BookBrowse Reviews Sky Burial by Xue Xinran

Like Wild Swans crossed with Seven Years in Tibet. 1st Novel

For eight groundbreaking years, Xinran presented a nightly radio programme in China called Words on the Night Breeze, during which she invited women to call in and talk about themselves. Her first book, The Good Women of China, is the story of how she reached out to women across the country, despite the restrictions imposed on Chinese journalists. She reveals stories of inconceivable suffering; forced marriages, sexual abuse, repression...Yet above all her stories reveal how love survives; that despite cruelty, despite politics, the female urge to nurture and cherish remains - Sky Burial is a novelization of one of the stories she was told.

Xinran says "Chinese women had always thought their lives should be full of misery. Many had no idea what happiness was, other than having a son for the family…You have to understand that emotions and ideals such as happiness or equality are luxuries for the poor. First they want clean water and electricity; then washing machines and fridges; after that it's time for happiness. Listening to me, they discovered the possibility of another kind of life and began to question themselves, 'Why don't I have that?'"

This review was originally published in The BookBrowse Review in August 2005, and has been updated for the July 2006 edition. Click here to go to this issue.