{"id":1082,"date":"2008-10-22T16:31:39","date_gmt":"2008-10-22T08:31:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/?p=1082"},"modified":"2025-09-14T10:05:40","modified_gmt":"2025-09-14T02:05:40","slug":"miss_may_2008","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/en\/2008\/10\/22\/miss_may_2008\/","title":{"rendered":"My Thoughts After Read\u00ading Miss\u00ading Aunt Mei"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>http:\/\/www.hongniba.com.cn\/bookclub\/images\/books\/book_10005799_b.jpg<\/a><\/p>\n

    
\nThis evening, I read \u201cMiss\u00ading Aunt Mei\u201d (by Cyn\u00adthia Rylant, trans\u00adlat\u00aded by Li Wen\u00adjun, Zhe\u00adjiang Lit\u00ader\u00ada\u00adture and Art 2008). By the penul\u00adti\u00admate chap\u00adter, I could\u00adn\u2019t help but feel tears welling up again. It\u2019s actu\u00adal\u00adly a very hap\u00adpy chap\u00adter, a bit sad, but it also gives me a sense of deep hap\u00adpi\u00adness. Just like the girl Xiaox\u00adia in the first chap\u00adter, when she peeked at the affec\u00adtion\u00adate ges\u00adtures of the two elder\u00adly peo\u00adple, and saw her adop\u00adtive father, Ober, comb\u00ading his wife\u2019s yel\u00adlow braids, she could\u00adn\u2019t help but cry uncon\u00adtrol\u00adlably. At that moment, she felt incred\u00adi\u00adbly hap\u00adpy.
\n   
\nAfter read\u00ading it, I could\u00adn\u2019t help but tell my wife that this book might not be a clas\u00adsic, but it seemed to clear\u00adly tell me the dif\u00adfer\u00adence between books writ\u00adten for chil\u00addren and books writ\u00adten for adults. How\u00adev\u00ader, even so, I could\u00adn\u2019t say \u201cwhat the dif\u00adfer\u00adence was\u201d at the time. I just want\u00aded to say some\u00adthing to fill a cer\u00adtain sense of bliss\u00adful con\u00adfu\u00adsion.
\n   
\nThe day before yes\u00adter\u00adday, I fin\u00adished read\u00ading Coet\u00adzee\u2019s \u201cDis\u00adgrace\u201d in one sit\u00adting while trav\u00adel\u00ading. For a long time that day, I felt a sense of loss, a pro\u00adfound\u00adly uncom\u00adfort\u00adable feel\u00ading. The South African author, who won the Nobel Prize in 2003, described the myr\u00adi\u00adad dilem\u00admas of being a white South African intel\u00adlec\u00adtu\u00adal in a remark\u00adably direct and com\u00adpelling way: per\u00adson\u00adal, col\u00adlec\u00adtive, his\u00adtor\u00adi\u00adcal, and cul\u00adtur\u00adal. By the end, I felt an inde\u00adscrib\u00adable sense of oppres\u00adsion and frus\u00adtra\u00adtion. I could\u00adn\u2019t help but won\u00adder, per\u00adhaps this is tru\u00adly the case, and must we tru\u00adly accept it so help\u00adless\u00adly?
\n   
\nI guess it was my good for\u00adtune to stum\u00adble upon \u201cMiss\u00ading Aunt May\u201d two days lat\u00ader. I even won\u00addered if those writ\u00aders like Coet\u00adzee should read books like this, too. Of course, \u201cMiss\u00ading Aunt May\u201d is just a chil\u00addren\u2019s nov\u00adel that won the New\u00adbery Medal in 1992. While the author has writ\u00adten a lot, it\u2019s most\u00adly chil\u00addren\u2019s fic\u00adtion and pic\u00adture books, clear\u00adly a long way from a Nobel Prize. But it prob\u00ada\u00adbly would\u00adn\u2019t hurt to read it; after all, read\u00ading and writ\u00ading aren\u2019t about win\u00adning awards.
\n   
\n\u201cMiss\u00ading Aunt Mei\u201d is a high\u00adly refined nov\u00adel, divid\u00aded into 12 chap\u00adters, a novel\u00adla in length, with a rig\u00ador\u00adous, clean struc\u00adture. The first chap\u00adter, a mere 10 pages, instant\u00adly draws the read\u00ader into the lives of Xiaox\u00adia, Ober, and Aunt Mei\u2014poor and sim\u00adple, yet full of cre\u00adativ\u00adi\u00adty and a pro\u00adfound sense of hap\u00adpi\u00adness. The fam\u00adi\u00adly of three lives in an old trail\u00ader that seems like a toy thrown away by God, but to Xiaox\u00adia it\u2019s a par\u00adadise. The author man\u00adages to con\u00advey this uncan\u00adny, heav\u00aden\u00adly feel\u00ading in just 10 pages. I sup\u00adpose this is what peo\u00adple often call mas\u00adter\u00adful writ\u00ading.
\n   
\nAt the begin\u00adning of the sec\u00adond chap\u00adter, the author tells us that \u201cAunt Mei died while tend\u00ading the gar\u00adden.\u201d So the rest of the sto\u00adry is just about one thing: Miss\u00ading Aunt Mei.
\nMay).
\n   
\nThat\u2019s not entire\u00adly accu\u00adrate. The first sen\u00adtence of the first chap\u00adter clear\u00adly states it: \u201cOn the day Aunt Mei died\u2026\u201d So the first chap\u00adter is also about miss\u00ading Aunt Mei.
\n   
\nThe book\u2019s nar\u00adra\u00adtor is Xiao Xia. Her moth\u00ader died when she was six, leav\u00ading her an orphan. Her moth\u00ader like\u00adly knew she would die young, leav\u00ading her with noth\u00ading to leave behind, and unable to even prop\u00ader\u00adly arrange her future (as lat\u00ader events con\u00adfirmed). All she could do before her death was hold her daugh\u00adter night after night, longer than oth\u00ader moth\u00aders, so that she could feel more love. Thus, \u201cwhen I see it and feel it again, I will know it is love.\u201d
\n   
\nWhen I read this sen\u00adtence, I sud\u00adden\u00adly remem\u00adbered that aren\u2019t those par\u00adtic\u00adu\u00adlar\u00adly excel\u00adlent children\u2019s lit\u00ader\u00ada\u00adture works doing exact\u00adly this?
\n   
\nBecause of her moth\u00ader\u2019s efforts, Xiao Xia was able to live and wait dili\u00adgent\u00adly, even when her rel\u00ada\u00adtives treat\u00aded her like an unwant\u00aded child. One day, she saw Aunt Mei and Ober, who had come from afar. The two elder\u00adly peo\u00adple took her away as if she were an angel. Lat\u00ader, when Xiao Xia saw Ober comb\u00ading Aunt Mei\u2019s hair, she imme\u00addi\u00adate\u00adly rec\u00adog\u00adnized it: it was love, and she cried end\u00adless\u00adly with hap\u00adpi\u00adness\u2026
\n   
\nBecause of this, I stub\u00adborn\u00adly believe that chil\u00addren should read more excel\u00adlent pic\u00adture books and more chil\u00addren\u2019s nov\u00adels such as \u201cMiss\u00ading Aunt May\u201d, and not read Nobel Prize win\u00adners\u2019 mas\u00adter\u00adpieces such as \u201cShame\u201d for the time being (of course they should still read them when they grow up).
\n   
\nWhen Aunt Mei passed away, Xiaox\u00adia was twelve years old, which means that the three of them had lived in heav\u00aden for six years.
\n   
\nFor a long time after Aunt Mei died, Xiaox\u00adia and Ober\u2019s life went from bad to worse, and nei\u00adther of them cried, nev\u00ader had the chance to cry, nev\u00ader felt the mood to cry. Xiaox\u00adia kept telling us that she thought Ober was about to col\u00adlapse, but in ret\u00adro\u00adspect, we knew that it was she who was real\u00adly about to col\u00adlapse.
\n   
\nFor\u00adtu\u00adnate\u00adly, that weird boy Cle\u00adtus came into their lives.
\n   
\nFrom the third chap\u00adter to the end, this guy was always involved, which shows how impor\u00adtant he was. But look\u00ading back, he did\u00adn\u2019t accom\u00adplish any\u00adthing par\u00adtic\u00adu\u00adlar\u00adly spe\u00adcial. It was just that his per\u00adpet\u00adu\u00adal curios\u00adi\u00adty about life inspired Xiao Xia and Ober, lead\u00ading them from despair to a turn\u00ading point\u2026
\n   
\nTowards the end of the sto\u00adry, Xiao Xia final\u00adly cried. She cried and cried until her heart was filled with peace. Aunt Mei also came to her dream\u00adland, bab\u00adbling about her long\u00ading for her. Final\u00adly, she said: \u201cYou are real\u00adly the most beau\u00adti\u00adful woman I have ever seen.Best Best<\/b>\u201d
\n   
\nIt was when I read this sen\u00adtence that I felt my vision blur\u00adry, and sud\u00adden\u00adly I had an urge to wake up my daugh\u00adter and say this to her.
\n   
\nIn the last chap\u00adter, Ober final\u00adly put the weath\u00ader\u00advanes he had stored in the old trail\u00ader into the gar\u00adden. A strong wind blew, and they danced freely in the wind.
\n   
\nI sus\u00adpect this nar\u00adra\u00adtive style is only repeat\u00aded in sto\u00adries for chil\u00addren. Life can be heavy, emo\u00adtions can be gloomy, but that\u2019s only tem\u00adpo\u00adrary. A strong inner strength will even\u00adtu\u00adal\u00adly break through the cage, and \u201cthey lived hap\u00adpi\u00adly ever after.\u201d This nar\u00adra\u00adtive may be a bit clich\u00e9, per\u00adhaps even a bit reli\u00adgious, but it tru\u00adly brings great com\u00adfort.
\n   
\nThe pow\u00ader gained in this way can also be very strong, just like the pow\u00ader Xiao Xia gained from her moth\u00ader and Aunt Mei.
\n   
\nThe book\u2019s trans\u00adla\u00adtor, Mr. Li Wen\u00adjun, wrote in the after\u00adword: \u201cI\u2019m very grate\u00adful to the pub\u00adlish\u00ading house for allow\u00ading an old man like me to trans\u00adlate such a lov\u00ading book for young read\u00aders. Dur\u00ading the more than one month of trans\u00adla\u00adtion, I was able to immerse myself in a sub\u00adtle sense of warmth and sad\u00adness. But it seems that I gained more than that. After com\u00adplet\u00ading the trans\u00adla\u00adtion, I even gained a pos\u00adi\u00adtive desire to live a good life, a desire to leave a good mark on the world. Would\u00adn\u2019t this be more like\u00adly to attract the thoughts of Ober and Xiaox\u00adia? I think I\u2019m not the only one who has felt sim\u00adi\u00adlar\u00adly after read\u00ading this book.\u201d
\n   
\nThis pas\u00adsage also touched my heart.
\n   
\nI ini\u00adtial\u00adly picked up this book because of the trans\u00adla\u00adtor. Mr. Li Wen\u00adjun is a favorite trans\u00adla\u00adtor of mine, hav\u00ading trans\u00adlat\u00aded many works by William Faulkn\u00ader, who was once a favorite of mine. I was curi\u00adous how a trans\u00adla\u00adtor of \u201cThe Sound and the Fury\u201d and \u201cAbsa\u00adlom, Absa\u00adlom\u201d would approach a chil\u00addren\u2019s work. I was not dis\u00adap\u00adpoint\u00aded. This gen\u00adtle\u00adman trans\u00adlat\u00aded with great care, his style flow\u00ading smooth\u00adly, warm and humor\u00adous. Aside from a few instances where the names of fairy tale char\u00adac\u00adters did\u00adn\u2019t con\u00adform to con\u00adven\u00adtion\u00adal trans\u00adla\u00adtions, the over\u00adall expe\u00adri\u00adence was excel\u00adlent.
\n   
\nRead\u00ading such a book is a great plea\u00adsure!
\nArgen\u00adtine Primera Divisi\u00f3n on Octo\u00adber 22, 2008 at Red Mud<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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