Living Treasures

Gr 10 Up—Eighteen-year-old Gu Bao is a law student at Nanjing University in the summer of 1989, during the Tiananmen Square protests and the ensuing political unrest. Despite the school's strict rules against dating and sex, Bao and her boyfriend Tong decide to sleep together. Bao becomes pregnant and is promptly taken to her grandparents' remote village for an abortion. While seeking solace in the woods to mourn the loss of her unborn "Soybean," Bao befriends a woman named Orchid who, in defiance of the country's one-child policy, is hiding until she can give birth to her second baby. Bao forms a relationship with Orchid and her family, becoming deeply involved in working to ensure the safety of the unborn child. The use of metaphor and symbolism is strong throughout the story, with many images of babies, mothers, and the visceral realities of life and survival. The theme of women's bodies not always being their own is prominent. The richly detailed expository descriptions tend to overpower the stilted dialogue, which makes the tone feel uneven and the characters difficult to become invested in. The slow pace and specific cultural setting may make this a hard sell for teen readers. For where William Bell's Forbidden City (Seal, 1990) is still popular.—Whitney LeBlanc, Staten Island Academy, NY