The Binding Chair Or, A Visit From The Foot Emancipation Society (2001) - Plot & Excerpts
Story Description:HarperCollins|June 14, 2001|Trade Paperback|ISBN: 978-0-06-093442-2In poised and elegant prose, Kathryn Harrison weaves a stunning story of women, travel, and flight; of love, revenge, and fear; of the search for home and the need to escape it. Set in alluring Shanghai at the turn of the century, The Binding Chair intertwines the destinies of a Chinese woman determined to forget her past and a Western girl focused on the promises of the future. My Review:After having read Snowflower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See, I was familiar with the age old torture of foot binding performed on young girls in early China. A year long process that I couldn’t imagine having had to endure. Poor May had to endure foot binding in this story as done by her grandmother as her own mother just didn’t have the heart to do it herself. Gramma however, was relentless and forced May to make the long walk from the binding chair to her mother’s room where she laid on the bed wrapped in her mother’s arms sobbing. May’s mother cried as hard as she did. Overall, the story itself wasn’t as good as I thought it was going to be which annoyed me as I’d waited eight months for this book to come out of “temporarily out of stock!” I found the characters boring and flat, there was no warmth or “real” personality to the characters. Developing the personalities a lot more would have taken this story much further. I found myself becoming more and more bored and less enamoured with the story as I read deeper into the book. The narrative went back and forth in time and place as it stuttered to what I’d call a ‘dying end.’ NOT a book I would recommend to family and friends.
Slow to start, this book ended up not as disappointing as I originally thought it would be. I was so bored in the beginning I was losing the connection between May, Alice and what seemed to be a random character named Suzanne. As the book progressed, I began to see the comparison of the three women against each other. Which one was the strongest? In their portrayal of strength were they instead really weak?One may look at May as a self-centered, mean spirited woman. Yet was this just an act for survival? We forget so quickly what a loving, carefree spirit she had been as a child. She remembers herself at the end. What makes us who we are? The person we are born or our life experiences? Do life experiences harden or soften us as time goes on? In the end, which was May?I also loved the symbolism of the foot binding. It crippled May in more ways than one. Not only could she not walk, it affectd the way people viewed her. She saw it as binding her to a life she would not have chosen for herself. Yet at the same time, May's footbinding made her free-to accept herself and force herself to do things people never thought she was capable of like learning various languages and escaping an abusive husband.At one point in the book, someone points out to May that she only loves people she sees as weak. Is Arthur weak? Yet he fights for causes for the " weak" and loves May regardless of societal taboo. Is it May who instead is weak and needs to find love of people she knows will love her no matter what?
What do You think about The Binding Chair Or, A Visit From The Foot Emancipation Society (2001)?
Oh, I loved this book! A fascinating, and often disturbing tale of a young Chinese girl who unwillingly has her whole life geared towards marriage, which ultimately results in soul crushing disappointment. After many years of having her life controlled by others, she decides to take her life into her own hands, and abruptly turns the steering wheel in a whole new direction. This deciscion ultimately leads to finding love, kindness and acceptance, more crushing losses and heart-break. A fascinating and haunting read that will stay in your mind, way after reading the last words.
—Jayne
"A bound foot is not, as Alice's uncle Arthur assumed before seeing his wife's, a foot whose growth has been arrested. A bound foot is a foot broken: a foot folded in the middle, toes forced down toward the heel."19th century China sets the stage for May's foot binding experience (and all of the horrors that follow). That horrendous Chinese tradition truly shapes May's life.Only when she meets Arthur Cohen is she introduced to a life of safety and relative stability. But this is not just May's story. It is also the story of her niece, Alice. Their stories are told in alternating chapters. Frankly, I only really wanted to read May's story. It's really quite interesting.
—Jeanne
I thought this book was going to teach me about what it was like for girls in China who used to bind their feet for beauty. I thought it would explain how this concept came into being, and why it was carried on for generations, and what brought about it's eventual decline. I thought I'd get an insight into one of the oldest countries in the world. Boy was I wrong. I should have suspected that an author named 'Kathryn Harrison' might not be of Chinese decent, but I foolishly gave her the benefit of the doubt. Instead of an insightful look into an ancient culture, I got a narrative that switched between a cranky Chinese lady with bound feet, to her Russion niece and her adventures. Not to mention that each chapter was a different time period and you never knew which character you'd be focusing on. Don't read this book. What a waste of time.
—Erica
