Three Sisters – Bi Feiyu

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Set in China in the 1970s and 80s during the Cultural Revolution and before the one child policy, this novel sets out to follow three sisters who come from a family desperate for a son. The father is a Communist Party secretary and therefore the family is the most prominent family in the village. At the opening of the book, the much longed for event happens and a son is born. However, this moment of glory is ephemeral and soon the family falls from grace. From here on in, the novel follows the three sisters Yumi, Yuxiu and Yuyang in their subsequent journeys – both actual and metaphorical.

The bleak tone of the novel is not for everyone. The trials the three sisters undergo – each gets her own chapter, almost making it three novellas – are not watered down or infused with a sense of ‘against all odds’. Their wins are few and seem insignificant; their losses are soul-crushing. The book provides a very blunt and forthright insight into a China where the protagonists are not only hampered by their family’s ‘shame’ but also by their gender.

 

Ann Ting