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Book talk: Counterbalance by Aidan Wayne
May. 3rd, 2017 07:31 pmCounterbalance by Aidan Wayne
It's extremely rare that I get to see Asian, especially Chinese, characters in contemporary fiction and genre romance, so of course I couldn't help jumping at the chance to read one such book, out of curiosity.
The book, overall, was an okay read for me. The ending was a bit abrupt, and slice-of-life isn't exactly my favorite genre. It wasn't a terrible/offensive depiction of the Chinese character (Bao), but it also wasn't the best, either.
Disclaimer before I go further: I'm a second-generation Chinese American, not someone who grew up in mainland China, so I'm not an expert on Chinese culture. When I say the book's depiction of Bao wasn't the best, I mean that certain things in its portrayal of Chinese characters/culture struck me as intuitively odd (and I later confirmed most of my feelings with my dad). (But, of course, if any other Chinese person wants to chime in with different opinions, feel free.)
As a side note, this is why sensitivity readers are necessary—even if you didn't write something horribly offensive, sensitivity readers can still add authenticity to your book. I would personally prefer an author more or less ignore a character's cultural background rather than portray it inaccurately, because the latter case is extremely distracting to read about.
So, first, I didn't like the way Bao's character was written, just because he felt like a Manic Pixie Dream Guy who existed to prop up John. Maybe that's a harsh way of putting it, but I never got the sense of Bao's character beyond his peppy, friendly, energetic personality.
(Incidentally, while I am by no means an expert on Chinese names, "Bao" felt like an odd name for a Chinese guy to me? Maybe it's just that it doesn't sound right in English compared to Mandarin.)
I also disliked how Bao's dialogue was written to try to convey his accent/imperfect grammar/excessive formality that indicated English was not his first language. Honestly, I just don't want authors to try to write a "Chinese accent" at all. It's awkward as hell and distracting.
Here are the things that bothered me in the book's portrayal of Chinese culture (with, of course, the caveat that these are broad generalizations and doesn't mean no Chinese person acts this way ever):
It's extremely rare that I get to see Asian, especially Chinese, characters in contemporary fiction and genre romance, so of course I couldn't help jumping at the chance to read one such book, out of curiosity.
The book, overall, was an okay read for me. The ending was a bit abrupt, and slice-of-life isn't exactly my favorite genre. It wasn't a terrible/offensive depiction of the Chinese character (Bao), but it also wasn't the best, either.
Disclaimer before I go further: I'm a second-generation Chinese American, not someone who grew up in mainland China, so I'm not an expert on Chinese culture. When I say the book's depiction of Bao wasn't the best, I mean that certain things in its portrayal of Chinese characters/culture struck me as intuitively odd (and I later confirmed most of my feelings with my dad). (But, of course, if any other Chinese person wants to chime in with different opinions, feel free.)
As a side note, this is why sensitivity readers are necessary—even if you didn't write something horribly offensive, sensitivity readers can still add authenticity to your book. I would personally prefer an author more or less ignore a character's cultural background rather than portray it inaccurately, because the latter case is extremely distracting to read about.
So, first, I didn't like the way Bao's character was written, just because he felt like a Manic Pixie Dream Guy who existed to prop up John. Maybe that's a harsh way of putting it, but I never got the sense of Bao's character beyond his peppy, friendly, energetic personality.
(Incidentally, while I am by no means an expert on Chinese names, "Bao" felt like an odd name for a Chinese guy to me? Maybe it's just that it doesn't sound right in English compared to Mandarin.)
I also disliked how Bao's dialogue was written to try to convey his accent/imperfect grammar/excessive formality that indicated English was not his first language. Honestly, I just don't want authors to try to write a "Chinese accent" at all. It's awkward as hell and distracting.
Here are the things that bothered me in the book's portrayal of Chinese culture (with, of course, the caveat that these are broad generalizations and doesn't mean no Chinese person acts this way ever):
- John attributing Bao's touchy-feeliness to Chinese culture: I wouldn't say Chinese people are touchy-feely. Maybe towards relatives, but not towards people in general. Rather, it's more like Chinese people don't have the same concept of personal space that people from Western cultures do; however, there's a difference between "invading someone's personal space" vs. "frequently touching/hugging people." The former is true of Chinese culture, but not the latter.
- Bao's respect for John's privacy in not asking about his facial scar: To be fair, Bao could just be a very considerate guy as opposed to it being a cultural thing, but generally, Chinese culture doesn't have the same notions of privacy as Western cultures. Like, in China, it's considered not really personal to ask someone you've just met how much money they make at their job. Given that, I thought it might've been a stretch for Bao to know that asking about John's scar was clearly a private question.
- Bao's & his fellow Chinese acrobats' attitudes towards him being gay and having feelings for John: So my knowledge is limited here by the fact that attitudes might be changing among young (?) Chinese people in recent years (my dad's no help here since he grew up during a conservative time period), but I have a hard time believing that a gay Chinese man who grew up in mainland China would be so open about kissing John, or talking about having sex with John, and that his fellow acrobats would egg him on/tease him about it. Maybe the book just didn't want to go into homophobia (though it didn't exactly shy away from writing about John being disfigured by a homophobic hate crime). I'm not sure.
