Kimberly T > Recent Status Updates

Genuinely, I feel a lot of dread about the upcoming hockey game and how much of Beartown hinges on victory. Like, with the way they’re building the win up, it sounds like the team will lose and someone’s gonna act out - especially if these boys have never learned how to lose.

“David has stopped using that particular word in front of his girlfriend: ‘investment’. Because, as she put it: ‘Is that really any way to talk about a seventeen year old?’

David has learned not to try to explain it. Either you understand that aspect of hockey or you don’t.”

I’m trying to figure out which character kills which one, but like sports anime, the book isn’t really about hockey.

“In Beartown silence always goes hand in hand with shame.”

“Late one evening toward the end of March, a teenager picked up a double barreled shotgun, walked into the forest, put the gun to someone else’s forehead, and pulled the trigger.”

I’m in!

“When suffering, how can a woman not feel despair, frustration, or anger — whether rich or poor, educated or illiterates, childless or a mother?”

“I was born in the Year of the Snake, I tell myself. I am not afraid.”

Fate! It’s the still year of the snake until February 17th, when it changes to horse!

“I’ve been lucky to have been cared for and loved since childhood by a circle of women. Now it’s time for me to create a wider circle, so I can do for my daughters and other women in the household what Grandmother, Miss Zhao, Meiling, and even Poppy have done for me.”

title drop!

OHHH SHIT THE DEATH EARLIER IN THE BOOK WASNT AN ACCIDENT. I DIDNT THINK IT WAS MURDER MYSTERY TIME

“First, I try to bolster my daughters spirits for whatever might come next.

‘You did everything correctly,’ I say. ‘I’m proud to have you as my children. Don’t ever forget that.’”

I had missed Yunxian’s daughters. Ailan!! You can survive this!!

SMALLPOX…

“See yourself as one of us in this condition. Imagine the creature inside ripping its way out of your body. The midwife continued her duties, never once abandoning her responsibility to the empress. The midwife was prepared to give her life and that of her own baby. One did not survive. Do you now punish this woman who has already paid so much to do what was right and proper?”

GET HIM YUNXIAN

MEILING NO

Ok why are they talking about poisonous herbs that caused miscarriages?? There are THREE WOMEN PREGNANT RN in the palace. Oh my god, if someone miscarries due to herbs and Yunxian IS FRAMED…

“Meiling lifts the tea tray and sets it on a side table.” Then she slides against me and rests her head on my shoulder. The heat of her body seeps into me. I wouldn’t move for anything.”

It’s sweet that Yunxian and Meiling get to spend so much time together again!

“When Meiling was sent thousands of Li away from home, who did she think of first to share in her good fortune?”

It’s nice to see Yunxian be a real person - jealous, petty, focused on herself. There is a lot of pressure for her to bear a son. I hope with treating patients she can reconcile this about her self and her joys also.

I spoke too soon, they’ve got a 14 year old concubine for Yunxian’s husband. Eugh. I get the need for a son, but jeez, they’re only 30. Also Maoren is an ambitious loser

“The goal of a male doctor is to see that a woman lives out her predetermined fate and destiny to have children. These things are controlled by heaven.”

“Inside I burn.. we women — rich, poor, educated, uneducated — are at the mercy of our bodies; the cycles of flood, the patterns of energy, the depth and complexity of our feelings. Heaven has nothing to do with any of that.”

“For so many in the edges of this room, the worthless branch on the family tree gained value only when she was sold to help keep her family alive.”

I enjoy that this book doesn’t shy away from class differences. Yunxian and Meiling are a good duo for this. I know it’s due to the period setting, but I wish there was more on Yunxian’s parenting and her marriage. Girl power, though!

Foot binding sounds so painful. I can’t imagine having to walk like that, given I complain every week that I hate trimming my toenails and would rather not have toenails at all

“Your actions have embarrassed me before my family.”

Right, that’s the right reaction for your wife finding a dead body. And we’re very worried about the *reputation* of the family, of course, now that the news has spread that there was a dead body.

“My husband’s uncles - all younger sons - have schemed over the years to assume control of the family and its vast holdings of money and land … everyone in this room wants more, as if there weren’t enough for everyone.”

Heh sounds like my extended family

“Her forehead is high, but she piles her hair in overlapping buns to accentuate that creamy expanse, sending the message that what is inside is always working.”

Me when someone asks me why my forehead so big

In all seriousness this kind of extrapolation and metaphor is very Chinese to me

“I’m inside a room. I’m guided forward until my red slippers are positioned next to a pair of man sized shoes embroidered by me. They belong to my husband to be. I sway, and my sleeve brushes against his sleeve. Instinctively, we both pull away. Still, I’m aware his presence - the warmth of his body next to mine, his breath as ragged as my own.

I’m SO sad by Yunxian leaving home. I hope they fall in love

“Most importantly, informing on a concubine, wife, or daughter who might succumb to the wiles of a demon or ghost as she herself once did.”

Ghost pregnancy? Tracking all the girls’ and women’s’ periods to see if they’ve been raped by the men of the household?? I hate men

Bride price and bride jewelry as a means for a woman to escape a marriage or hard times when money is under the control of her husband or family is something that still rings true today. It was not so long ago that women could not have bank accounts. I’m grateful for my agency built on the women before me.

“Please meet your new mother. You will call her Respectful Lady.

Whether animal or woman, we are a man’s possessions.”

Yunxian is a kind and smart child and I’m excited to see how she and Meiling navigate their friendship. It’s especially compelling to see their class differences and to try to trust each other anyway and move past what is socially accepted of women.

“Didn’t your mother bring in the smallpox planting master when you were little?”

VACCINES!

Foot binding as a concept is wild

Alrighty gang buckle in - The Everlasting’s Europe-Lite ™ world means I’ve caught the bug for some more historical fiction, so it’s time for Lady Tan! I think this is gonna also hit all my favs: competent women, Chinese medicine, and breaking free of expectations. Special shout-out to Kim and Ivy for the recommendation, my little lab library for having the physical copy, and Harrison for passing me the book.

Oh my god I’m emotional Una is making a legend of herself just on her own. Just her own kindness. She never needed Vivian.