Ms. Hen reviews A Free Life

Ms. Hen and her Shanghai mug

A Free Life

Ha Jin

Vintage International

2007

Ms. Hen happened to see this book at a used bookstore recently, and she decided to buy it because she had read another novel by this author, WAITING, and she loved it. It has been a while since she read that, but the emotions the novel constructed stayed with her. She learned A FREE LIFE is about Chinese immigrants, and Ms. Hen lives in a neighborhood where there are a lot, so she thought this novel would be appropriate to read.

This novel is about the Wu family, the husband Nan, his wife Pingping, and their son Taotao. Nan is a graduate student when Tianamen Square occurs, and he is forced to stay in the United States because China will not let him back. His wife comes to live with him in the Boston area, and later, his son, and they make their living in the country. Nan works at some security jobs until he gets an editorial job at a literary magazine in New York that he feels is more his calling. While working there, he works at a Chinese restaurant to make money, and he becomes friends with some influential writers.

Nan works at a Chinese restaurant in Boston after he leaves New York, and he and Pingping save money. They decide to buy a restaurant in Georgia because the cost of everything is much cheaper there. The family moves to Georgia and they work hard to make a living. They eventually buy a house next to a lake, but do not get a mortgage because they fear being in debt.

Though he makes a decent living at the restaurant, Nan yearns to be a poet. He keeps in contact with his friends from New York, and one moves to the Atlanta area, and comes to the restaurant to see him often. Nan doesn’t have time to write poetry because he is busy. He takes off work to spend with his friends, but he doesn’t like leaving Pingping alone to take care of the business.

This novel is over six hundred pages, but Ms. Hen dashed through it. She read it fast because she thought it was similar to looking into someone’s life, like she was peeking into her neighbors' windows, and finding out how they think. The Chinese people in this novel dwell in the real world, success is black and white, and success is making money in America. Nan is considered a success by his countrymen and friends in the United States because he is a successful business owner and a home owner, but he is not happy because he does not do what he loves. He thinks that his talent has been wasted by menial labor.

There are several twist and turns that occur in this novel, much like life. One thing happens and a person’s whole life can change. Ms. Hen could not stop reading this novel, but it’s quiet, like real life is quiet. Nothing drastic or overwhelming happened to the characters, they simply live as they are meant to live.

Ms. Hen loved this novel. She thinks it is appropriate to read during National Poetry Month because it’s about the desire to be a poet against all odds. People who have something to say can find their voice, no matter what attempts to hold them down. A poet can be a force that cannot be stopped, and a voice that screams cannot help but be heard.

Ms. Hen reviews Sing To It

Sing To It

Amy Hempel

Scribner

2019

Ms. Hen learned of a reading by Amy Hempel at a local bookstore, and she decided to attend. She knew Ms. Hempel at the writing program where she was a student, though she never worked with her directly, Ms. Hen was in a workshop in which she was the co-teacher. Amy is a cool lady and a great teacher, and Ms. Hen was excited about the reading.

Ms. Hen managed to get one of the last seats available in the room. She listened to Amy read, and was entranced. A magic moment occurred when Amy finished reading the story, “Four Calls in the Last Half Hour,” when she said the last line, “He picks up the phone again.” Right at that moment, the phone in the bookstore rang. Everyone laughed. Amy was gracious when she met Ms. Hen, and she remembered her, and signed her book.

Ms. Hen read this book, but when she did, she did not carry it around with her, since it is an autographed first edition, and she didn’t want it to get messed up. She loved the stories in this collection, a lot of which straddle the world between poetry and fiction; several flash fiction pieces deal with the essence of a subject, and not an entire story.

One of the stories that affected Ms. Hen is “Full-Service Shelter,” about a woman who volunteers at an animal shelter that euthanizes dogs. She takes care of the dogs before they die to make them more comfortable. Ms. Hen thinks this story is disturbing and uncomfortable, but she knows such places exist.

Another story Ms. Hen liked is “The Chicane,” about a woman who had an affair with a movie star in Spain, then got married to a Portuguese man, and afterwards committed suicide. Amy said at the reading that this story is about her aunt, and she spent thirty years writing it, because she didn’t know how the ending should be. This fascinated Ms. Hen. She can’t imagine spending that much time writing a story, but sometimes the right conclusion can be difficult to find.

One more story Ms. Hen admired is “Cloudland,” about a woman who moves to Florida and is haunted by the child she gave up for adoption years before. This is the longest story in the collection. The character is obsessed with the daughter she gave away, and sees her everywhere, and imagines the girl is in her life. She doesn’t know where her daughter is, and there is no way to trace her. The woman walks through life almost as if a shadow. She doesn’t know what she wants.

A lot of these stories deal with lost and troubled love, and people who live in rented houses. Several of the characters are confused about the purpose of their lives, and want to find some beauty and meaning in mundane situations, sometimes through nature and animals. 

Ms. Hen thinks this is a quiet collection with a loud voice, something to read on a rainy August afternoon. Ms. Hen can’t recommend this book enough, and thinks everyone should run out and buy it, and read it slowly, to stop and notice what matters, to learn to appreciate the scent of spring air.

Ms. Hen reviews The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck

Mark Manson

Harper Collins

2016

Ms. Hen does not read self-help books as she said in her previous blog post when she reviewed Lorrie Moore’s short story collection, SELF-HELP. But she saw her coworker-hen reading this book, and she was intrigued by the title, and her hen-sister happened to have a copy hanging around that she never read, so she borrowed it from her sister, and read it quickly on the train to work and on her lunch break last week.

Ms. Hen doesn’t think she needs to read this book because essentially she does not give a fuck about the right things to not give a fuck about. This book irritated her in places, and she thinks if she met the author, she would not like him, but she likes the idea of putting our fucks in the right place and caring about what matters in life. Ms. Hen has her priorities straight in what she gives a fuck about.

I will write this part from my point of view and not Ms. Hen’s regarding how my hen purse is an expression of how I do not give a fuck about what anyone thinks of me. When I bought Ms. Hen in 2013, I carried her most places I went and photographer her a lot, and posted the pics on social media. I took her out to eat, and to museums, and eventually I carried her along when I traveled, and took pictures of her wherever I went. Some people look at me as if I am strange, but a lot think she’s hilarious. More than one person has asked to take a photo of her, and some have asked me where I bought her. I take pictures of her drinking coffee and at other times margaritas, and I have taken pictures of her in Paris at the Eiffel Tower, and in Iceland at the Bloody Gate on the Game of Thrones Tour. I took a picture of her at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. and in front of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Some people who are with me when I take pictures of her are embarrassed and humiliated, but I honestly don’t give a fuck. If you care what the world thinks of you when you are carrying a purse shaped like a hen, then you care too much. We aren’t in high school forever, doomed to follow our friends, though we might think we are being original, we're followers like everyone else. We can go out in the world and be true rebellious bohemian punk weirdoes and not give a fuck that the world might think we’re crazy, but we know the truth ourselves, that it’s the rest of the world that’s fucked up, and the ones with hen purses and such are the ones who will survive, the ones who see the world from a different angle, the ones who can hear the voices of the chickens speaking to us, even though they don’t use words.

If you have to read one self-help book in your life, this might not be the one. Ms. Hen recommends mediating on the title and not giving a fuck about anything that you shouldn’t give a fuck about.

Ms. Hen reviews Self-Help

Self-Help

Lorrie Moore

Plume

1985

Ms. Hen has read a few Lorrie Moore books previously, and she has enjoyed them, so when she was at her favorite library branch, and she saw this for sale for 50 cents, she scooped it up. She has bought books before at the library, which might seem counterintuitive, but she likes to have books around her, and she also can’t pass up a bargain.

Ms. Hen likes Lorrie Moore’s short stories because she usually says things in a way that nobody else does, but Ms. Hen thought this collection stung in places. She felt this way because all the stories show people and their shortcomings, and how they deal with them. She shows how people make mistakes, and have negative stuff thrust into their lives.

One of Ms. Hen’s favorite stories in this book is “Go Like This,” which is about a woman dealing with cancer and her impending death. Ms. Hen liked this because she thinks it’s realistic, but funny at the same time. The character invites her friends over to tell them she is going to kill herself, and she gets different, quirky reactions from everyone in the room. She thinks one woman is after her husband, and can’t wait for her to die. Ms. Hen understands why the character would want to take her own life, and die a dignified death, but she thinks it could be bad karma. The idea of withering away to some people is unbearable, but there is a chance that a person might not die of cancer if they have it. It’s difficult to make a story about cancer and suicide funny, but Ms. Moore succeeds in doing that.

Ms. Hen wondered why this collection is entitled SELF-HELP, and she thinks it might be because all the stories are supposed to teach the readers a life lesson that they might not learn elsewhere. A lot of people don’t like to read self-help books, because they are preachy and condescending, and Ms. Hen thinks that, too, but reading a collection of stories to learn lessons on how not to live can help us as well. We can learn from our own mistakes and also other’s, and we can absorb from reading fiction how people can have messed up lives, too.

Ms. Hen liked this book, but she didn’t think it’s Moore’s best. She has read other collections by her that made her think more, and say hmm more. She likes it when an author makes her say hmm, because it makes her think that yes, this is true, why didn’t I think of it myself? This collection is mostly sad, which is fine with Ms. Hen because she likes sad books, but it’s an ordinary sad, not extraordinary.