Review by Booklist Review
This taut novel from Zhang Yueran, translated by Jeremy Tiang, provides a portrait of modern China through the lens of Yu Ling, a nanny for a wealthy Chinese family. Yu Ling and her young charge, Kuan Kuan, are out for the day when they learn that Kuan Kuan's father and grandfather have been arrested. Kuan Kuan's mother is away on a trip, and the rest of the household help scatters, leaving Yu Ling to care for Kuan Kuan and maintain a sense of normalcy in the days following the arrests. A secret from Yu Ling's past keeps her tied to her job, but her quiet reflections about the family's wealth, class, and treatment of her reveal her complicated feelings about her situation, even while she remains compelled to care for Kuan Kuan. Though short, this captivating novel offers plenty to ponder about power dynamics, loyalty, and privilege.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
A nanny for a powerful Beijing family wavers during a kidnapping plot in this suspenseful and layered novel from Yueran (Cocoon). Yu Ling has planned a picnic in the countryside for Kuan Kuan, her seven-year-old charge, while his mother is in Hong Kong. The family's regular driver is unavailable, and Yu Ling's friend arrives to take them in a van without plates. As they are leaving the city, a news report on the radio reveals that the boy's grandfather, a Communist Party official, is under investigation. Yu Ling's calls to the boy's parents go unanswered, thwarting her plan to hold the boy for ransom. "Their money belongs to the people, and we're the people," her accomplice reminds her. Eventually, the trio returns to Beijing, where the boy's father is missing, and Yu Ling is torn between leaving the boy with his relatives or continuing to care for him, which would mean further entwining herself with a family she resents. Thanks to Yueran's astute storytelling, characters that first appear to be villains become more complex as the years of disappointment and fractured ambitions that have shaped them come to light. This gripping drama offers an intimate view into contemporary China's class dynamics. (Aug.)
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
A tight modern thriller about monied elites and corruption in mainland China also gives us a window into the life of a nanny to a privileged couple's young son. When 7-year-old Kuan Kuan wants something, he gets it. His gym-rat father, Hu Yafei, and artist mother, Qin Wen, lavish the boy with material goods even as they leave him largely in the care of his nanny, Yu Ling. As the book opens, Yu Ling and her lover Donghu have taken Kuan Kuan on a promised spring outing when they chance upon a man with a cargo of geese that Kuan Kuan insists are swans. His threatened tantrum might derail the day's plans, so the duo buys him one goose that he names Swan. The fowl's appearances throughout the rest of the book seem funny and in keeping with a spoiled child's obsession. However, toward the finale, someone's goose will be cooked because of Swan, and that's not a hint about what's for dinner--rather, it shows how carefully Zhang has planned the action. Yu Ling knows that the parents have disappeared, temporarily or not, due to charges leveled against Qin Wen's father and the rest of the family by officials. She also believes that Qin Wen has information that keeps her tied to this position as nanny. Most important, and despite Kuan Kuan's imperious ways, Yu Ling loves the little boy and doesn't want him to come to any harm, so she tries to watch him with special care when a woman named Huang Xiaomin, who claims to be Hu Yafei's mistress, arrives at the house and settles in for a long stay. From this point on savvy readers may be able to work out the very sudden and very odd ending, yet the real reward of the novel lies in how we pay attention: A portrait may be just a picture of a person, but the painter leads our eyes. These characters may live in your head for some time due to Zhang's fine pacing and quirky scenes. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
