Description
"Your name or your person. Which is dearer?" In answer to Lao Tzu's ancient riddle, DAUGHTERS OF HUI offers a novella and three stories of four Asian women. All are surnamed Hui, and share at least a casual connection with Boston and New England. And all share that particular Hong Kong world view, one that roots into a past not well understood while reaching out to a future that "speaks too many languages."
Who are these women? And who are the men who so often fail them? Xu Xi's world knows no boundaries except those of the heart. These daughters of Hui are the antithesis of the exotic Asian heroines of so much Western fiction. They drive toll ways and pick up strangers. The silence ghosts of a hundred generations with adultery and divorce. And even in their suicides they are self-possessed, just "a body in a hotel room, with the exact cash payment next to the hotel bill."
When first released in 1996, it was named an Asiaweek best book of the year, and was extremely well received. Reviewers say it presents "Asia as it is today, gritty, modern, confused," recommend it because it "goes boldly where other, perhaps overly-sensitive authors fear to tread," and appreciate its "crisp, uncluttered writing style that tackles taboo subjects for Chinese women, like sexuality, adultery and seduction as an art form." This new EBook edition allows readers worldwide to continue to engage with these original and dynamic women's stories by one of Asia's leading English language writers.