A delightful book - Rated 
This was a really excellent book. The two story lines ran parallel to one another in alternate chapters until I was speeding through the last 100 pages, knowing that all would soon be revealed.
The central character, Lin Ju, is a Chinese medical practitioner, an acupuncturist and herbalist. When we meet her she is just starting up a clinic in a provincial town in England. She has separated from her husband and he has returned to China with their young daughter. As Lin Ju (Ju Ju) starts to become friendly with Lucy, a patient, we begin to learn something of her childhood and the past that she has fled from.
The contrast between the two cultures is stark, but the story lines work well together and the whole makes a fascinating read that I would not hesitate to recommend.
A delightful book - Rated
This was a really excellent book. The two story lines ran parallel to one another in alternate chapters until I was speeding through the last 100 pages, knowing that all would soon be revealed.
The central character, Lin Ju, is a Chinese medical practitioner, an acupuncturist and herbalist. When we meet her she is just starting up a clinic in a provincial town in England. She has separated from her husband and he has returned to China with their young daughter. As Lin Ju (Ju Ju) starts to become friendly with Lucy, a patient, we start to learn something of her childhood and the past that she has fled from.
The contrast between the two cultures is stark, but the story lines work well together and the whole makes a fascinating read that I would not hesitate to recommend.
Between two worlds... - Rated 
Very different from Liu Hong's two previous novels, "The Touch" is delicate and restrained, lightly written with an important ethical message that explores the loss of trust and betrayal set in a landscape of moral confusion caused by the Cultural Revolution in China. The Hero, a female acupuncturist and natural healer is working in England, whilst her estranged husband has returned to China with their daughter. Set in a town, not unlike Swindon, the protagonist is befriended by an English couple who have their own marriage problems. This relationship leads to past memories surfacing and we see a woman trapped in two cultures, with two separate lives. The author is a talented writer of dialogue and also paints an evocative picture of a far away culture, so different from that of the west. The differences in these cultures are central to this book. This might be a difficult work for a reviewer, it does not fall into the familiar form of English novel writing, but seems to draw upon both English and Chinese genres. Yet again, Liu Hong, has produced another extraordinary novel. Highly recommended.
|
