| Title | : | Tuer son mari |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 2207255883 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9782207255889 |
| Language | : | French |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 208 |
| Publication | : | First published January 1, 1983 |
Tuer son mari Reviews
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Akin to piercing a bunch of steely needles, quick, sharp pains pulsated between Lin Shi’s youthful legs, pinching a nerve within me. The excruciating screams resonating the “bleating of ghostly pigs” flooded my ears crashing into the serenity of nest-weaving on a nearby tree, numbness crept within me as I watched the crow gathering the wires from a broken cable. The words from the book kept reassembling blurred images juxtaposing polarized worlds of fact and fiction, exhausting my cognitive skills. The woman who kisses her children nightly goodbyes whispering motherly “I love you” in their naive ears, her four beautiful children, each a product of gruesome marital rape. The edgy lady over the cosmetic counter looking for the perfect Bobbi Brown matte hue to conceal her purplish contusions , the long sleeves worn on a scorching summer day ; the uninterrupted metaphors collide within my sanity , the squealing of pigs against the insensitive butcher’s knife reaching to its loudest decibel. “I killed him because he killed me thousand times over”; can an acquittal ever be found in this testimony of defence pertaining to the marital crimes? The slicing of a gut finds substantial verification in its streams of gushing blood. The vagina that bleeds just once, sexually, where can it find its essential proof of further marital violation? Can a bleeding soul be admitted as evidence in the court of law? In the holier-than-thou christened “sacrament of marriage” the men’s privileges is elevated onto a pedestal diluting the civil liberties of women, mocking the constitution of a womb that ironically reproduces its very own predators. The tree of patriarchy flourished in egocentric illusionary presumptions. The numbness within me now,discovers its first breathing sentiment– anger.
He had already set a pattern of wanting her when he returned from the slaughterhouse in the morning. The only question was how often. During the “honeymoon” period she had been forced to endure her man nearly every other day. Occasionally, the intervals were even shorter and he might want her several times in a single day. Always he would reach for her when she was least prepared.....he simply didn't care.”
Inspired by a newspaper article of a factual domestic crime in 1930s Shanghai, China ; Li Ang interlace a admirably insightful narration of the social taboos, sexual abuse, female oppression, humanity downtrodden in issues of hunger , sex and death and the misconstrued emotional stance of female sexual ecstasy paramount in convoluted echelon of Taiwanese social order. The escalation of Lin Shi’s matrimonial nightmare ensnares in the socio-cultural stereotypes and Jiangshui’s sadistic sexual requisites. A pig butcher by profession, Chen Jiangshui was finest in his craft, an occupation consequential to his impoverished childhood. Although Li Ang conveys a humane side to Jiangshui, his benign being crumbles in the monstrosity adhered in his sadomasochism, grasping animalistic cravings for his share of women and their orgasmic overtures approaching the pitch of “squealing of pigs in the face of death.” Violence committed against women, irrespective to the sexual, physical or emotional nature of the abuse crosses the socio-economic barriers, the criminal profundity soaring the scales in rural territories. Lin Shi’s sanity obliterated in Chen’s ruthless abuse and her ordeal abandoned in the lunacy of debilitated human dignity.
“Once you get your own woman, you don’t have to be an old bum no more.......... You got somebody to sleep with you. That’s what I call having it made!”
Is marriage a sexual contract? The demanding phallocentric discourse dictating penetrative sex as a prerogative of the husband. Can sexual abuse be warranted as a part and parcel of a marriage which a woman is fated to accept? Conjugal privileges, who regulates the rights? The phallocratic hierarchy? Who proposed the penile supremacy? And if, sexual climax is perceived through the culmination of a man’s orgasm, then where does the pinnacle of a woman’s sexual ecstasy stand? Doesn’t a wife have the privilege of achieving sexual pleasures or it is that lascivious moans are synonymous with the entirety of a prostitute? Shamefully, the conventions of patriarchy perceives a woman’s body to be a sexual outlet , a sex tool for men to gain pleasure , the demeaning construal gaining momentum in a conjugal sanctity. Li Ang highlights the dehumanization of women comparing the violent penetrative sex to the slaughter of the pigs. Sexual violence within a marriage is beyond restriction of penile penetration with the brutality further escalating in physical exploitation. Chen Jiangshui’s abusive treatment meted to Lin Shi contradicts his complacent demeanour during his brothel visits. The indulgence of sexual ecstasy favouring the prostitute more than the maltreatment of Lin Shi infers the extremities of male-female relationships especially to conjugal domestication. Is the vagina, a dowry that a wife brings in her matrimonial abode? In the order of phallocracy the wife is ordained to be a wedded “property” of the husband, the socio-culture overlooking the violation of sexism in the exercising physical, emotional abuse; sexual being the ultimate domination of power.
“He couldn't ignore the popular belief that contact with menstrual blood brought bad luck to a man, especially considering the bloody nature of his occupation. Good omens were more important than anything else.”
The womb is the decisive source of life, menstruation being the path to the revered fertility. If menstrual blood is viewed as “tainted” the derivation of bad omen, then every penis procreated in the womb consequently should equate the malign prophecy of a “sinful” establishment. Frivolity of superstitions helm the patriarchal dogma; menstruation being the foremost sign of griminess. Menstrual blood fetches the affliction of a “bad omen”; however, brutally raping a menstruating woman has no such sacrilegious consequences. Duplicitous code of patriarchy masquerading in ludicrous premise to debase the sovereignty of a woman, isn’t it? The barrenness of a womb plunged into the darkness of malicious labelling. The cowardice of an impotent penis concealed in the courage of a maligned fertile womb.
“Good omen”; “bad omen”, the constant shuffle regenerates plagued superstitions overriding the ethical sensibilities submerged in the doomed hypocritical world. The ceremonial customs adhere in honouring the departed souls, the divine retribution blessed with good omen among the glowing joss sticks, multiple course meals crowding the celebratory table, is a resounding slap across the disingenuous societal visage reeking of sarcasm expecting obeisance of customary rites of sumptuous offerings to venerate the sacrifices of the dead, whilst brazenly violating the humanity of the earthbound living souls. The butchering of a pregnant sow is an unpardonable offence, conceived in the axiom –“The destruction of womb, the source of life...”, a bad omen petrifying Chen Jiangshui seeking deliverance , sardonically, showing no such earnest penitence in malevolently vilifying Lin Shi. The outlandish institution of patriarchy, a bunch of self-merited egocentric humans who lack the humane receptivity of wisdom and intellect to recognize that the thriving of ‘bad omen’ does not originate in the stream of menstrual blood or the emancipation of womankind, but in the oppression of a human being.
“All a woman has to do is put up with a while and it'll pass. Who ever heard of someone yelling and carrying on until everybody in the neighbourhood knows and no other woman is willing to speak up for her. Honestly!”
The two-facedness of phallocracy strides outside the society of men, materializing in the communal quarters of women. Lamentably, women are not only oppressed by their male counterparts but also by the members of their own species. Li Ang moves from the confines phallus sectors elucidating the social traits of falsified morality and frustration over gender discrepancies, stemming from the female dilemmas trapped in overpowering phallocentric dogma. The elderly Ah-wang’s adherence to the iron-clad patriarchal system decodes her own fallacies rooted in promoting her probity, ardently championing female obeisance to their husband’s ascendancy. The “three-inch golden lotuses” that rendered Ah-wang to a life-long struggle, hideously depicts the callous approach of a phallocentric culture disregarding the misery of women and Ah-wang’s acceptance of a male dominating society to be a way of life, the phallocratic ethics embedded within her core rearing. Ah-wang found a bizarre sense of satisfactory excitement in her predatory habits of demeaning women. If men are guilty for the annihilation and condemnation of women, then women too should be held culpable in furthering the malicious circumstances. The lack of social and monetary support and the emptiness coagulated within the ruins of integrity, women rarely find an undeterred supporter in their own genus. Furthermore, women do tend to gossip spreading wanton rumours, speaking ill of the abused victim , failing to garner courage and speak up for the wounded; a dilemma faced by those surviving at the lowest rung of the sexist ladder. The social alienation face by the victim is a consequence of the defenceless minority. The world of oppressed women is eventually descended in deadly silence falling back into sinister depths of silent submissions. Lin Shi and her mother along with the women of Lucheng were doomed fatalities of nauseating silence.
Does having a kind heart save a woman from domestic abuse? Is kindness always rewarded? When does the final fragment of endurance disintegrate into the viscosity of fatigue? When will a perpetually horrified soul discover the solace of tranquillity?
In a land , my very own (India) where patriarchy still raises its ugly fangs, where the fruits of patriarchy are laboured through archaic laws and preposterous display of male ego , where marital rape is decriminalized in order to preserve the laughable “sacrament” of a marriage, and where the myopic sections of the Penal Code amend loopholes that are not grounded in reality but purview fallacy ; an astute scripted prose that put forth questions and seeks viable answers irrespective to its realistic mockery, simmers a debate between the perceptive reader and subsequent humanitarian outlook embroiled in a societal reality , making the undertaken manuscript reading worth every written page ,hoping that someplace, someday, the womb , the vagina, the breast , the haemorrhaged soul and its honoured possessor will find emancipation from its societal subjugation. Perhaps then, there shall be not a single speck of irony lingering within the melodious rendition of Chen Jiangshui’s preferred song--
As the second watch sounds, the moon lights up the courtyard,
I lead my darling girl into her chamber,
We are fated to be lovers tonight
Pay no heed to what others say. -
La joven huérfana Lin Shi es obligada a casarse con un cruel y sádico carnicero que le dobla la edad. Este, creyéndola algo de su propiedad, un objeto para su uso y disfrute, la maltrata y humilla desde el primer momento. Lin Shi es tratada con una violencia brutal todos los días de su vida, esta transcurre entre palizas, violaciones y una escasa alimentación. Mientras se hace cada vez más pequeña y su mente empieza a enfermar, ni siquiera encuentra el apoyo de los vecinos, pese a la obviedad de lo que está pasando. Basado en un hecho real ocurrido en los años 30 en Shanghai, con “Matar al marido” su autora, Li Ang, nos sumerge en la normalización más cruda de la violencia de género.
He tenido muchos sentimientos encontrados con esta obra durante la lectura. Había muchas cosas que me gustaban, pero otras me chirriaban, aunque alguna de estas se debe a cosas ajenas a la obra en sí. Pero vayamos primero con lo bueno. La obra es dura, cruda, quizás incluso pueda parecer excesiva, pero a estas alturas de la película, parece ser que la única manera de que la gente entienda es con el bofetón de realidad que historias como estas consiguen darte. Esa crudeza de la historia de Lin Shi, de la injusticia que vive a todos los niveles, ha sido lo que más me ha gustado, lo que mejor conseguido está, sin lugar a dudas. Remueve todo lo que tiene que remover.
Una crítica nada velada al machismo, al maltrato, a la normalización de esta violencia que se ejerce directamente hacia la mujer por el simple hecho de serlo, e incluso a la culpabilización de la propia víctima como responsable de esta violencia que sufre. Y no solo señala al marido que ejerce activamente esta violencia, sino que apunta a todos lo que la rodean. Los vecinos no hacen nada, no solo porque la gran mayoría escucha, mira hacia otra parte y calla, sino porque los que saben lo que ocurre, verbalizan todos esos comentarios que estamos hartos de oír: “no es para tanto”, “la mujer tiene que aguantar” o “algo habrá hecho”. Son comentarios que nos suenan a otra época, pero la triste realidad es que la vida no ha cambiado tanto. El maltrato sigue ocurriendo a día de hoy, porque cuenta con muchísimos cómplices alrededor, empezando por las personas que la rodean y acabando por la propia justicia.
El libro habla de cosas muy interesantes como la creencia hecha ley en aquella China de los años 30 (no estoy seguro como estará la ley en la actualidad) de que una mujer cuando (viene spoiler) mata a su marido solo puede haber una posible razón: el adulterio. El adulterio era penado con la muerte en el caso de las mujeres, y detrás de un crimen de semejante calibre no podía encontrarse la “débil” mente de una mujer, tenía que haber un hombre de por medio. Sigue sonando antiguo, pero la realidad es que, a día de hoy, se sigue cuestionando la inteligencia de la mujer con respecto a la del hombre. Ejemplos tenemos en todos los lugares y ámbitos.
Hay tres cosas que no me han gustado y que me han aguado un poco la experiencia. El primero voy a tratar de no tenerlo en cuenta a la hora de valorar la obra, porque no es achacable a la obra en sí, ni a su autora, y es que creo que el traductor se toma ciertas licencias que para mí son un absoluto error. Además de usar expresiones que sonaban demasiado españolizadas, o incluso sustituye palabras referentes a alimentos por otros parecidos en español, cosa que ya de por si me ha molestado, porque le quita parte de su identidad a la procedencia de la obra, he sentido que la narración y el estilo eran demasiado occidentales. La autora ha vivido parte de su vida en Estados Unidos y eso puede justificarlo en parte, pero estando habituado a leer autoras que escriben sobre Asia sin ser de Asia y consiguen ese toque, me resulta extraño que una persona que ha nacido y vivido allí, lo pierda precisamente hablando del Taiwán de hace casi 100 años. No me cuadra, y sospecho que también son licencias de la traducción.
Como digo, voy a achacar esto a la traducción, porque siento que es así y porque la valía de la obra va más allá. Las otras dos cosas que no me han gustado me han molestado bastante más. Una de ellas es el excesivo maltrato animal, no porque lo haya, porque entiendo que es una parte de la historia importante el presentarnos al maltratador como la bestia desalmada que es, sino porque el proceso de matanza de estos animales y todo lo que posteriormente se les hace hasta el “consumo” humano, se repite constantemente hasta la extenuación. Reconozco que en este aspecto mi límite no es muy alto. No puedo soportar muchas escenas de maltrato animal, y cuando son ya excesivas me revuelven el estómago.
Pero lo que menos me ha gustado de todo y por eso he dudado entre las 3 y las 4 estrellas desde que lo leí, es que hay cierta escena cuando ya la novela estaba bastante avanzada, que para mí no tiene ningún sentido. El antagonista es un ser detestable que no solo es misógino y cree que la mujer es un mero objeto para el disfrute del hombre, sino que disfruta causando daño a Lin Shi, pero de pronto tiene una escena con una mujer que se prostituye para sobrevivir, y trata a esta mujer con cariño, ternura e incluso empatiza con sus problemas… No sé cual sería la intención de la autora, pero me cabreó la escena. Mucho.
He decidido ponerle las 4 estrellas al final, porque conforme más vueltas le doy a la obra, más siento necesaria esa brutalidad con la que muestran los hechos. Lo explícita que es, sin medias tintas. En definitiva, no es un libro sencillo de gestionar, ni por lo que dice, ni por los fallitos que pueda tener, pero su valía es indiscutible habiendo sido publicado en 1983, e incluso hablando la autora abiertamente de feminismo en la introducción. No es de extrañar que causara mucho revuelo en Taiwán en su día. Lectura obligada, desde luego. -
Trudna, brutalna i wstrząsająca lektura, ale genialnie napisana.
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5 Unforgettable-brutal-heart-breaking- Li Shi stars
Wow I just finished reading the book. One of the best books I have read in a while.
This review is full of spoilers. If you intend to read the book, please do skip my review.
This beautiful gem of a book chronicles sorrowfully the gradual mental deterioration of a woman who was dealt with a harsh hand in life. It explores evasion of female oppression set against the backdrop of the savagery of butchering pigs.
I am tempted to write this review like an essay but I shall refrain from doing so and discuss simply.
The book was inspired and based on a true story that happened in Shanghai in 1930s. Li Ang moulded her story carefully using the sensational story as a palette.
It is believed by the Taiwanese, basically the Chinese that women murder their husbands to be with their lovers. But in this particular story, the murderess claims that she killed her husband to escape his abuse and so the story of Li Shi begins.
It even begins with a tragic note.
Li Shi’s father died when she was nine years old. According to the laws, females are not allowed to own property or money. Her paternal uncle chased them out of the house and they were forced to live on the streets, doing odd jobs. They often went hungry for long periods of time and were forced to take shelter in the ancestral hall. One day a soldier came by and sensing danger, she runs for the help. On their return, her mother is caught exchanging sexual favours for food and it is implied she killed herself or was killed along with the soldier.
Killing a woman to preserve honour was often done back then, which similar to honour killings done on Indian land in Asia and also in the Middle East. It shows how women, without a man in their lives, barely survive. I am sure if a man in the same town or village was caught the consequences would have been different. I was also kind of surprised no man in the family came forward to help the women out.
Li Shi is sent to live with her same uncle who chased her out of her own house. She is treated as a servant to look after the uncle’s wife who is an invalid and her 8 cousins. She is treated as a servant who had to do a lot work and had no one to guide her in the world. She did not have any contact with anyone else. She begins her mental deterioration as she is often lost in her thoughts, trying to cope with her trauma.
I sensed she felt she was responsible for her mother’s death and she is carrying the guilt. Everyone else assumes that in her trance like state, she is advertising her sexual interest and her willingness to have sex with men. Her uncle marries her off to a butcher who is more than twice her age and butchers pigs for a living.
I found the juxtaposition of the opression of women with butchering of pigs rich on many levels. Like animals who raised to be killed, women are raised to serve men. The animals are put a gross disadvantage as they are unable to protect themselves or escape the slaughtering, whereas in the wild, the animals can choose to fight back in a herd or run off to save their lives. They do have a chance at survival in the wild. But at a slaughterhouse, they have no chance at all.
Just like predicament of women who are unable to escape their dependence on men due to the laws and culture. They are put at a gross disadvantage, unable to fight back or survive with dignity.
Other Observations regarding the juxtaposition of women and butchering pigs :
- Women and meat and treated as commodities. Pigs and women are a man’s possessions do with as he pleases.
- It is implied that Jiangshui rapes his wife with the same precision he slaughters his pigs. He seems to know how to hurt her.
- It is mentioned that when Jiangshui butchers the pigs, the spurting of the blood has a similar effect on him as his ejaculations.
- When a pig is butchered, it bleeds its life force (warm blood which carries oxygen) just like Li Shi who bleeds her pieces of her soul and sanity each time she is violated , beaten or starved.
There are many more interpretations to the rich juxtaposition like pigs are fed well so that they have as much meat as possible when they slaughtered and hence more profits. Li Shi is fed for her sexual favours and whatever else benefits she could of to him. Or else there would be no reason to provide food
Throughout the whole book, there is a lot of foreshadowing shown through her dreams. She always dreams of blood and phallic symbols. Some psychoanalysis could be done on the dreams. The dreams are rich material.
Li Shi is an introvert who is unable to express herself and is also unable to understand people around her socially and society. She is socially stunted. She is unable to make sense of it all which seems so desolate.
She moves in with her husband who rapes and brutalises her. He verbally and physically abuses her along with rape. She copes. Sometimes he rapes her many times in a day or every other day or every day. Each time he rapes her, he is brutal enough to make her scream.
The screams are interpreted by her neighbour Ah Wang as her requests for sex and her blatant enjoyment. Ah Wang is perhaps a somewhat typical character in the Asian culture I have always read about. The nosy neighbour who needs to know about everyone and everything. Ah Wang is always spying on Li Shi.
The Dynamics of women Vs women is typical. In a society where women are so oppressed, one would expect women to form stronger bonds to survive. But not here. Everyone is always gossiping about each other , comparing , competing and causing doubt and insecurity with each other.
I always steer clear of these women. You know the women who always to have one up you or is jealous of you or constantly spreads gossip about you. I have always had this kind of women around me. Like when you tell them you are not married, they will say they are married in a tone to make them seem better than you. When you tell you have no kids, they will say they have kids in a tone to make them feel better. When you tell them you have a child, then they will say they breast fed and claim to be better than you. They always attach your worth as a person to what other think or say.
Well, take these insecure competing women and put them in the Taiwan set in the early or mid 20th century when women are so oppressed and appearances are everything, it seems to brutal. There are no camaraderie and everyone is only kind so that they gain favours with karma, spirit or gods or whatever they believe in.
Li Shi does gets eaten alive. Women turn the other cheek and refuse to blame the men. You know, have you heard those girls tell you how another woman deserved to be hit or brutalized by a man ? Those girls will justify it and go on to tell how exactly the man is not in the wrong. I had an Indian neighbour when I had to work in New Jersey for 2 months.
She was a sweet Indian girl, quiet, soft spoken and shy. All she ever did was stay at home and was an obedient girl. She always had a shy smile for me whenever she saw me. She was tiny and skinny and didn’t look any older than 16. Her husband would get drunk and hit her sometimes. Once I happened to be home, I called the cops and took my baseball bat and went over. She was bleeding from a gush on her head and from her nose which broke. Her husband called me every name in the book for forcing my way in by pushing his mother away. His mother claimed a husband can do anything he wished with his wife and she deserves it. I took her to my apartment and waited for the cops who took their bloody time. I was even further shocked when she tried explaining in broken English that this is the norm and she deserved it in exchange for the better life she has here and that I am ruining things for her. She herself supported his abuse. My jaw dropped.
Anyways that is the exact same situation here. The women think whatever a man does, it is fine and it is ok. He can even murder and it is justified in the name of honour. How can Ah Wang interpret Li Shi’s screams of pain and agony for pleasure? Or the brutal bruises? Just like the Indian women I mentioned above. They think a husband can do no wrong and it is somehow the women’s fault and it is ok. It is the norm. They break the action down and justify it or interpret in the positive terms.
The women in the book blame Li Shi for being a nymphomaniac and enjoying sex and advertising it to the whole world which consists of the nearby neighbours. Li Shi finds out what the women really think of her by overhearing them. They don’t think anything nice of her and seem jealous of her. Something in her breaks even more. I observed that in the beginning Ah Wang prays and chants for Li Shi whenever she screamed, clearly knowing she is being raped but somehow claims otherwise when gossiping.
Jiangshui breaks her furthermore by raping her, beating and starving her. Every time I read of her abuse, my toes curled and I found it hard to read on. Jiangshui is given one scene where his personality is explored while he talks to his favourite prostitute. Still, I didn’t feel much for him. Jaingshui’s personality reminded me serial or spree killers where they only find peace with killing or brutalizing.
Li Shi is doomed. There is absolutely no one to guide her. She stops socializing. My heart broke when she buys ducklings. She thought she is able to get eggs from female ducks and assumed she doesn’t need male ducks. She didn’t even know the basics of sex. The vendor explains she needs male ducks for the eggs.
She takes care of these ducks like children. She feeds them and finds some joy and purpose. Her husband comes by and butchers all the ducks. This time he didn’t break or shatter her. Something in her died. He starves her by not providing food. She has to beg for a job or food. He then brings her to the slaughterhouse to work and she witnesses the cruelty and completely loses it, I think. And later after he rapes her, she kills him. The prose describing her killing shows that she has already been detached from the logical rational mind and is in a dream like state.
There are parallels in the book I would quickly like to point out :
- Phallic symbols are shown throughout the book. Pillars, butcher’s knife etc. The knife impaling through the pigs stomach and impaling of Li Shi by Jiangshui’s penis. Her mother was tied to the pillars and was judged by men’s gross judgment.
- Hanging of Ah Wang could parallel the suffocation of Li Shi sufferings.
- The superstitions and beliefs in this book foreshadow the fate of Li Shi and Jiangshui
- Imagery of fertility and non-fertility. I found it weird children were hardly seen in the book. Ah Wang doesn’t not get pregnant and the other women jealous of Li Shi ready access to meat which symbolises fertility (why fertility? Meat is implied to be scarce and having ready access to them shows well being)
- The various depictions of women trying to cope with the oppression. The farmer-turned prostitute Golden Flower who earns her own money at the harsh criticism and judgement and alienation of society.. Ah Wang who controls her household by controlling her son and daughter in law and exploits superstitions to her advantage..Wangshi who manages her husband well and she has always has the last word of the argument... Harmony, Ah Wang's daughter in law who always brings disharmony to the household and tries to overpower Ah Wang
- I was wondering about the tender treatment of golden flower by Jiangshui and the brutal treatment of Li Shi. The fallen woman gets treated a lot better. The contrast has purpose I think . The woman who chooses her life can perhaps choose how she gets treated.
I would love to keep writing more about the book but I will stop here. I just realized the review has gotten too long.
Highly Recommended. Thank you Praj. You are the best.
Before I go , I would like to recommend a movie and a song which is similar to this book
If you want to watch a movie about the treatment of masculinity set against the backdrop of cows and butchering of cows in an european background, please watch Bullhead.
BullHead. More about the movie here
It is a Belgian movie and goes along the path of this book and it is so well done and the main actor does a good job of projecting his pain in every scene. Just as tragic as this book!
And this song by Stevie Wonder and Babyface , How come How long which summarises this book and the video depicts the horrors of this book.
Watch the video here
Happy Reading!! -
...he simply didn't care.
After a while it stops being fiction and becomes personal with its unintentional narration of a woman's life in Taiwan. In societies that have carefully built, sheltered and nurtured atrocities like marital rape, this story will be a known one. A woman - a daughter, a wife and a mother is put into a cage and is used when her husband's hits his pleasure point or he is bored. It isn't always in the nature of the man to be cruel but it does becomes a nature when cruelty is accepted and even encouraged. The wife finds no help in other women who don't condone her screams. She is a loving mother who whispers comforting words to her children in a voice hoarse after screaming so long, as blood runs between her legs and tears stains her face.
We forget that morals evolve, change, adapt, soften or harden. The old societies are harder to change since the present is clung to past as an old lover and never lets it go. Be it Sati system or feet binding, a society has to come a long way to recognize what is cruel and what is tradition. While fighting for archaic tradition, the disgruntlement doesn't always come from a strong patriarchal archetype; its an entire generation - both women and men who clung to the distant past and force it on the next generation. The secondary characters - the aunties in the community who are both old and middle aged are all representatives of the very generations that refuses to condone the violent acts of men on them and other women. The Butcher's wife does what she believes its best and gets labelled "mad".
The society reels in the aftermath of Butcher's death in the hands of his wife. The question - Could she be defending herself never makes it to top ten list of questions why she could have killed her husband. She uses her husband's butcher knife to kill him in a ironic sense of justice. No, not justice. Self preservation. The perverseness of the marriage and the hypocrisy that surrounds "purity" of women drives the characters in this novella.
Its stories like these that makes you hug your mother, your sister, your daughter, your girlfriend a little closer and mourn for those who cannot find a gentle touch.
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i support women's rights and women's wrongs. She's right
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A sparse and captivating tale of domestic abuse and murder set in pre revolutionary China. Lin Shi is an orphan working as a drudge for her uncle. He marries her off to the first match he can find - the local butcher, a brute of a man on the edge of society. Brutalised by her husband and ostracised by neighbours, she sinks lower and lower until she snaps and murders him.
Unforgiving and harsh, this is a good read. -
Bufff, duríssim!!
Des de la primera pàgina amb l'estómac remogut i el cor encongit, desitjant que la Lin Shi matés al porc del seu marit. Ara, jo m'hagués endut uns quants veïns més per davant! -
4,5
Przerażajace jest bycie ofiarą… -
Brutalan feministički horor iz savremene kineske književnosti. Ova knjiga je uznemirujuća, boli i samo 18+. Mislim da ću danima blenuti u beli zid i lečiti traume.
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jakie to było brutalne i dobre
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Odio a Ah-Wang y a Chen.
Con toda mi alma.
A pesar de que el libro puede parecer un poco plano, he conectado muchísimo con la historia y con Lin Shi.
Me ha parecido bastante fuerte la lectura, tal vez por lo descriptiva que fue la autora, o tal vez por lo que conlleva el relato.
Me ha dejado pensando.
Y mucho.
Tal vez demasiado. -
all i feel is pain and rage.
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Notes on Diversity:
Diversity is the wrong word here1; this is a Taiwanese book written for a Taiwanese audience populated by Taiwanese people. It's authentic. If you're looking to read outside of Western authors, and you're looking for something particularly dark and excruciatingly feminist, then check this out.There are no queer characters, but Western notions of queerness may not fully apply here, so I may well have missed some subtext. There are characters who deal with physical disabilities--Auntie Ah-Wang hobbling to and fro on her bound feet is a particularly striking example.
This book deals, explicitly and vividly, with sexual and physical abuse. It is not an easy book to read. Much of the plot and much of the text is devoted to detailing how Lin Shi, the main character, tries and fails to cope with her husband's continued abuse.
Review:
Li Ang's The Butcher's Wife is harrowing. And feminist. And brilliant.
I first read this book in college. I worked at the library circulation desk; someone turned it in and I picked it up and read it. I didn't know anything about it. I read it, and it was horrible and fascinating and etched itself into my brain. I've thought about it off and on in the years since and recently ordered a copy and reread it. It definitely held up to the reread.
The Butcher's Wife is about a woman, Lin Shi, in a small village in Taiwan who is sent off to marry a pig butcher by her uncle, Chen Jiangshui. Right from the start, she's traded like cattle, treated like goods: ownership of herself, her fate, her body is clearly not hers. Her husband is a brutal man; whether he is drawn to the slaughterhouse day in and day out because of his inherent brutality or whether his brutality is a response to his murderous line of work. In either case, his brutality remains a fact. He rapes Lin Shi. He beats her. He psychologically and emotionally berates her. He does these things, it seems, simply because she's there. Simply because she exists, and because she now belongs to him.
The structure of the book is such that we know how the story ends before it even begins. In my copy, Pig-Butcher Chen's fate is revealed in the Author's Preface. If you skip that, then it's revealed on the very first page of the book, in a fictitious news report2. Lin Shi kills Chen Jianshui. This isn't a spoiler; this is the conceit of the book. The book isn't about what will happen to Lin Shi. We go in knowing. The book is about why she does it. And in that narrative design, Li Ang gives Lin Shi and immense amount of power and agency within the story.
This is in keeping with the book's overall themes of control and power. The book zeroes in on women, their interiority, how they relate to or don't relate to each other. There are occasional scenes from the perspective of Lin Shi's husband, but even those are mostly his ruminations about the women in his life, either Lin Shi or the prostitutes he frequents3. Lin Shi spends a lot of time alone, trying to fill the utterly boring hours before her terrifying husband come home. Every day, she goes out to do laundry, and through that chore we come to understand her relationship to and her place among the village's other women. It's a complex and shifting situation that Lin Shi never quite successfully navigates.
What I am left with most, though, is the way The Butcher's Wife spells out how utterly suffocating and unrelenting patriarchal control is/can be. Lin Shi endures and endures and endures until she can't anymore. And she snaps; she kills her husband. She metes out this great and terrible and vicious act--this irreperable and irretreivable act--that is hers and hers alone. Or so you would think. But even that is stripped from her:
Chen Lin Shi's confession defies all reason and logic, for, since ancient times, a murder of this sort has always been the result of an adulterous affair.
On the very first page of the book we have proof that Lin Shi's act has been drastically rewritten in the social narrative of the village. She didn't really do it on her own. she must have been sleeping with another man. She must have killed her husband at his behest. That's how it always is. That's how women are. Even if they kill you, it's not really them killing you--it's really the other man wielding them as a weapon against you.
Even in her own confession, Lin Shi is silenced. In a book absolutely chock-full of horror, this is one of the most horrifying elements to me.
(If you'd like to check out more about this book, I highly recommend
this review on Goodreads.)
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1I've got a post brewing about diversity and the way this term is loaded. Watch this post if that's a topic that interests you.
2Li Ang, in her Author's Preface, makes clear that the news report, though fictitious, has roots in actual reported cases in mainland China. Another observation: the structure of this book, along with its length and use of diegetic extra-textual elements like the fake news clipping (here's the ending! here's how it happened from several points of view!) reminded me quite a bit of
Herman Melville's Billy Budd on this reread. Which was not a comparison I was expecting to draw. So, now I want to go reread Billy Budd.
3One of the most interesting parts of the book, to me, was the contrast between Chen Jiangshui's relationship to Lin Shi--a woman he doesn't know at all and doesn't care to know, who he treats solely as an object-- and his relationship to his particular favorite whore, Golden Flower. With her, he is companionable, almost sweet. They know each other as people. Is this because their relationship is still transactional? It's unclear, but it's certainly different than how he treats Lin Shi. -
Mračna, morbidna, tužna, nesrećna i brutalno teška priča.
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‘Matar el marit’, de Li Ang (trad. Mireia Vargar Urpí), no és una lectura plaent. Ja m’havien advertit de la duresa d’alguns fragments, i segurament aquest era el motiu que feia que n’anés posposant la lectura. Però finalment aquest #marçasiàtic m’he decidit a llegir-lo.
Aquest llibre està basat en un fet real que va tenir lloc a Xangai als anys 30: l’assassinat del marit per part d’una dona maltractada. En la ficció, aquesta dona és la Lin Shi. El seu marit treballa en un escorxador de porcs (igual que l’home del cas real) i és una persona totalment menyspreable, dolenta. Un maltractador amb totes les lletres. Al llarg de la novel·la som testimonis del dia a dia d’aquest matrimoni (ja amb un inici traumàtic) i de tot el que la Lin Shi ha d’aguantar, fins que decideix que ja no pot més.
Una de les coses que m’han fet més mal mentre llegia el llibre (a part de la violència sexual tan horrorosa que experimenta la protagonista) és la manca de suport per part dels veïns del poble; i especialment per part de les dones. La jutgen, malparlen d’ella. Els hem de sentir dir frases com ara: “Però això de xisclar com una boja a la mínima de dolor l’únic que fa és malmetre la reputació del marit” [en referència als crits de dolor que fa la Lin Shi mentre el seu marit la viola].
A ‘Matar el marit’ veiem com la tradició, els costums i les creences passen per sobre dels valors humans. És un llibre que el 1983, quan es va publicar, va provocar un escàndol sense precedents en l’àmbit de les lletres xineses. I no m’estranya.
[Com podia preveure Lin Shi que tot això es repetiria i es convertiria en la seva vida a partir d’aleshores?] -
The book itself is an easy read (only 140 pages) but it depressed and disturbed me as much as Raise the Red Lantern, one of the simultaneously best and most horrible movies I've ever seen.
The story was inspired by a groundbreaking case in which the old saying "There can be no murder without adultery" for the first time was dismissed. Until then, a woman that murdered her husband was assumed to do so because she had a lover, not because she was abused or mistreated, and jugded as such.
I guess what really got to me was the female protagonist's lack of choice and control over her own fate and body. Nothing new, unfortunately, but nonetheless depressing as hell. I so recommend it, though (just like I do Raise the Red Lantern). -
Quina història tant desgarradora. Retrata tal com raja una societat patriarcal. Esgarrifada de que sigui una història real. Horrible. Gairebé no és pot ni llegir. A part de les brutals escenes de violència cap als animals... Perquè després diguin que la violència patriarcal i animal no va lligada.
Quan estigueu preparades llegiu-lo.
Contenta d'haver-li donat una oportunitat -
Lin Shi's mother was all dressed in red. Her legs were bound with several coils of a long, thick rope. Stretching her arms out toward her daughter, she said over and over: "Ah-shi, I'm hungry, I'm hungry, I'm hungry...go beg some food for me, I'm hungry, I'm hungry."
Lin Shi discovered that she couldn't move a muscle, but she didn't know why. Momentary confusion followed. Unable to wait any longer, Lin Shi's mother plunger her hands into her own abdomen, fished out a mass of bloody entrails, and hungrily shoved them into her mouth, giggling as she said: "I've got nothing to eat, just this sweet-potato mash."
--excerpt from The Butcher's Wife
This is one of my wife's women's studies books that I just happened upon and found readable. Based on a true story, it's deeply sad but also oddly neutral. This book, maybe because it is Chinese, seems quite distant from the other women's studies type books I've started, most of which I could not make it through. I have to wonder about what's lost in translation, perhaps quite a bit. Even though the man is of course an evil fucker, the author manages to practically force the reader to empathize with him. One aquires an acute sense of being trapped in relationships: marriage, family, societal, and the world of pain & sickness to which those feelings lead. Tom Waits sings about in that song where "Frank hung his wild years on a nail that he drove through his wife's forehead...bought himself a couple of Mickey Bigmouths, then he parked across the street, watching the thing burn all Christmas orange, and laughing; turned on the top 40 station", or something like that, folks losing their minds because of persistent belief in limits & measures in a limitless & measureless universe. It's the goddess forsaken dark ages in homes around the world, unfortunately.
Trapped as you agree to, trapped as you want to be, is how I figure it. Do whatchalike Kid. -
Llegir aquest llibre ha estat un viatge punyent, marcat sobretot per la tràgica història que introdueix la novel·la Matar el marit.
Tot i que al principi ja coneixem la història que inspira l'autora a escriure aquesta història, és impossible no sentir llàstima i empatia per la protagonista, Lin Shi, una noia d’uns vint anys que, a causa de la seva situació familiar, acaba casada amb un escorxador de porcs. A més a més, tot i que en tot moment tenim coneixement del desenllaç de la història ―coneguda a través del pròleg i la nota de premsa―, l’autora construeix una narració que estén l’angoixa i es fa pregar fins a arribar als últims capítols. Destaco sobretot la forma que té l’autora de narrar els episodis més crus i brutals de la novel·la.
A banda de la novel·la, trobem «Nines amb corbes», un relat que s'allunya de la temàtica principal del conjunt, i que m’ha semblat una mica estrany, però també força interessant; i un fragment extret de Cròniques de Shanghai i que va servir d’inspiració a l’autora per a dur a terme aquesta novel·la. En aquesta secció, trobem la veritat sobre aquest cas i la reacció de la societat i l’intent de trobar una raó d’aquest esdeveniment, que, almenys a mi, m’han deixat de pedra.
Finalment, m’agradaria elogiar el gran treball que ha dut a terme la traductora a l’hora de traduir del xinès al català (!!!) els textos que formen part d’aquest llibre. -
To była bardzo ciężka książka. Przeorała mnie okrutnie.
Opisy tego, co działo się w rzeźni i tego, jak mężczyzna znęcał się nad swoją żoną dostarczyły mi zbyt wiele trudnych emocji. Przemoc wylewała się z kartek tej krótkiej powieści.
Nie da się polecić tej pozycji, bo to byłoby kontrowersyjne. Warto ją jednak przeczytać, bo to studium zła, którego nikt nie chciałby doświadczać na co dzień.
Zakończenie... 🤯
Edit - miesiąc po lekturze: zmieniam na 5 gwiazek, bo od zakończenia lektury wciąż o niej myślę... -
Using dispassionate and exceedingly simple prose, Li Ang vividly put me into the mind of Lin Shi (the titular wife). I cannot recall any book I've read recently that so fully made (or allowed) me to experience the feelings of its protagonist vicariously to such a degree. It was unpleasant. In fact, this is one of the most utterly unpleasant novels I've ever read. Yet to me, it is still a masterpiece.
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Un libro violento y deprimente. Imágenes muy vívidas de un infierno sin salida. Uno alcanza a sentir el hambre de la protagonista y el sabor de cada bocado que logra degustar a la espera de los ataques de su marido. Asimismo, nunca cesa el desespero que trae la falta de solidaridad de una sociedad que da por sentado el rol de cada quien en la familia.
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A chilling story of a Chinese woman in a lose-lose situation with her abusive husband. I was very pleased to see this outstanding novel reprinted last year.
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short but impactful in it’s graphic detail. It was interesting to see what the author produced in response to/ inspired by real events.
(TW: rape, SA, DV, animal abuse/death, suicide, extreme misogyny) I would advise people to read this novel with caution & care toward themselves. -
Bice rivju, jako teska knjiga iako kratka
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Sirova i brutalna, ova knjiga zaslužuje svaku pažnju, iako nije za one sa slabim želucem.
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I’m not sure I can give this book a rating…. A very heartbreaking story
