Review: A Single Swallow (by Zhang Ling) - translated by Shelly Bryant

My Rating: 4 stars

 

I'm not much of a "themed" reader (not deliberately anyway), so I consider it pure coincidence that I happened to pick up this book to read the day before Halloween.  To clarify, this book is not a "spooky" read by any means, neither is it any genre even remotely related to this holiday – rather, the "coincidence" I am referring to is the fact that this story is narrated entirely by "ghosts." Actually, to put it more precisely, from the moment the story opens in 2015, the 3 main characters – American missionary Pastor Billy, Chinese solider Liu Zhaohu, and gunner's mate Ian Ferguson – are already dead.  Pastor Billy died 70 years ago (in 1945), Liu Zhaohu joined him 18 years later (in 1963), and together, they waited another 52 years before Ian Ferguson was able to join them on that exact date -- August 15^th, 2015.  Now, before anyone starts chiding me for supposedly revealing "spoilers," let me just say that all of the above is already revealed within the first few pages of the book – to that point, the entire basis of the story harkens back to a pact that the 3 men made on that day in 1945 when Japanese Emperor Hirohito announced (via radio broadcast) Japan's surrender to Allied Forces, effectively bringing an end to World War II.    Stationed in the small village of Yuehu, China at the time of the announcement, the 3 men make a pledge on that historic day stipulating that, after their deaths, their souls would return to Yuehu every year on the anniversary of the broadcast – however, due to the 3 of them dying at different times, it isn't until 70 years later that they are finally able to fulfill the pledge they made so long ago.  As the 3 of them come together to reminisce about a war that changed the course of their lives forever, it soon becomes clear that each of their stories is tied to that of one woman whom all of them loved but lost, and it is her life that's truly the focus here.   This woman, whose given name from birth is Yao Guiyan, is simultaneously known to Liu Zhaohu as Ah Yan (or "swallow"), to Pastor Billy as Stella (meaning "star"), and to Ian Ferguson as Wende (transliteration of "wind").  Ah Yan's impact on these 3 men is profound -- despite the atrocities and suffering she endures in the face of a horrific war, she not only finds the courage to survive, but does so with remarkable grace and humanity.  It is through the memories of this extraordinary woman that these 3 "ghosts", scarred by the lasting effects of war, are able to finally understand the truths of what they experienced and reconcile the regrets of their pasts.

 

Knowing that the story is set during a time period of immense devastation and tragedy in World War II, I braced myself for a sad and difficult read going into this one – while both of these did ring true (the atrocities committed by the Japanese army were especially hard to read), this also turned out to be a story of resilience, courage, hope, and ultimately, the redemptive power of love, which thankfully helped to balance out the story in the end.  I found the structure of the story an interesting one – each chapter is alternately narrated by 3 dead men, with 1 chapter in the middle narrated by 2 dogs (yes, you read that correctly) that also played significant roles in the story.  Given this setup, this book definitely doesn't fit nicely into one category in terms of genre – I felt that this fell more into the historical fiction genre, with elements of magical realism mixed in, which altogether put a unique spin to the story that made this a different reading experience for me.  What I liked most though, is that the author Zhang Ling (a Chinese author based in Canada), in experimenting with form and structure, didn't neglect the cultural elements that are so critical in a story such as this one.  I read quite a bit of historical fiction, since it's one of my favorite genres, and one of the things I always look for is a strong sense of time and place, to the point that I feel transported, as though living the same events alongside the characters.  Having said that, when it comes to historical fiction within the context of a culture that I'm familiar with, I'm also a stickler for getting the cultural aspects right -- which I'll admit I was worried about with this book once I learned that the story was originally written in Chinese and later translated into English.  Perhaps because of my background, I understand first-hand how tricky it can be to translate from Chinese to English (plus I've read my fair share of poorly translated works over the years) and so this is a particularly sensitive area for me.  With this book, while I can't say that the translation was flawless (because as far as I'm concerned, translations are never 100% perfect), one thing I did appreciate was the effort made to render the cultural elements as authentically as possible.  Of course, not having read the original book in Chinese, there's no way for me to judge the accuracy of the translation word for word, but I am encouraged by the fact that the translator chose to keep Chinese names and phrases intact throughout the story (for example – in Liu Zhaohu's chapters, the translator could've very easily referred to Ah Yan as "Swallow" or their village Sishiyi Bu as "Forty-One Steps Village" but instead, she mentioned the English translation of those words only once as a means of introduction – after that, the Chinese phrases were used for the remainder of the story).  In addition, as a whole, I felt that the author did a pretty good job of balancing both the historical events and cultural elements in a way that made the reading experience an immersive one, though admittedly, the chapters involving Liu Zhaohu and Ah Yan as well as how life was like in their ancestral village of Sishiyi Bu were the most engaging for me.

 

Overall, this was a great story – poignant and heartbreaking in many areas, but also ultimately uplifting.  The ending I thought was fitting and definitely got me a bit teary-eyed.  My one complaint though (and the main reason why this ended up being 4 stars instead of 5) is that, despite Ah Yan's story being the most important, we never got to hear her perspective directly.   While I feel that the author did a good job of bringing Ah Yan as a character to life through the memories of the 3 men who loved her, I think this would've been a much more powerful and emotionally resonant story if we had gotten to hear Ah Yan's perspective as well, even if it was only 1 chapter or as an epilogue at the end.  In skimming through reviews, I know this was a deal-breaker for a few readers and while it wasn't a huge issue to that extent for me, I can understand why it would've affected the reading experience for some.  Regardless though, I would still recommend this one as a worthy read, if anything, because of the relative scarcity of WWII-related fiction out in the mainstream nowadays that is either written from the Asian perspective or covers the events that unfolded across the Asian continent during that time period.  Much of what happened in China and other Asian countries back then was no less tragic than what had happened in Europe, but in general, is much less talked about outside of Asia.   Hopefully more of these stories can be heard in the future.

 

Received ARC from Amazon Crossing via NetGalley