River East, River West, by Aube Rey Lescure

This book came to me at the end of my university experience, after four years of studying Chinese, China as a country and Chinese literature, and for that reason I wasn’t looking to read a China-centred story in my spare time – I was looking for something different. However, the shortlist sticker for the women’s prize on the front intrigued me, as I very rarely see Chinese fiction on big awards list. I am so glad I persevered. This book set me on a reading frenzy I had not experienced in a long time.  I was shocked to learn this was a debut novel, as it is so well crafted, with characters that are at points unlikeable, but very believable. From the blurb I was expecting another novel like Exciting Times by Naoise Dolan, but this novel offered a far more well-rounded depiction of a west-east immigration story, shaped by the authors own real life experiences growing up biracial in Shanghai.

This novel follows an American expat, Sloan, as she navigates life as a white woman in China. It switches between two perspectives and timelines, her 14-year-old bi-racial daughter Alva in the present day, and Sloan’s new husband Lu-Fang, as he recounts how they first met in 1958. These two intersecting timelines allows for an exploration of race, class, love, family ties, cultural identity and belonging that spans a generation.

Alva grows up in China without knowing her Chinese father. She is assimilated into Chinese culture by going to Chinese school, and being fluent in both Chinese and Shanghainese, but there she is always treated differently by her classmates because of her white, American mother. She is desperate to align herself with her American identity, despite never having lived there, through consuming American media, fashion and she even dreams of going to international school. But once she persuades her mother and stepfather to send her to the American School in Shanghai, she discovers that the expat community in Shanghai is not all she imagined it to be in her head.

This novel is the reverse of the classic trope, and the lesser-told story of an American woman trying to fit into the far more homogenous Chinese society allows for an exploration of how Americans (and white expats in general) are usually placed on a pedestal in Chinese society. This is something I have experienced first-hand in China, where Chinese families have approached me to ask for pictures or offered me gifts despite knowing nothing about me. I had always considered this a testament to Chinese hospitality, curiosity and friendliness, and I had never considered how such treatment creates an environment where foreigners are given undue privilege, a free pass in China to get away with things they could not if they were a native.

This novel also explores finding a sense of belonging growing up bi-racial in China. In the beginning, we see how Alva’s looks are picked apart by Chinese guests at her mother’s wedding who assume she cannot understand Chinese, who seem disappointed that she “looks more Chinese” than white. The boys at her Chinese high school sexualise her on account of the fact she is a laowai who, in their eyes, are more ‘open-minded’. Then, once she joins the American school, she finds that none of her classmates can even speak Chinese, and they are all shocked that she attended a ‘local school’ up to this point. This story follows Alva’s personal struggle to find her place as either ‘Chinese’ or ‘American’, and this struggle is a part of the books appeal, as I’m sure many will be able to relate to this sentiment.

We are presented with two sides of the same city: the Chinese side and the expat side. Through the three principal characters and their interactions with one another we are offered insight into how race impacts life in China. Sloan mostly fits the stereotypical ‘American women’, in that she drinks heavily, is at times sexually promiscuous, and enjoys the privileges of being white in China– like cutting into long queues or being showered with attention – without much thought. Lu Fang’s character is shaped by his experiences and struggles living through Mao’s China, where his aspirations and university studies are cut short by the cultural revolution, and he is chained down by an arranged marriage to a government officials’ daughter. He holds his own ideas of the American Dream, and subsequently is encapsulated when he meets Sloan for the first time, seeming to place her on a pedestal. Alva must navigate teenage angst amidst trying to find her place between two cultural identities.

The format of the book was successful. Whilst I am very partial to flashbacks or alternating timelines within a novel, I know some may find it confusing or hard to follow. However, in this case the separate timelines were broken down into sizeable chunks, so that you could become fully absorbed into the perspective without the fear of being ripped out just when you are beginning to get along with it. Furthermore, I felt the two perspectives informed one another. Lu Fang’s perspective added more depth to his character, and I felt I understood him better than I did after only reading how he appeared from his stepdaughter’s perspective, which somewhat antagonises him. The cultural revolution is a common era explored in Chinese literature or literature that centres on China, and as such I often find myself a little fatigued reading about it, but in this novel, I felt it was highly relevant to the modern day. It was not the focus of his story, but it was essential to build background to Lu Fang’s character, and to inform the contemporary landscape of modern-day Shanghai.

There was quite an array of traumatic events throughout the novel, something which can turn me off a book. I feel that sometimes when a novel is saturated with sadness or despair it is an attempt by the author to appease a reader’s hunger for drama, or to shock them into liking their works. However, in this case I felt these incidents were integral to the plot and the character’s development. But do your research before going into this book, as it grapples with a lot of hard-hitting topics that some might find triggering.

I loved the interlacing of Chinese characters, Chinese poetry and cultural points into the story. This made the novel more than just a story about expats experiences in China. It is a story that is accessible to all, but it is not a shallow look at China from an expat perspective (as with other novels that follow west-east migration). I would recommend to anyone who enjoys reading coming-of-age, historical fiction, stories of finding cultural belonging or family dramas.

Reviewed by Emma Part

I must start by admitting that a few pages in, I rushed to judge this book. I concluded that it was more suitable for readers who are not familiar with China. It seemed that it would focus on expat life and culture clashes. On continuing to read, I realised that I had unreasonably jumped to conclusions. The narrative took twists and turns that I could not have predicted and was multi-layered, certainly not the simplified, ‘life as an alien in China,’ storyline I had envisioned.

River East, River West, has three main protagonists; an American woman who moved to China and became a mother there (Sloan); her teenage daughter (Alva) and a Chinese man, who first met the American woman in Qingdao, years before she became pregnant (Lu Fang).

There are many themes explored in the novel. What struck me the most was the sense of longing in the narrative. Lu Fang’s aspirations were cut short when he was sent to labour in the countryside as a young man, during the Cultural Revolution. His longing for freedom of choice manifests in his fascination with America, which he believes will facilitate his self-actualisation.  Sloan sees China as the place that can satisfy her similar longing for freedom. She rejects America, where she feels she struggled to be accepted as an individual in her own right and where she was unable to pursue her dreams. Alva’s teenage longing to separate from her mother and find her own identity as a dual-heritage teenager in Shanghai, leads her to focus on America as a place of liberation. Her first step towards America takes the form of trying to join the Shanghai American School.

In the relationship between Lu Fang and Sloan, it appears that Lu Fang personifies ‘China’ and Sloan, in turn, embodies ‘America.’ They long for each other but also for what the other represents. We understand, as the story progresses, that expecting to satisfy the human desire for self-actualisation by simply focusing on a person or a place as a solution, is misguided. Similarly, we see that, being of dual Chinese and American heritage, Alva is often viewed as representing a Nation, rather than as the individual human being that she is. The story makes us notice this tendency for people to view complex issues in a simplified way, making us realise the problems caused by such habitual ways of thinking.

In this way, River East, River West certainly challenges stereotypes. Alva and Lu Fang perceive America as being more civilised than China. Indeed, the Americans at the Shanghai American School appear to agree with them. However, as we can see from events that take place during the exclusive Expat parties, the behaviour of these Westerners is far from civilised.

The relationships between the characters are very believable and moving. We see how much Alva and her mother love each other, yet their relationship is rarely straightforward. Even when Alva was a baby, it appears that she was simultaneously the foundation of her mother’s life but also not enough for her mother.

Through Alva, we are reminded of the experience of being a teenager. It is easy to empathise with her as she navigates the changes in her relationship with her mother and with Lu Fang.

River East, River West, certainly provides a lot to think about, whilst remaining an enjoyable read. We are not offered a ‘happily ever after’ ending but one that is just as satisfying.

Reviewed by Catherine Shipley