THE LOVE WIFE
by Gish Jen
(Knopf, September 2004)
If you are like me, one look at this title at your local Barnes & Noble store, and you will walk right by it. Who wants to read a novel titled “THE LOVE WIFE” anyway, as it sounds a little sappy, and not at all very feminist? But alas, this is simply not true. THE LOVE WIFE by Gish Jen is a beautifully written, uniquely told, touching, and oftentimes very funny portrait of a family of mixed American, European, and Chinese heritage. It is in the same vein as Ruth Ozeki’s MY YEAR OF MEATS (and for those who haven’t read this, I highly recommend it, too.)
The novel is told from the perspective of each of it’s uniquely-minded characters. While other books change voices in chapters, THE LOVE WIFE changes voices on each page, so readers feel like they are reading a play and not a book at times. The only difference is that instead of dialogue, readers are getting the true emotions of each character, in addition to dialogue. This set-up is effective in understanding the many colorful characters that line Gish Jen’s book. There is Carnegie, the man of the household, who is Chinese, and his predictably stern religious mother Mama Wong. Carnegie is married to the sharply-witted Janie, who everyone calls Blondie (a nickname that Mama Wong created, but this also stuck lovingly for the whole family). Carnegie and Blondie adopt two Asian girls of mixed Chinese ancestry, Wendy and Lizzy (Mama Wong annoyingly calls them ‘mutts’), and then later in their life they have Bailey, who is their biological child.
The novel begins with the arrival of Lan, a distant Chinese relative whom Mama Wong has sent to live with the family as their nanny and housekeeper. From the moment Blondie meets her, she doesn’t trust her. Lan herself is not sure why she is there, and misses her home and her Chinese culture. Sometimes, she tries to lecture Wendy and Lizzy on the importance of waiting to have sex before marriage, and other ideas about femininity that Blondie often challenges. The clash of cultures, dialogue, and situations feel very authentic, and the plot thickens when Carnegie begins to feel attracted to Lan. Blondie begins to feel that Lan has overstepped her boundaries, not only with her husband, but also with her children. She yearns for her family back, and begins to realize that it might have Mama Wong’s intent to bring Lan here to give her grandchildren the Chinese upbringing she felt they needed. But did she also bring Lan there to be her son’s other wife? And if that is so, who is the real LOVE WIFE?
Gish Jen is a novelist and short story writer. Her most recent publication is WHO’S IRISH?: And OTHER STORIES (1999, Knopf), which Kirkus Reviews describes as a “sharp-eyed debut collection of eight stories examining American life from a foreigner’s perspective.” Her first novel TYPICAL AMERICAN (1991, Houghton Mifflin), follows a trio of young Chinese immigrants who slowly transform into everything they once criticized in the “typical American,” was a New York Times notable book of the year, and a finalist for the National Book Critics’ Circle award.
Contributed by Allison