Name: lauren amitirigala's review of Half a Lifelong Romance by Eileen Chang
Item: Half a Lifelong Romance
Rating: 5
Author: lauren amitirigala

Eileen Chang

Ailing Zhang

"Shanghai, 1930s. Shen Shijun, a young engineer, has fallen in love with his colleague, the beautiful Gu Manzhen. He is determined to resist his family's efforts to match him with his wealthy cousin so that he can marry the woman he truly loves. But dark circumstances--a lustful brother-in-law, a treacherous sister, a family secret--force the two young lovers apart. As Manzhen and Shijun go on their separate paths, they lose track of one another, and their lives become filled with feints and schemes, missed connections and tragic misunderstandings. At every turn, societal expectations seem to thwart their prospects for happiness. Still, Manzhen and Shijun dare to hold out hope--however slim--that they might one day meet again. A glamorous, wrenching tale set against the glittering backdrop of an extraordinary city, Half a Lifelong Romance is a beloved classic from one of the essential writers of twentieth-century China."--

A Novel

Half a Lifelong Romance

laia

i just love writing that is so concerned with and yet so unaffected by violence. it’s brutal, yeah, but it’s endemic, and it infects everyone. it’s said that a better translation is “fated to share only half a lifetime”; though a worse english title, that phrase really understands the essence of the chang’s book. it was always going to end like that, no matter how much you wished it wouldn’t

lauren amitirigala

(read in school)

i just love writing that is so concerned with and yet so unaffected by violence. it’s brutal, yeah, but it’s endemic, and it infects everyone. it’s said that a better translation is “fated to share only half a lifetime”; though a worse english title, that phrase really understands the essence of the chang’s book. it was always going to end like that, no matter how much you wished it wouldn’t

charisa

“I want you to know there’s someone in this world who’s yours always.” 

there’s nothing quite like the tenderness of a young love. it took me a while to get through this because it was pretty slow, but chang’s writing is lovely: straightforward (sometimes overly so), but ever poignant and atmospheric. i’m sure the writing in the original chinese is even more striking. 
 
the story itself was incredibly tragic, especially the ending (basically a direct contrast to at the end of the matinee LOL). lots of family politics/dynamics, subtle commentary on classism, and reflections on a love tried by time and societal pressure. at times a 3.5, but in the end, a 4!

From one of twentieth-century China's greatest writers and the author of Lust, Caution, this is an unforgettable story of a love affair set in 1930s Shanghai. Manjing is a young worker in a Shanghai factory, where she meets Shujun, the son of wealthy merchants. Despite family complications, they fall in love and begin to dream of a shared life together - until circumstances force them apart. When they are reunited after a separation of many years, can they start their relationship again? Or is it destined to be the romance of only half a lifetime? This affectionate and captivating novel tells the moving story of an enduring love affair, and offers a fascinating window onto Chinese life in the first half of the twentieth century. Eileen Chang was born in Shanghai in 1920. She studied literature at the University of Hong Kong but returned to Shanghai in 1941 during the Japanese occupation, where she established her reputation as a literary star. She moved to America in 1955 and died in Los Angeles in 1995. Karen S. Kingsbury taught and studied in Chinese-speaking cities for nearly two decades, and currently lives in Pennsylvania, USA. She has translated Love in a Fallen City for Penguin Classics, as well as other essays and stories by Chang. 'A giant of modern Chinese literature' The New York Times 'Eileen Chang is the fallen angel of Chinese literature' Ang Lee 'A dazzling and distinctive fiction writer' New York Times Book Review 'Chang's world is a stark and mysterious place where people strive to find their way in love but often fail under the pressures of family, tradition, and reputation' New Yorker

Katherine Yang

我是天空裏的一片雲，
偶爾投影在你的波心

—〈偶然〉徐志摩

'They were, he felt, like children who had made a terrible mistake' When shy young engineer Shijun meets factory worker Manzhen, he is captivated by her hopeful nature and gentle beauty, and a relationship between them quickly blossoms. But family pressures and events beyond their power soon destroy the possibility of their future together. Can the pair find their way back to each other? Or will the trauma of their past obscure the way? Set in 1930s Shanghai, Half a Lifelong Romance is a rich and moving tale of love, hopefulness and the malign forces that - despite our greatest efforts - can overwhelm us. Translated with an introduction by Karen S. Kingsbury 'A dazzling and distinctive writer.' The New York Times Book Review

Kwan Ann Tan

Came expecting heartbreak and a sweet youthful romance kinda in the style of Love in the Time of Cholera but what did I get instead?! A wild ride that literally brought me to some kinda Gothic romance on par with something Ann Radcliffe might have written. 

SPOILERS BELOW. 

The pacing of the novel really reminded me of a Chinese drama: the settings, the people are all described so intimately that you feel like you almost know every detail of their lives before you get to the main act, which happens nearly all at once, and then falls to a helpless, almost too-soft bitter ending. 

I get that the book is very much a product of it's time and it speaks so much of a modern yet so backward time where the characters are struggling to make the jump to modernity, yet keep getting held back by familial ties and obligations, as well as the cultural consciousness of the time. So many times I wished that I could literally reach into the book and throttle Manlu & Hongtsai's creeping, conniving asses, and the anger I felt when Manzhen felt that she absolutely had to marry Hongtsai is honestly indescribable. 

And although I did think that the romance between Manzhen and Shujun was sweet, I got a little irritated with the almost aloof, hardly tender romance that flourished between them (that last letter Manzhen sent Shujun though!! "Remember there is someone out there who is always yours." I DIED) & I also wondered if there was a connected between Shuhui & Shujun, given the closeness of their names, so close I got them mixed up sometimes? Besides the fact that both were tied in marriages of convenience, and would never be able to marry the women they loved?? 

Tszuishi was also such a sad character who was clearly a product of that time: her affected air, slight awkwardness despite her intense beauty and her manner- im sure she would have been my favorite character if Chang had portrayed her in a more flattering light rather than as the haughty, cold person she seemed in the narrative. 

& the ending basically ruined me: the half a lifetime's worth of romance ends up as nothing but dust, each character coming to the conclusion that obligations and the society they live in has no more leeway for the fresh, young romance of their youth.

Jade Flynn

4.5/5 Read for my Arithmancy O.W.L 2019 (a work written by two authors)  - A novel that shows how silence can be devastating. For fans of The Makioka Sisters by Junichiro Tanizaki.

laia &
Half a Lifelong Romance by Eileen Chang

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