcomings: first, the main character is annoying and childish. He is always the victim in the story (normally because female characters have been mean to him; I have to wonder if that is on purpose or the choice of female characters is just an accident), he is always asking questions and then is extra sensible to any answer he receives, as he if still three years old and still learning about rejection... He is quite smug. Maybe if his inner world was better developed it would be more interesting, but Xue Yiwei seems to believe that making him read Shakespeare is the same as creating a character with depth. Sadly, it is not. The same happens with the conversations he has with other characters that in the end revolve more about himself than around the people he meets.
It is, then, a head-scratching thing that all female characters seem to be fawning around him. Why Celia or Misoka (or some of the other females that appear in the story) would even want to exchange anything but a 'hello' with a person like him? The author does not justify that attraction and the story loses all credibility because of that. Just imagine if a 50-odd-year-old started to talk to you out of the blue in a library, or while you are in a park, etc., and after interrupting you was super sensible to any of your comments. And that expands to the force ending, where things come to a too fairy tale conclusion for my taste (also, out of the blue).
And because of the male character being so childish, selfish and, well, maybe misogynist, and, however, women falling for him when he is not interesting at all, it feels more like a wish fulfillment story for the author than a story of loss and re-connection for the reader. Which is a pity, because the beginning is really engaging.
The best: the beginning, with the main character trying to find meaning in small things after the death of his wife and the disappearance of his daughter
The worst: it feels like a male wish fulfillment story
Alternatives: it might sound strange, but Bernardine Evaristo's "Girl, Woman, Other"
4/10
(English translation)
*Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the copy*
October 19, 2021
Celia, Misoka, I is written by Chinese-Canadian author, Xue Yiwei who has a slew of fiction novels, short story collections and non-fiction essay collations published in Chinese. A number of them have been translated into English, including Dr Bethune's Children, Shenzheners, Xue Yiwei and His War Stories: A Collection of Translations and Commentaries. His latest novel, King Lear and Nineteen Seventy-Nine, is in the process of being translated into English.
希拉里、密和、我 was originally published in 2016 and its English translation by Stephen Nashaf is being released by the newly minted Rare Machines imprint of Canadian trade publisher Dundurn Press in March 2022. Thanks to Dundurn Press and Netgalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Advance praise from authors Jung Chang and Ha Jin is glowing; in fact, Ha Jin's extolling Xue Yiwei's writing is what convinced me to request the book. Incidentally, in the book itself, there’s a reference to Jung Chang's book Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China as well mentions of Dr Norman Bethune and King Lear, of which Xue Yiwei has written separate fiction novels about. I wonder if all these interconnections are building up into a meta ubernovel, like what David Mitchell is attempting.
From the description, I expected a quiet introspective philosophical story about solitude, immigration and grief. That evocative cover art of a solitary man skating on cartographer ice with his back to us certainly reinforces that. When we first encounter our middle-aged Chinese narrator and protagonist, he has just buried his wife who passed away from cancer and his daughter has walked out of his life. The family of three emigrated from China to Canada a decade and a half ago, settling down in Montreal. His wife's Biology PhD qualification was not recognized in Canada and she worked as a lab technician for a short bit before opening a convenience store with her husband.
What chafes me is the way the story is presented by the narrator. There's a great deal of foreshadowing, every chance encounter and conversation portends some mysterious fate and meaning, every coincidence is seized upon to be ruminated over. We readers are told repeatedly that it was "the most unusual winter" which other characters echo. Yet, when all the secrets and revelations and convergences are finally unveiled, I was left underwhelmed and nonplussed.
The two women Celia and Misoka that he enters into an entangled friendship with are both frustratingly secretive and prickly. The author's female characters, as a whole, from narrator's daughter to his wife and his lost love and these two, are sketched so vaguely and indistinctly that I had no real sense of them as living breathing people. In fact, sometimes I would get Celia and Misoka mixed up. The three of them engage in this overwrought intense triangle of a relationship with strange dynamics such as the narrator feeling jealous that the two females are meeting up without him. The middle-aged widower narrator behaves like a quivering maiden ruminating about significance and safety when one of the females (Celia, I think) invites him to spend a few nights at a ski cabin. The narrator and Misoka also individually intuit and gossip to each other that Celia is a 'healthy sufferer,' whatever the hell that means.
I also disliked what I perceived to be the narrator's literary elitism. Those who read books and literature are worthy of his attention and intrigue, like the mystery female that he met at the Yuan Ming Yuan in Beijing years ago who is presented as his literary soulmate that he should have married. For some reason, he instead proposed to the biologist in Guangdong who keeps proclaiming his reading of books and the books themselves 'useless.' This kind of binary thinking and writing frustrates me. Here's a thought: people with advanced STEM degrees can also be avid literary readers and writers, musicians and cultural connoisseurs. The narrator's thoughts and views started to progressively rankle me such that by the time, he wrote his 'truth' to his wife ghost, I was not in the least bit surprised. My most charitable impression of him is a lonely person prone to doubt and overanalysis who doesn't know what he wants.
Xue Yiwei presents a fairly balanced view of the pros and cons of immigration for a white collar couple. The sad reality for many educated immigrants to Canada and the West is their new jobs are not commensurate with their professional qualifications and work experience. I have the utmost respect for immigrants who were doctors, lawyers, journalists, pilots in their home countries who end up as taxi-drivers, restaurant owners, dry cleaners etc with the concomitant grueling hours in the new country. As far as the globalization that the book purports to be about, I didn't find that to play such a relevant part in how the story evolved. Is it odd to meet people who have mixed racial parentage or someone who has been to a hugely popular tourist spot that happens to have personal painful family history for another? The story does delve into some sensitive political topics and history such as the Battle of Changsha or more widely, the Sino-Japanese war. There are some interesting cross-cultural historical links mentioned such as Victor Hugo's dismay about the malicious burning of the Yuan Ming Yuan by the British and French or Sartre's trip to China in the 1950s and his praise for the Cultural Revolution.
Since there are no reader reviews of the English translation of this novel yet, I searched for the Chinese name of the novel and ended up on its Douban page (for those not familiar, Douban is a widely used review site in China. Sort of an amalgamation of Rotten Tomatoes, mydramalist.com and Goodreads equivalent). The Douban rating is 7.4/10, which is quite decent. Of the top two reviews, one is critical of the Chinese prose saying it's devoid of beauty of the Chinese language and mechanical whereas the other doesn't agree that it was such a strange winter as repeated by the 'I' of the narrator and finds the portrayal of the female characters problematic.
希拉里、密和、我 was originally published in 2016 and its English translation by Stephen Nashaf is being released by the newly minted Rare Machines imprint of Canadian trade publisher Dundurn Press in March 2022. Thanks to Dundurn Press and Netgalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Advance praise from authors Jung Chang and Ha Jin is glowing; in fact, Ha Jin's extolling Xue Yiwei's writing is what convinced me to request the book. Incidentally, in the book itself, there’s a reference to Jung Chang's book Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China as well mentions of Dr Norman Bethune and King Lear, of which Xue Yiwei has written separate fiction novels about. I wonder if all these interconnections are building up into a meta ubernovel, like what David Mitchell is attempting.
From the description, I expected a quiet introspective philosophical story about solitude, immigration and grief. That evocative cover art of a solitary man skating on cartographer ice with his back to us certainly reinforces that. When we first encounter our middle-aged Chinese narrator and protagonist, he has just buried his wife who passed away from cancer and his daughter has walked out of his life. The family of three emigrated from China to Canada a decade and a half ago, settling down in Montreal. His wife's Biology PhD qualification was not recognized in Canada and she worked as a lab technician for a short bit before opening a convenience store with her husband.
What chafes me is the way the story is presented by the narrator. There's a great deal of foreshadowing, every chance encounter and conversation portends some mysterious fate and meaning, every coincidence is seized upon to be ruminated over. We readers are told repeatedly that it was "the most unusual winter" which other characters echo. Yet, when all the secrets and revelations and convergences are finally unveiled, I was left underwhelmed and nonplussed.
The two women Celia and Misoka that he enters into an entangled friendship with are both frustratingly secretive and prickly. The author's female characters, as a whole, from narrator's daughter to his wife and his lost love and these two, are sketched so vaguely and indistinctly that I had no real sense of them as living breathing people. In fact, sometimes I would get Celia and Misoka mixed up. The three of them engage in this overwrought intense triangle of a relationship with strange dynamics such as the narrator feeling jealous that the two females are meeting up without him. The middle-aged widower narrator behaves like a quivering maiden ruminating about significance and safety when one of the females (Celia, I think) invites him to spend a few nights at a ski cabin. The narrator and Misoka also individually intuit and gossip to each other that Celia is a 'healthy sufferer,' whatever the hell that means.
I also disliked what I perceived to be the narrator's literary elitism. Those who read books and literature are worthy of his attention and intrigue, like the mystery female that he met at the Yuan Ming Yuan in Beijing years ago who is presented as his literary soulmate that he should have married. For some reason, he instead proposed to the biologist in Guangdong who keeps proclaiming his reading of books and the books themselves 'useless.' This kind of binary thinking and writing frustrates me. Here's a thought: people with advanced STEM degrees can also be avid literary readers and writers, musicians and cultural connoisseurs. The narrator's thoughts and views started to progressively rankle me such that by the time, he wrote his 'truth' to his wife ghost, I was not in the least bit surprised. My most charitable impression of him is a lonely person prone to doubt and overanalysis who doesn't know what he wants.
Xue Yiwei presents a fairly balanced view of the pros and cons of immigration for a white collar couple. The sad reality for many educated immigrants to Canada and the West is their new jobs are not commensurate with their professional qualifications and work experience. I have the utmost respect for immigrants who were doctors, lawyers, journalists, pilots in their home countries who end up as taxi-drivers, restaurant owners, dry cleaners etc with the concomitant grueling hours in the new country. As far as the globalization that the book purports to be about, I didn't find that to play such a relevant part in how the story evolved. Is it odd to meet people who have mixed racial parentage or someone who has been to a hugely popular tourist spot that happens to have personal painful family history for another? The story does delve into some sensitive political topics and history such as the Battle of Changsha or more widely, the Sino-Japanese war. There are some interesting cross-cultural historical links mentioned such as Victor Hugo's dismay about the malicious burning of the Yuan Ming Yuan by the British and French or Sartre's trip to China in the 1950s and his praise for the Cultural Revolution.
Since there are no reader reviews of the English translation of this novel yet, I searched for the Chinese name of the novel and ended up on its Douban page (for those not familiar, Douban is a widely used review site in China. Sort of an amalgamation of Rotten Tomatoes, mydramalist.com and Goodreads equivalent). The Douban rating is 7.4/10, which is quite decent. Of the top two reviews, one is critical of the Chinese prose saying it's devoid of beauty of the Chinese language and mechanical whereas the other doesn't agree that it was such a strange winter as repeated by the 'I' of the narrator and finds the portrayal of the female characters problematic.
May 12, 2022
A quietly meditative book about identity and the meaning of life, and about immigration, estrangement, loneliness and displacement. Weighty themes indeed and sympathetically handled here, but overall I couldn’t relate to the narrator of this melancholy novel and thus found myself unmoved by his plight. It tells of a middle-aged Chinese man who has lived relatively successfully with his wife and daughter in Montreal for 15 years running a convenience store. His relationship with his wife is fractious but his life is thrown into crisis when she dies and then his daughter moves out seemingly wanting to cut off all contact with him, for reasons he can’t comprehend. Feeling that he no longer understands his place in the world, he becomes increasingly depressed until one day a chance meeting with two somewhat mysterious women changes everything for him. My problem with the novel is that I didn’t like the narrator who is egocentric and self-centred and I couldn’t see why the various women depicted would be attracted to him. I found the premise of the book interesting but ultimately unconvincing and unsatisfying and didn’t really enjoy it.
May 17, 2024
The fact was we were all different. In this globalized, information age everyone was changing and no one could understand anyone else; we could not see the change in ourselves so we assumed that it was everyone else who was changing. The absurdity of our condition struck me but it did not shake my resolve. I had made my decision. I would return to my native land, no matter how unrecognizable it was.
A quick, melancholy, but wholesome read. Yiwei is confronting the chaos of our rapidly changing world by following the loneliness of the Chinese immigrant "I" after his wife dies. "I" finds solace in the company of two other people; Celia, the daughter of Chinese emigres in Canada, and Misoka, a Chinese-Japanese emigres reaching her golden years. There's a lot about this that reminds me of Haruki Murakami's listless, wandering main characters. There's an ethereal feeling to the conversations between "I", Celia, and Misoka, strange coincidences, surprising resonances, shared suffering. All of the characters notably have broken hearts from some relationship past, and I'm not sure how I square that in the concept of the book. Something about leaving your homeland being similar to a lost love, despite most characters leaving in the name of love.
A quick, melancholy, but wholesome read. Yiwei is confronting the chaos of our rapidly changing world by following the loneliness of the Chinese immigrant "I" after his wife dies. "I" finds solace in the company of two other people; Celia, the daughter of Chinese emigres in Canada, and Misoka, a Chinese-Japanese emigres reaching her golden years. There's a lot about this that reminds me of Haruki Murakami's listless, wandering main characters. There's an ethereal feeling to the conversations between "I", Celia, and Misoka, strange coincidences, surprising resonances, shared suffering. All of the characters notably have broken hearts from some relationship past, and I'm not sure how I square that in the concept of the book. Something about leaving your homeland being similar to a lost love, despite most characters leaving in the name of love.
March 14, 2022
This is a quietly haunting book, where we regularly shift time and perspective to chart the story of a couple before and after they migrate to Montreal from China, with vignettes woven in of the titular Celia and Misoka.
We receive all of this through the 'I' who narrates the book, and we quickly see how his beliefs and perspective colours everything in the book, often misreading things entirely.
There is something about the pace of this book that is delightfully slow and meditative, whilst also being a quick read, and I enjoyed being slightly lost in its rhythms.
I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
We receive all of this through the 'I' who narrates the book, and we quickly see how his beliefs and perspective colours everything in the book, often misreading things entirely.
There is something about the pace of this book that is delightfully slow and meditative, whilst also being a quick read, and I enjoyed being slightly lost in its rhythms.
I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
September 28, 2022
I’m surprised this book doesn’t have a higher star rating because I was taken away. I absolutely loved this book and even though I’ll never read it in Chinese, I can’t see how any of the meaning was lost in translation. Delving into heavy themes and provoking deep thoughts, but I somehow still got mystically and magically lost in the writing every time I picked up the book. Though a contemporary read, it’s unlike anything I’ve ever read. This was definitely my favourite ‘Celia’ book so far in my 2022 Celia reading challenge.
May 13, 2022
I kept waiting for the author to reveal just what was so remarkable about the winter but the miracle never happen.
I also kept questioning why the protagonist was so obsessed with these women and why they would even give him the time of the day. The answer: there would be no book otherwise.
Every mundane observation is treated with mystery and symbolism for absolutely no deeper reason other than making the book feel artificially abstract and symbolic in the absence of an actually compelling storyline or characters. Its treatment of its female characters is appalling and superficial.
I also kept questioning why the protagonist was so obsessed with these women and why they would even give him the time of the day. The answer: there would be no book otherwise.
Every mundane observation is treated with mystery and symbolism for absolutely no deeper reason other than making the book feel artificially abstract and symbolic in the absence of an actually compelling storyline or characters. Its treatment of its female characters is appalling and superficial.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 21, 2021
I would say this was one of the most enticing reads for me this year. Every reader who is keen on this book, should first pay attention to the title. I love how I said Celia, Misoka and I a couple of times, when I realized that I was terribly wrong- there was no AND, which already shows us the complexity of the relationship between these people. I somehow, get the feeling that the narrator or I is actually in a way immersed in Celia and Misoka's characters respectively.
The novel starts with the story of a man, 48-years-old, an owner of the convenience store. A loving father of the daughter who doesn't care for him anymore and wants to be alone. And a husband, a widower now, someone whose life was completely changed when his wife died. Although there is a constant usage of I in the novel, interestingly enough, I don't find it troubling. Somehow, the purpose of this I is to show us how we might feel in these situations. We don't have to agree with author's opinions, but I got the idea that he was trying to be very objective and honest. He bled out his feelings to us about different topics, and we can or don't have to relate to them.
I could personally understand some of his viewpoints, though may sound selfish or over the line, but I understood the narrator as a human being, someone who is maybe tired of fighting for his wife's life, or who cannot understand the loss of contact with his daughter, or the idea of skating every day, because that is something that it might keep him alive. Not everyone can deal with the loss in the same way, or what others might call it the right way. Everyone has their own way of processing trauma, and we owe at least our understanding for the I in the book.
Thank You Netgalley, the publisher and the author for an ARC.
The novel starts with the story of a man, 48-years-old, an owner of the convenience store. A loving father of the daughter who doesn't care for him anymore and wants to be alone. And a husband, a widower now, someone whose life was completely changed when his wife died. Although there is a constant usage of I in the novel, interestingly enough, I don't find it troubling. Somehow, the purpose of this I is to show us how we might feel in these situations. We don't have to agree with author's opinions, but I got the idea that he was trying to be very objective and honest. He bled out his feelings to us about different topics, and we can or don't have to relate to them.
I could personally understand some of his viewpoints, though may sound selfish or over the line, but I understood the narrator as a human being, someone who is maybe tired of fighting for his wife's life, or who cannot understand the loss of contact with his daughter, or the idea of skating every day, because that is something that it might keep him alive. Not everyone can deal with the loss in the same way, or what others might call it the right way. Everyone has their own way of processing trauma, and we owe at least our understanding for the I in the book.
Thank You Netgalley, the publisher and the author for an ARC.
December 4, 2021
""Jealousy might be a literary stimulant," she said, "but in life it's toxic"".
Trigger warning: suicide and depression.
Celia, Misoka, I is the translation of "希拉里, 密和, 我" and it's something. A Chinese Canadian man is in the later years of life, a fresh widow and newly solo as his daughter has left for university. To find meaning in a life of sudden loneliness, he quits his job and plans to travel to the mountain to ice skate every day in winter. There, he meets Celia and Misoka and explores the ideas of loneliness, purpose and companionship.
The book is great from the perspective of slowing down and taking the time to invest in others. It highlights how we can learn about ourselves through others and acts as a stark reminder that everyone has things going on under the surface. I enjoyed the protagonist pondering and seemingly growing past his quite unlikeable first impression, and the exploration of where loneliness drives us.
The book doesn't do much, which allows the reader to place their own perception on the meaning. I was disappointed by the way the protagonist who was clearly the least likeable would repeatedly draw out the weaknesses of others - women who had clearly experienced varying forms of trauma - without recognising his own flaws, but my dislike of him only heightened my enjoyment of the female characters.
I wonder how different my experience may have been reading the original version.
Thank you to NetGalley for the Arc.
Trigger warning: suicide and depression.
Celia, Misoka, I is the translation of "希拉里, 密和, 我" and it's something. A Chinese Canadian man is in the later years of life, a fresh widow and newly solo as his daughter has left for university. To find meaning in a life of sudden loneliness, he quits his job and plans to travel to the mountain to ice skate every day in winter. There, he meets Celia and Misoka and explores the ideas of loneliness, purpose and companionship.
The book is great from the perspective of slowing down and taking the time to invest in others. It highlights how we can learn about ourselves through others and acts as a stark reminder that everyone has things going on under the surface. I enjoyed the protagonist pondering and seemingly growing past his quite unlikeable first impression, and the exploration of where loneliness drives us.
The book doesn't do much, which allows the reader to place their own perception on the meaning. I was disappointed by the way the protagonist who was clearly the least likeable would repeatedly draw out the weaknesses of others - women who had clearly experienced varying forms of trauma - without recognising his own flaws, but my dislike of him only heightened my enjoyment of the female characters.
I wonder how different my experience may have been reading the original version.
Thank you to NetGalley for the Arc.
March 28, 2022
This is a well-written literary novel about a middle-aged man who emigrated from China to Montreal 15 years ago and has just lost his wife to cancer and become estranged from his only child, a daughter. Now completely alone, he takes up skating at a mountain lake near his home where he meets and forms something of an emotional triangle with two very different women whose backgrounds are a mystery but who help him to move on to the next phase of his life.
While I enjoyed the novel, I recognize that it will probably not be for everyone. It is neither a quick nor easy read. More about character development and relationships, and what it means to be human in this age of globalization, it is slow-moving and contains lots of digressions. In other words, there are instances of stories-inside-stories-inside-stories. The novel also leaves a number of questions open and unanswered.
Nevertheless, it does have something to say about what it’s like to uproot oneself from one’s homeland and settle in a new place, and about modern-day China and what life there can be like. And it attempts to impart some pearls of wisdom, many of which I found to be thoughtful and thought-provoking.
My thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for providing me with an ARC. The foregoing is my honest, independent opinion.
While I enjoyed the novel, I recognize that it will probably not be for everyone. It is neither a quick nor easy read. More about character development and relationships, and what it means to be human in this age of globalization, it is slow-moving and contains lots of digressions. In other words, there are instances of stories-inside-stories-inside-stories. The novel also leaves a number of questions open and unanswered.
Nevertheless, it does have something to say about what it’s like to uproot oneself from one’s homeland and settle in a new place, and about modern-day China and what life there can be like. And it attempts to impart some pearls of wisdom, many of which I found to be thoughtful and thought-provoking.
My thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for providing me with an ARC. The foregoing is my honest, independent opinion.
August 14, 2022
Had to dnf this. This book amazed me in that the narrative of a middle-aged man sounded surprisingly similar to that of a teenage girl. Specifically, Elif Batuman's "The Idiot" came to mind while reading this. It seems as if the narrator of this book had the same (bizarre) thought processes and logic of the teenage girl in "The Idiot," but he seemed to crucially lack the self-awareness necessary for the character to be relatable or at least likeable.
I found the narrator of this book to be self-centred (and frankly reflective of my own experiences w some middle aged men). To be honest I feel like the narrator didn't really see Celia and Misoka as real people. He seemed to idealize them and idk project his own hopes onto them. You don't really get much of a sense of who they are.
MAYBE It would be good if the book was satire? I feel like it would make more sense as a humorous comedy where the narrator jumps to all these conclusions and makes all these assumptions... but idk it seemed like it wasn't intended to be satire it seemed like a genuine story from the author. I wish it was satirical. That would've been a hit...
On a positive note, i think this book allowed me to be more understanding of middle-aged men... seeing as they (at least this narrator is) seem to be living through the same girlhood that I did... Basically Midlife Crisis Yassified
I found the narrator of this book to be self-centred (and frankly reflective of my own experiences w some middle aged men). To be honest I feel like the narrator didn't really see Celia and Misoka as real people. He seemed to idealize them and idk project his own hopes onto them. You don't really get much of a sense of who they are.
MAYBE It would be good if the book was satire? I feel like it would make more sense as a humorous comedy where the narrator jumps to all these conclusions and makes all these assumptions... but idk it seemed like it wasn't intended to be satire it seemed like a genuine story from the author. I wish it was satirical. That would've been a hit...
On a positive note, i think this book allowed me to be more understanding of middle-aged men... seeing as they (at least this narrator is) seem to be living through the same girlhood that I did... Basically Midlife Crisis Yassified
October 30, 2021
I found it hard to rate this book ,it is beautifully written with sharp insights into spousal love and long term relationships but is so static and slow moving that I admit I did struggle
I know some people do love this style of writing and if you do this is a very good example of the genre
I loved the idea of serendipity that meeting people at certain times in your life is meant to happen abs allow you to move on .The narrator meets 2 younger women during daily visits to an outdoor skating rink and as he gets to know them over a single winter he comes to terms with and heals relationships between him and his daughter and his recently deceased wife
The sense of cold and low mood is very strong at the start of the book and there is a gradual thawing as spring inevitably arrives .I rather liked this element of the book .
I’ve scored the book 3/5 as it was not really for me but feel that the quality and depth of the writing could have earned 4/5
I know some people do love this style of writing and if you do this is a very good example of the genre
I loved the idea of serendipity that meeting people at certain times in your life is meant to happen abs allow you to move on .The narrator meets 2 younger women during daily visits to an outdoor skating rink and as he gets to know them over a single winter he comes to terms with and heals relationships between him and his daughter and his recently deceased wife
The sense of cold and low mood is very strong at the start of the book and there is a gradual thawing as spring inevitably arrives .I rather liked this element of the book .
I’ve scored the book 3/5 as it was not really for me but feel that the quality and depth of the writing could have earned 4/5
November 3, 2021
This is an honest review in exchange for an ARC.
Recently bereaved "I" is in reflection of the life that has led to his life in Montreal, widowed, somewhat estranged from his daughter and isolated in the community. In a moment of nostalgia "I" is drawn to the mountain top skating rink where he has a serendipitous encounter with Misoka and Celia which draws "I" in to his past and the impact of formative relationships with women in his life and the path that led he and his wife to leave their life in China.
There is wonderful descriptive imagery throughout particularly for the Mountain and Temple scenes. There are many emotional and sometimes bitter moments shared by "I" as he delves in to his memory of family in China and his wife but overall it didn't hit the mark for me.
Recently bereaved "I" is in reflection of the life that has led to his life in Montreal, widowed, somewhat estranged from his daughter and isolated in the community. In a moment of nostalgia "I" is drawn to the mountain top skating rink where he has a serendipitous encounter with Misoka and Celia which draws "I" in to his past and the impact of formative relationships with women in his life and the path that led he and his wife to leave their life in China.
There is wonderful descriptive imagery throughout particularly for the Mountain and Temple scenes. There are many emotional and sometimes bitter moments shared by "I" as he delves in to his memory of family in China and his wife but overall it didn't hit the mark for me.
March 16, 2022
After a few days of interruption with my busy schedule, this morning I finished the last part of the book (P. 202 – 264) in one go. I’d say that it is a very well composed coda. As I am listening to Beethoven’s Violin Concerto in D major, which was mentioned in the first part of the book, I will use an analogy here: if I see the whole book as a violin concerto, I would say it is sublime! And one may like to have a chance to do a cadenza at the end of the first movement, then enjoy the whole piece to the last phrase of the coda.
October 23, 2023
Fiction - a miscellaneous Chinese man immigrates to Montreal. His wife ides of cancer, his daughter is estranged and he decides to skate on Mount Royal. He meets two different ladies with their own, but not so interesting, back stories. The miscellaneous guy (we never learn his name) tiptoes through life trying not to offend anyone yet never makes himself happy. Then he goes back to China to take care of his parents. The End.
No pharmacy references.
Canadian references - most of the book is set in Montreal.
No pharmacy references.
Canadian references - most of the book is set in Montreal.
August 2, 2024
I'm not sure if it's a cultural difference or what but the protagonist seemed very timid, very inexperienced, very isolated. My use of "very" in on purpose! Each encounter that our narrator has, is described in superlatives or it has never happened to him before. I just wanted the guy to relax a bit or take life with a grain of salt!
Anyway, it was always interesting to hear his thoughts and travel with him on his inner journey. I was a bit worried we'd all be left hanging by the end but it wrapped up nicely
Anyway, it was always interesting to hear his thoughts and travel with him on his inner journey. I was a bit worried we'd all be left hanging by the end but it wrapped up nicely
February 28, 2026
The narrator's story echoed aspects of my father's life. Having married a strong-willed partner, he might not have fully lived according to his own choices. After his wife's passing, he stepped outside his comfort zone to connect with others, driven by loneliness.Introspective personality that makes people want to open up to him. Quest to find happiness even after hardships. Uplifting message to not give up faith that one can find happiness regardless of past and age.
May 29, 2022
A widower's daily conversations with two mysterious women at an ice skating rink on Mount Royal inspire an extended rumination on love, loss, and human nature. While the pacing of plot and character development occasionally felt a little bit tedious, I found the story and its unique narrative voice endearing and compelling.
August 25, 2023
Though the philosophical nature of the book has some nice moments, much of the story is frustrating in how unable the narrator/protagonist is to take any meaningful action. Still, this Prufrock sort of guy gets privileged glimpses into the lives of reclusive and interesting women as a result of his timid harmlessness. It was worth a read but I can't highly recommend it.
October 6, 2026
I know this was a modern contemporary literary fiction piece of work, and I know that the story is a tale of a man reflecting and finding his way back home. To me though, all I got out of this was complaints upon complaints upon complaints and ZERO accountability. 2.5☆
April 28, 2024
This novel started out promising, and I immediately resonated with the narrator's reflection of loneliness, driven by his stale former marriage and rejection by his daughter. I also found myself intrigued by his initial encounters with Celia and Misoka–two women who couldn't be more different from each other, and yet, had mysteriously compelling backstories.
Nevertheless, after the first few interactions, the novel went downhill, and I quickly lost interest halfway. The interactions turned stale, and the conversations, dull. Also, what exactly was the relationship between the two women? It was rather odd. They were not friends nor acquaintances...but also not enemies. Frenemies also wouldn't quite describe it, because I couldn't tell if they were truly jealous of each other for the narrator's attention or not. In fact, I found all the relationships in this book to be odd and dispassionate.
And the ending? Terribly anti-climatic. There was no real ending, really. The book just ended. I know the author tried to have a meaningful ending (which I will not reveal here), but I felt nothing for anyone at that point. This book had a lot of promise but simply fell flat of expectations.
Nevertheless, after the first few interactions, the novel went downhill, and I quickly lost interest halfway. The interactions turned stale, and the conversations, dull. Also, what exactly was the relationship between the two women? It was rather odd. They were not friends nor acquaintances...but also not enemies. Frenemies also wouldn't quite describe it, because I couldn't tell if they were truly jealous of each other for the narrator's attention or not. In fact, I found all the relationships in this book to be odd and dispassionate.
And the ending? Terribly anti-climatic. There was no real ending, really. The book just ended. I know the author tried to have a meaningful ending (which I will not reveal here), but I felt nothing for anyone at that point. This book had a lot of promise but simply fell flat of expectations.
March 2, 2022
I received a copy of Celia, Misoka, I by Xue Yiwei from Dundurn Press in exchange for an honest review.
The story is set in Montreal where a middle-aged Chinese man meets two different and mysterious women as he is trying to figure out how he ended up in this city far from home with his wife recently deceased and an estranged daughter. As the three characters meet and interact, their stories begin to unravel - ever so slowly as they seem all wrapped up in their secrets and stories that led them to this fateful winter.
There was always a sense of something deeper and darker going on for all three characters that take a very slow time to reveal itself in this story. Each character is holding on to something that they are not so willing to share and give away. I found myself reading on in order to find out more - there is a certain level of intrigue but frustration given its pacing. Even by the end of it, there are many questions that readers are left with - though a certain sense of closure in the unknowing as well.
The story is set in Montreal where a middle-aged Chinese man meets two different and mysterious women as he is trying to figure out how he ended up in this city far from home with his wife recently deceased and an estranged daughter. As the three characters meet and interact, their stories begin to unravel - ever so slowly as they seem all wrapped up in their secrets and stories that led them to this fateful winter.
There was always a sense of something deeper and darker going on for all three characters that take a very slow time to reveal itself in this story. Each character is holding on to something that they are not so willing to share and give away. I found myself reading on in order to find out more - there is a certain level of intrigue but frustration given its pacing. Even by the end of it, there are many questions that readers are left with - though a certain sense of closure in the unknowing as well.
September 22, 2022
I found it difficult to engage with this very slow moving and reflective account of the migrant experience in Canada. Some beautiful descriptive writing.
October 29, 2021
I received an advanced copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Publication date: March 29, 2022.
This is a powerful story on the personal and emotional consequences of immigration.
Despite being a slow story, it kept me engaged and thinking about it the entire time. It’s a novel wrapped in sadness, with constant emotions of loneliness, despair, and grief present in every page and interaction between the characters. Sometimes there is too much despair to bear and I wished the story developed the little hope the characters have for the future further.
The author portrays the relationship between the three main ones in a very interesting way, developing their strange connection slowly. Being the main point of the story, I loved how each of the characters was searching for something and ended up finding it within themselves after forming this important relationship.
The resolve at the end of the story is both satisfying because some loose ends are tied and disappointing when you find out the main character lacks an honest motive the entire time. Even if surrounded by darkness, the main character appears to not have any strong personality, which weakens the ending.
I loved how winter and skating are portrayed, along with the sprinkles of other, very different places that create contrast with the cold and vast setting where most of the story takes place.
This is a powerful story on the personal and emotional consequences of immigration.
Despite being a slow story, it kept me engaged and thinking about it the entire time. It’s a novel wrapped in sadness, with constant emotions of loneliness, despair, and grief present in every page and interaction between the characters. Sometimes there is too much despair to bear and I wished the story developed the little hope the characters have for the future further.
The author portrays the relationship between the three main ones in a very interesting way, developing their strange connection slowly. Being the main point of the story, I loved how each of the characters was searching for something and ended up finding it within themselves after forming this important relationship.
The resolve at the end of the story is both satisfying because some loose ends are tied and disappointing when you find out the main character lacks an honest motive the entire time. Even if surrounded by darkness, the main character appears to not have any strong personality, which weakens the ending.
I loved how winter and skating are portrayed, along with the sprinkles of other, very different places that create contrast with the cold and vast setting where most of the story takes place.
February 2, 2022
I don’t know how I feel about this book. I appreciated what the author was trying to portray but I don’t particularly enjoy his writing.
The main narrator, I, is a 48-year old man who owns a convenience store. His life changed when his wife passed away and not even his daughter care for him very much. He rather be left alone to reflect on his past. It is during this time, he met Celia and Misoka. Both women offered him contrasting perspectives which helped him reevaluate his life choices.
It’s interesting to note how their their strange connection brought them together and how their relationship continue to develop. I love how each of them was searching or healing from something but they ended up finding peace within themselves after sharing their thoughts with each other.
I loved how the narrator weighed out the pros and cons of Asians immigrating to a Western country. There is the sad reality for many educated immigrants who struggle to find work in their profession based on their qualifications. This was evident as the narrator thought back on the days when him and his family first moved to Canada.
Although I don’t particularly enjoy this story, here are some of my own interpretations from this - how our outcomes could be affected when we are given second chances, and how one mistake we make could change our lives or torment us for a long time and processing how we really feel when we lose someone we love.
Thank you Netgalley and Dundurn Press for the arc.
The main narrator, I, is a 48-year old man who owns a convenience store. His life changed when his wife passed away and not even his daughter care for him very much. He rather be left alone to reflect on his past. It is during this time, he met Celia and Misoka. Both women offered him contrasting perspectives which helped him reevaluate his life choices.
It’s interesting to note how their their strange connection brought them together and how their relationship continue to develop. I love how each of them was searching or healing from something but they ended up finding peace within themselves after sharing their thoughts with each other.
I loved how the narrator weighed out the pros and cons of Asians immigrating to a Western country. There is the sad reality for many educated immigrants who struggle to find work in their profession based on their qualifications. This was evident as the narrator thought back on the days when him and his family first moved to Canada.
Although I don’t particularly enjoy this story, here are some of my own interpretations from this - how our outcomes could be affected when we are given second chances, and how one mistake we make could change our lives or torment us for a long time and processing how we really feel when we lose someone we love.
Thank you Netgalley and Dundurn Press for the arc.
March 12, 2022
A quiet, meditative tale of exile, displacement, and loss as three individual lives intersect on a frozen lake over one cold Canadian winter. Fans of Murakami should like this latest novel by one of China's most interesting contemporary novelists.
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