The first time I was in China was December 1984-February 1985. Mao had died just 8 years before and with him, thankfully, went the Cultural Revolution. This is not like when the Wicked Witch of the West dies and instantaneously the monkeys and the munchkins start a block party. The physical devastation of the Cultural Revolution took years to repair and the emotional devastation is still present. In 1984 starvation and struggle sessions were barely in the rear view mirror and mixing with things Western was still looked at with a jaundiced eye. My then boyfriend (who speaks flawless Mandarin) and I (who then spoke extremely flawed Mandarin and now speaks essentially no Mandarin) got lucky when we met people who shared their harrowing experiences during those years. Most had lost at least one immediate family member to starvation and all had endured years of insufficient nutrition (one had never eaten anything but rice and grass picked in fields her whole life until she was a teenager), many had lost loved ones to suicide in the wake of Struggle Sessions, all had been separated from extended family and had lived in constant fear. Sadly one family in Dali who shared their stories and their lives with us for weeks got a threatening visit from the the Public Security Bureau telling them not to talk to us (they must have gotten turned in by a neighbor.) Luckily another neighbor told us what had happened. We left rather than get them into more trouble -- they acted like nothing had happened and would have continued to offer us hospitality. This experience when I was in my early 20's left me obsessed with the Cultural Revolution and its immediate aftermath. For years not much was written. I think before this the only fiction I had read about the period was short story collection from the mid-70's, The Execution of Mayor Yin. I am pleased to say that Swimming Back to Trout River turned out to be, for me, a wonderful way to see the way in which the horrors of the Cultural Revolution impacted the lives of six people. This is a very human story, it does not focus on many specific events related to the CR, but communicated the overall effect of being watched by spies all the time and living with the terror that you could be the next person humiliated, tortured, relocated away from family, or even murdered.

At the center of this story is Junie, she is the daughter of Momo and Cassia, born without legs below the knee and left in the care of her paternal grandparents when her parents head to America. Insulated by her loving grandparents Junie has a happy childhood until she comes to see the world a little more clearly with age. (The sixth person covered is Dawn, a person in Momo's life before Cassia. One thing about the Cultural Revolution is that is severely limited people's options, and it paired or pried apart people who if left to fate would have never connected or would have been together forever. This is true of Momo and Dawn, Momo and Cassia, Junie and her parents and then her grandparents, and later Cassia and the people she connects with in San Francisco. These relationships are all fostered or destroyed by the external force of the Chinese State which eliminates both meaningful choice and kismet. Junie notes there is a word for this in Chinese, but when you try to translate it to English you just come up with "fate" when in fact this is the opposite of fate. It is a cool passage, and I should note that there is a focus here on the effect of language on life. The thought is that if a language does not have a word or phrase for something people can't experience it -- without language to represent it a thing does not exist. All very metaphysical and, for me, a really interesting thought path to go down.

These characters all have compelling stories, but while I enjoyed the characters I was somewhat more interested in their relationship to the State and the complications of living in that time and place and the impact of geography and language on perception. The combination of creating a portrait of a past time as one expects from historical fiction and of also writing a character based story in the fashion of literary fiction is, though not unheard of, quite uncommon. Most commercial historical fiction plays pretty fast and loose with historical fact. (See eg, Philippa Gregory, Lauren Wilig, and books like Gone with the Wind and Shogun.) Literary historical fiction is expected to hew closer to the facts, and perhaps that is why it is so rare. It takes a lot of research, but also it is hard to write a compelling character arc that is still historically accurate. I think Linda Rui Feng. did that, so kudos! I do think she pared this down too much (I usually love pared down, but this paring took too much from the story being pared.) The book leaves a lot of things uncovered, as it should, but for me I needed to know more about Momo as an adult, the choices he made, his life in Council Bluffs. I also wanted to know more about Cassia and her choices. I found her very confusing and still do not fully understand why she came to America. Her character becomes much clearer in the last 20 pages or so of the book, but I still think there should have been more and earlier coverage of her choices and drivers.

All in all an interesting read set during a fascinating time. I am here for more by this author, and more by other novelists who set their stories during the Cultural Revolution. ( )

This story follows the paths of several people living in China during the Cultural Revolution who eventually make their way to America. There were some weaknesses in the writing, but the characters and strong storytelling, along with the interesting historical details, more than made up for the deficiencies. ( )

This is a nuance book set in China. Difficult to understand all the stuff including the cultural revolution. ( )

Earlier this year I saw a review of this book on CBC Books and enough was said that I was intrigued. Now that I've read the book I see how much was left out of that review but I don't know if I can do that justice. This book was on the Giller longlist but didn't make it to the short list. I haven't read any of the short listed books but if they were considered better than this one then they must be terrific.

Junie is the daughter of Momo and Cassia. Momo grew up in a small peasant village and was the only person ever picked from there to go to university. In university he was exposed to many new things but it was Dawn, a violin player, who had the biggest impact on him. Dawn introduced him to classical music, especially music by Russian composers. At the time Russia and China were friendly but shortly after ties between the two countries were cut and anything Russian was suspect. The Cultural Revolution meant that Dawn had to give up her musical ambitions. Although Momo and Dawn were in love they parted to take up jobs in different parts of China. Soon after Momo met Cassia, a nurse at the factory where he worked, and they married. Junie was born without lower legs or feet. Because of this Momo and Cassia could petition to have another child despite the one child policy. Although this child was physically normal he was stillborn and Cassia was devastated by his loss. Momo was allowed to take a Ph.D. in the US shortly after this. He went alone at first but his intention was to bring Cassia and then Junie over. When it was Cassia's turn to go to the US she took Junie to Momo's parents in Trout River. Junie loves it in Trout River. Her grandfather is a gifted woodworker and he fashions devices that allow her to get around. She decides she doesn't want to go to the US even when her father writes and says he will be able to bring her for her twelfth birthday. When she writes to tell him this Momo feels like his life has gone out of control. Meanwhile Dawn, who managed to become first violinist in an orchestra sent to San Francisco, defected while there and has become a well-known composer and conductor. Neither Dawn nor Momo know the other is in the US but through a quirk of fate they become connected. It feels like life is about to change dramatically for all the main characters.

At the back of the book the author thanks all the people who helped her write it but I think she is one of those gifted people with that ability to make the reader care about their characters, to feel like they are people the reader has actually met and talked to. I'm sure she did get some advice and assistance from all those people she thanked but, in the end, it all comes down to her. ( )

The role that fate and happenstance play in life is a universal theme that Feng explores with a uniquely Chinese sensibility in her remarkable debut novel. Yuanfen and zaohua are subtle Asian counterparts to the Western concepts of fate and luck. These merge with the help of events that can be cataclysmic or more subtle. The Chinese term for such catalysts, she tells us, is ciji.

The novel focusses on interlocking relationships between an estranged Chinese couple (Momo and Cassia), their daughter (Junie) and a college classmate (Dawn) in the wake of the Cultural Revolution. Momo, a pragmatic engineer, learns to appreciate art and music from his friend, Dawn, but sacrifices her and that passion for the chance to attend graduate school in America. He fails to pass his appetite for music to Junie before he departs for America. Dawn takes advantage of a cultural exchange program to defect to America. Following the death of her lover to brutal interrogation by Red Guards, Cassia realizes that she does not have the emotional capacity to nurture Junie and decides to leave her with her in-laws as she departs for the U.S. to join Momo. Each is leaving a painful past for the dream of renewal but is forced to accept separations as the cost. For her part, Junie, who was born without lower legs, is loved and thrives in her grandparent’s rural village of Trout River. Clearly, she realizes that beneficent Trout River would be far better than any troubled reunion with her parents in the U.S.

In her narrative, Feng evokes uniquely Chinese sensibilities, while never loses sight of more universal human emotions like grief, hope, resilience and dogged determination. Employing a fluid timeline, she portrays the danger and oppression of Maoist China, the joy one can derive from music, the challenges of assimilation, and the tragedy of unrealized relationships. Despite a dark mood, in the end this novel is quite inspirational. ( )