My original intention was to praise this cover's illustrations for drawing my attention to the book. Yet when I copied and pasted the cover to this blog, I noticed for the first time that the title isn't very legible. If I hadn't already known that the title was Chinawoman's Chance, I wouldn't have learned it from this cover. Is the legibility of the title on the cover important for a self-published book? I would argue that it is important. Readers often look at the cover before anything else on a book vendor site. Not being able to read the title creates a bad first impression for a reader deciding whether or not to buy the book.
Next I turn to the series title which is Portia of the Pacific. Yes, titles are very important to me. They influence me more than cover illustrations. I have an attraction/repulsion relationship with Shakespeare's Portia. So I was attracted by the series title because I love a woman taking a professional role that was forbidden to women in Shakespeare's day. I love Portia's speech. Yet I am repelled by the bigotry toward Shylock that motivated her. I see Shylock as the victim in Merchant of Venice. His feelings of outrage over having no rights are used against him. Portia is clever, but she is supporting a system in which Jews can't get justice.
The fictional Clara Shortridge Foltz isn't bigoted toward the Chinese. Not only does she have a Chinese client, but she helps to thwart a plot against the Chinese community. Yet I learned from Musgrave's acknowledgements that the real Clara Foltz was actually prejudiced against the Chinese and would never have had a Chinese client as she did in Chinawoman's Chance. For me, there is a tension between the real Clara and the fictional Clara. I ended up feeling as ambivalently toward the protagonist as I do toward Shakespeare's Portia.
For those who want to see what Clara Shortridge Foltz looked like, I found a public domain photo on Wikipedia.
I admired the role played by the fictional Clara Foltz, but I felt that the novel fell short as a mystery. There was a plot twist that I didn't find credible from a police procedural perspective. I also felt that the resolution was formulaic. I had seen it before a number of times, so it didn't surprise me.
I also had a problem with a Chinese character's name. Musgrave said in his acknowledgements that he researched Chinese culture. If so, I don't understand why he didn't seem to know that Guan Shi Yin, also known as Kwan Yin, is a Bodhisattva. A Bodhisattva is someone who has reached Buddhist enlightenment and decided to help others achieve it. Kwan Yin is also known as the Goddess of Compassion. I was taught a mantra for Kwan Yin "Namo Guan Shi Yin pusa." The English translation would be: Homage to Kwan Yin, compassionate and wise person. The character in Chinawoman's Chance who was given this name was the reverse of compassionate. I therefore considered it culturally inappropriate.
I actually did like most of Chinawoman's Chance. Musgrave's version of Clara Foltz has so much potential as a protagonist. Her developing friendship with a Chinese woman who escaped prostitution and encouraged independence for other women was also wonderful. Yet as a mystery it didn't quite measure up, and the instance of cultural inauthenticity that I mentioned really bothered me.
No comments:
Post a Comment