Name: Women of the Silk
ISBN: 9780312099435

Gail Tsukiyama

Sent by her family to work in a silk factory just prior to World War II, young Pei grows to womanhood, working fifteen-hour days and sending her pay to the family who abandoned her

A Novel

Women of the Silk

altlovesbooks

As other reviewers have noted, this is one of the author's first books and it shows. I've read other books by her and mostly enjoyed them, but this one felt flat in many ways and was really not a compelling read. 

Pei is born to a poor family, who ends up sending her off to work in a silk factory just to make ends meet. Pei meets her fellow sisters who all work and live at this silk factory, and is shown the ropes by Lin, one of the other workers. Interspersed with Pei learning the job are other chapters featuring other key characters in the story and their backstories and motivations, but by and large the story revolves around Pei and Lin.

I found the characters in this book flat in the extreme, and sort of caricatures in their own right. Pei doesn't feel like she has a spine or a personality, and instead clings to the people around her and seems to be upset whenever anyone leaves to move on to better things. Lin is the strong, capable, tragic figure who turned down a life in luxury to work at this silk factory. Auntie Yee saves these poor children. The owner of the factory is an evil man who exploits these poor women. There wasn't a lot of nuance or character growth to speak of, and that grated on me. There also wasn't a lot really going on at any point in the book. The blurb on the cover emphasizes the factory strike, but that came so late in the book and was over so quickly that I was incredibly disappointed and unsatisfied. 

Just a bland book. I thought The Street of a Thousand Blossoms was a better read.

izzy

sometimes you read a book and then you try to describe it but have no words. i finished women of the silk by gail tuskiyama a few days ago, and i'm still struggling to write this review. i'm still definitely not over that ending. women of the silk is an absolutely underrated masterpiece; it's currently now my favourite book of 2020 so far. well, i guess that makes sense, because most of my favourite books, are crying books and women of the silk was most definitely one. the best way i'm able to describe this book is that it is brutally honest. women of the silk doesn't shy away from the reality of "the silk work" and what life was like as a woman in rural china during the 1920s. while realism is often tragic, this book isn't devoid of hope either. it equally emphasizes the strength and courage of these female silk workers, and the strong bonds they have with each other that carries them through these experiences. this book manages the near impossible too: having a large cast of characters and making me care about each and every one of them. and there's also a sapphic romantic subplot!! 

that was about as much composed writing i could do, so, onto incoherent thoughts with spoilers now. the writing style fit the book's tone and setting so well, i don't even know how to describe it but it's brilliant. gail tsukiyama is a brilliant writer. women of the silk was such a crying book. my heart broke multiple times throughout the book, and i kept on having to put the book down. i'm still not over the moment when pei's father abandoned her at auntie yee's house. or when mei-li drowned in the river. or pei finally seeing her family again. or the fact that there's never a firm resolution on what happened to her sister after the marriage, which is painfully realistic. or when auntie yee died and moi was coping with her death. or when lin died in the fire. that was so unbearable, and it was so painful when pei realized that her best friend and the person she loved was gone forever. again, this was such a crying book. the general lack of options for chinese women at the time is so heartbreaking. 

the close relationship between pei and lin is such a core element of the book and, in my opinion, one of the best aspects of women of the silk. it's more than just a romance or just a friendship. i don't even know how to begin to describe the deep bond between them. it's never explicitly established nor is romance a focus in women of the silk, a book in which nearly every romantic relationship ends in tragedy or is an absolutely terrible marriage ordeal for the bride, but pei and lin obviously care about each other as more than friends. they both choose to go through with the haridressing ceremony to remain unmarried, opting to stay with each other than to get married to men. which, by the way, nearly all of men in women of the silk are absolute assholes. they never truly got into a romantic relationship and fully admitted their feelings for each other, which i'm still heartbroken over. only after lin's death does pei kiss her for the first and only time. pei and lin deserve the world and all the time togther. i wish they would have a happy ending, even if that's probably totally unrealistic.

Women of the Silk A Novel