Books that I read

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

My Favorite Wife by Tony Parsens



I'm a book lover and I love reading. Many thanks to Smallkucing and Cleffairy who inspire me to go back reading after entering parenthood. :)

I bought this book from BookXcess when I went there to shop for some children books for the kids. Attracted by its title but then later I regretted buying it and reading it.

My Favorite Wife is the story of a lawyer, Bill Horden who brings his young family from London to Shanghai, China. He will be made partner in a couple of years so that he and his family can have better life.

However not everything in Shanghai are what they have expected. There are farmers have their land ripped away from them, babies being thrown into trashcans, and there are women selling their bodies to earn a living.

Their lifestyle also has changed a lot. Bill always leave the home early for work and come back after his wife Becca and his daughter Holly have gone to bed. He spent very little time with his family and most of his time at work, entertaining the clients after working hours.

After Holly's sudden asthma attack, Becca shock at finding a baby in the trash, and at the same time worrying on her sick father back home, Becca demands to go back to London. Leave Bill alone in Shanghai.

In Paradise Mansions, the place where Bill and his family are staying has a group of young women being kept as mistresses by rich married men – some local, some foreigners. After Becca and Holly went back to London, Bill gets lonely and strikes up much more than a friendship with the beautiful JinJin Li, one of the ladies from that group of young women. And you probably can guess what happen next.

The second half of the book mainly talks about Bill being alone in Shanghai and his interactions with JinJin Li. I dislike the fact that he knew he should not do it, he knew it is wrong and yet the next minute he has forgotten about it and go all out with her.

The story of the book made me in low mood for quite a while and made me have a good thought about myself and my own marriage. I feel dissatisfied about the ending of the book. Not that I don't like the ending but I feel it is a bit rush. The author jumps to the ending without talking much about the interactions between Bill and Becca on this issue. In fact this book mainly focuses on Bill. There is no much mention about Becca after knowing her husband has betrayed her. There is no much details about her feelings and how she can forgive her husband on this matter.

I won't say this book is not a good read. In fact it is a very interesting book because it’s a Westerner’s point of view of Asian life. But it's not a book to make you feel comfortable, not for me.   

I rate this book 3 out of 5 stars.

9 comments:

Reanaclaire said...

Reading is a good hobby..sort of distracting us from other pressures.. good that smallkucing and cleff inspired you :)

Small Kucing said...

some books can really make you feel down. I read The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. Aiyo...that one really made me feel depress coz it was so unfair..really like no mood to do anything else

As for this book, i have read before too. Not bad la.

Oliveoylz said...

This sounds like an interesting reading material. Too bad it had a bad ending. Poor Becca. I'd feel very sorry for Becca too.

Alice Law said...

LOL.... sound like a tragic family story! Well, that's life, not everything is smooth and sailing as we dreamed for most of the time. It's more like taking a test, either drop the paper, fail it or make it a success!

Hey, thanks for sharing... you made me feeling to allocate time for reading too!^-^

Have a nice day!

Broccoli Ginger said...

This type of story definitely making ppl down. Forget it and be happy! ;)

Unknown said...

Claire - Yes reading books can distract us from other pressures. But the content of the books also can make us start thinking a lot too! LOL!

smallkucing - Yeah, just like watching drama also. Can make us feel depress. But also can make us laugh non-stop if it is funny. :)

Olive - Actually the ending is not bad. Just that I wish to read more details before it jump to the ending. :)

Alice Law - Haha yeah, even those heroes and heroins in the fairy tales also need to go through some test before the happy ending! Btw, I make it a point that I read at least few pages before I go to bed at night (but always end up more than few pages. LOL!)

Broccoli Ginger - Sometimes the book is the reflection of real life and made us doing self review. I don't see it as a bad thing. :)

cre8tone said...

Wah! All mummies so rajin reading...

Unknown said...

prince n princess mum - :D

elliecleffairy said...

Oh uh.... lol... back to reading ah? Must read those positive positive books oni... else will very chammm... will depress!

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