Book Review: Little Hut of Leaping Fishes
A Tale of Family Loyalty and Personal Integrity by Chiew-Siah Tei
Aug 4, 2008
Longlisted for the 2007 Man Asian Literary Prize, Little Hut of Leaping Fishes (Picador, 2008) is a novel of contrasts and conflicts. Following the lives of two brothers, author Chiew-Siah Tei has produced a novel of great lyrical beauty that offers a finely balanced insight into the family dynasties and social hierarchies that underpinned Imperial China in the final decades of the 19th century.
The Chai Family
Mingzhi and Mingyuan are half-brothers, born only months apart. As first born Mingzhi is accorded all the rights and honours of the future Master of the Chai household, while Mingyuan is often overlooked.
As the boys grow, Mingzhi feels imprisoned by the expectations and corruption of his family. He seeks escape through learning and immerses himself in his studies. Mingyuan longs for status and approaches his studies as a means to elevate his own importance.
When the boys move from home to pursue further studies, their lives move in vastly different directions. Mingzhi remains firmly focused on his studies and expands his intellectual interests. Mingyuan indulges in the excesses of city life - drugs, alcohol, women and gambling.
With lives that are so distinct yet so intricately intertwined, the two young men make choices that will influence their own futures and the honour and integrity of their family name.
Lives and Cultures in Balance
Little Hut of Leaping Fishes is an enjoyable novel on many levels. The language itself is so delicately worked that it is almost poetical, yet the action of the novel deals with many issues that are complex and confronting. As with the Chinese poetry studied by the Chai brothers, there is depth and significance beyond the beauty of the imagery.
Through Mingzhi, Mingyuan and their family, Chiew-Siah Tei explores the strengths and weaknesses of inheritance of power and the opportunities for those in roles of influence to be a positive or negative force in the lives of those for whom they are responsible.
The political, economic and social implications of the influence from the West are given only glancing attention, acting most significantly as a catalyst for Mingzhi to think beyond his own culture and experience. Through Mingzhi and his friendships with westerners Martin and Father Terry, the potential for each culture to exert a positive influence on the other is explored.
The role of women, family expectations, personal integrity, the impact of the opium trade and many other issues are interwoven into the action.
Chiew-Siah Tei
Chiew-Siah Tei was born in a small Southern Malaysian town to illiterate parents. She has won a series of awards for her Chinese prose. Now a resident of Scotland, Little Hut of Leaping Fishes is her first novel.
Discussing the task of writing in English, she comments “For someone from the East, English is not just written words but a culture that represents the West. The more I learned the language, the more I became intrigued at the possibility of merging the poetic prose style of Chinese with it.”
In her debut novel, Chiew-Siah Tei brings a symmetry and balance to her themes, characters and language that conveys a particularly Chinese ambiance throughout. Her English prose reflects her Chinese writing style, which she describes as having an “emphasis on symbolic exterior descriptions as an indirect way to bring out internal emotion through poetic prose.”
A Hauntingly Beautiful and Complex Debut Novel
Little Hut of Leaping Fishes is a remarkable first novel offering readers a glimpse into the complexity of Imperial Chinese family dynamics and the strengths and weaknesses of feudal family expectations, rituals and responsibilities. The deeper themes are balanced by very real and well-portrayed characters, particularly the central character of Mingzhi, ensuring that readers will find the novel not only enlightening, but also enjoyable.
Related Article: The Role of Women in Little Hut of Leaping Fishes
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