Hunger: A Novella and Stories by Lan Samantha Chang

I stumbled upon Lan Samantha Chang a couple years back, and I reviewed her novel, Inheritance.  I have now picked up her first book, Hunger¸ which consist of a novella and five stories.  Normally, I don’t care for, what I call “ethnic fiction,” but a friend urged me to try Chang.  I thoroughly enjoyed the novel of seven generations of women, who lived, struggled and survived through all the turmoil in 20^th century China.  I hardly knew it was set in China, I felt that comfortable there.  Hunger does the same thing for me.

According to the author’s bio, Chang was born and raised in Appleton, Wisconsin.  She graduated from Yale University and the University of Iowa.  She has been awarded a National Endowment for the Arts grant and fellowships from Stanford University.  She divides her time between Northern California and Princeton, New Jersey, where she is a Fellow in the Humanities.  Hunger has won numerous awards.

The collection begins with the title story, and it certainly deserves top billing.  Min leaves what was then the comfortable environment of her native land, China, at the urging of her mother who wants her daughter to have a better life in America.  She struggles to learn English, but she never really masters the language.  Nin works in a Chinese restaurant, and one day, a handsome man, Tian, walks in, but leaves without his hat.  Min hides it, so she can be the one to return it.  She decides she will marry this man.  They get married and move to Brooklyn, where Tian teaches music at a local college.  He hopes for a professorship so he can adequately support his family.  They have two children, Anna, who turns out to be a disappointment, and Ruth, who, while a talented violinist, is also a rebel.  The family struggles to adapt to their new land, but pitfalls abound.  The story is about memory, loyalty, separation, and respect for elders, but their new homeland conspires against the old ways. 

The family “hungers” for more than food.  Min narrates, “[Ruth] stayed in public school with Anna, and continued after Anna left for college.  She kept practicing with Tian.  But she had developed a sudden and brilliant talent for upsetting him.  So many years of pleasing him had given her this ability.  With me she remained obedient.  I prided myself on this, until I recognized it as an emblem of indifference.  My pale love would never interest her.  Tian was her true opponent, and I was only a moth that fluttered around the brilliant bulb of her rebellion” (74). 

The remaining tales fluctuate among a variety of Chinese folktales, modern yarns, and a story of a healer and a charmer.

All in all, Lan Samantha Chang’s collection, Hunger, is a very satisfying collection of tales.  She has another novel, I think I’ll take a look at that soon.  5 stars.

--Chiron, 2/24/15

Inheritance by Lan Samantha Chang

Lan Samantha Chang holds the position of Director of the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop in Iowa City. She has published three books: Hunger, a collection of short stories, All is Forgotten, Nothing is Lost, her latest novel, published in 2010, and her second book and first novel, Inheritance. I won an advance reading copy of All is Forgotten at a conference. I had never heard of Chang, but the novel involved an English Professor and some poetry students, so I read it and reviewed it July of 2010. Somehow, her other two books I ordered became lost in a pile. While straightening it out a couple of weeks ago, I came across them. Since I needed a nice solid paperback for a flight to Philly, I began Inheritance on the airplane. I am glad I did, because this sweeping novel of four generations of Chinese women was interesting, exciting, with lots of psychological insights into Asian customs – particularly regarding courtship and marriage.

As I have done with several books lately, I made a family tree to keep all the relationships straight. Chanyi marries Wang Daming and produces two daughters, Junan and Yinan. These two sisters are extremely close, but are torn apart when they both fall in love with the same man, Li Ang, who marries Junan. Yinan is rather plain, but when Junan is separated from her husband by war, she remains home to protect her children, and she sends Yinan to “keep house” for Li Ang. An affair destroys the sisterly bonds.

Li Ang has a brother, Bing Ang, and these two find themselves on opposite sides following World War II. Li becomes a general in the Nationalist Chinese Army, and Bing becomes a colonel in the Communist Chinese Army.

The novel is narrated by Xaio Hong, Junan and Li Ang’s daughter. Xaio’s sister, Hwa, marries Pu Li and Xaio has a baby with Hu Ran, son of her mother’s servant. This shames Junan. The families flee Mainland China in 1949. Hu Ran stays behind along with Li Ang, Yinan, and Bing Li. Xaio and Hwa move to America, but live on different coasts -- Hwa in San Francisco and Xaio in New York. Xaio marries Tom Marquez, and she has two daughters.

This really interesting story of four generations of women shows how times and cultural influences warp and waft relationships – sometimes to the breaking point. Chang’s writing is smooth and calm as the emotions of these women in the story.

Hong frequently recalls advice she received from her mother. For example, Chang writes:

“My mother once warned me not to be too proud of how much I could see. I believe it wasn’t pride but righteous curiosity that made me strive to notice things. Curiosity mingled with a need to uncover what flowed beneath our household calm, a hidden source of pain that wasn’t mentioned. I had seen it in my grandfather, his hair a shock of white, his gaze sliding away as if the sunlight hurt his eyes. I had seen it in my solitary aunt. Now, in the aftermath of Yao’s birth, I could see it in my mother. It wasn’t a ghost. My mother worked to keep it hidden, yet it didn’t disappear. Nothing could vanquish it: not Hwa’s devotion nor my good grades in school; not even my mother’s growing stash of jewelry and gold” (182).

Chang's Inheritance will appear high on my list of the best of 2012. 5 stars

--Chiron, 8/10/12

All Is Forgotten, Nothing Is Lost by Lan Samantha Chang

Novels about college English professors hold a special place in my reading life. Richard Russo tops the list with Straight Man, and Jim Harrison’s The English Major has a tight hold on second place. This new novel by the director of the Iowa Writers Workshop will surely find its way onto this list.

The story revolves around an intense professor of poetry at a midwestern college. Students fight to get into her class -- even though many are reduced to tears at her caustic comments or her lack of attention. Roman desperately wanted to be her student and receive her approval.

The novel will hold a great deal of interest for aspiring writers, because it thoroughly examines the psychology of writing poetry and the relationships between writers and readers – especially readers who are close to the writer.

One of the drawbacks of reading and reviewing “advance reading copies” is that I can’t quote from the novel. The prose is so fluid and almost magical, I feel as if the words have become a river and they carry me along on a journey of exploration. Pick it up in a bookstore and begin to read the opening pages. You will walk out with a copy.

The only flaw is an occasional penchant for conversations with a level of intensity that made it hard to follow who said what. When I hit one particularly difficult scene, I began to notate “R” for Roman and “B” for Bernard. Despite this minor inconvenience, I strongly recommend this novel due out in September. Before writing this review, I ordered her first two books, Inheritance, a novel, and Hunger, a novella and collection of stories. I can’t wait to read them. 4-1/2 stars

--Chiron, 7/24/10