It's not a conventional metaphysics novel. I thought it was due to the title, but it happened to be something different.
Summary: Su Nianxing passed through time, one moment she was a prosperous rich third generation and the next second she was washed on the shores of Hong Kong as illegal immigrant. In her previous life Su Nianxing actually had no high aspirations and spent her time in leisure, but now she has to fight for herself and her future, after all it's Hong Kong in the 90's when business is hard, prices are astronomical and you have to have ID and permits to work. She has none. When she was about to faint from exhaustion she was helped by an old lady who could understand Mandarin and fed Nianxing a bun and water, but during their contact Nianxing realized that she could see into person's fate and decided to follow this path.
Some may think it's metaphysics, but it's actually not. Nianxing is more like a medium who touches people's hands and can glimpse into people's fates, she can only take a peak at things the person seeking fate is most concerned about. But because she can't tell palmistry and faces, she has no idea who is bad or who is good before she touches the person (when it comes to common people you can't tell, because they are all neutral), this is the element of the unknown that the novel has that might intrigue the reader with "what is gonna be next?", so she may get involved with either good or bad people and because of it I find this novel very reactional and Nianxing herself is too involved into fireworks because of it. Another point of this novel is that it has a lot of crime going on, because it's not pure metaphysics, so Nianxing partially gets involved because her talent does not lie in protecting herself, feeling the aura/qi or anything like that, she does not know the consequences to her actions and fortune-telling. There is a lot of things going on and Hong Kong lives in gossip, so it's like a bustling market all day long. And Nianxing is actually not untouchable from it. What I mean is that unlike the novels I've read where protags are very impartial towards everything (after all for them things won't end up as easily and they will be involved in karma), Nianxing sometimes can also get quite judgemental. Maybe it exists to showcase that she will grow and realize that she can't be like others, but there was not enough emphasis on this idea in my opinion, so she can chew her tongue too sometimes. Maybe it's an attempt to portray someone who is closer to common people and does not act like an immortal, who knows. But sometimes she might act like she is angry with things that happen, at other times there are episodes that will undermine your opinion of her being a truly kind and caring person. E.g. in chapter 65 she is visited by an actress, as it turns out she has a stalker who lives in the same house one floor above, the actress was defnitely scared by these events and it might become a shadow for her, but you know what Nianxing laments when she leaves, she suddenly remembers she didn't take a photo together. I was baffled. I mean you know it's not time and place for asking for a photo when this actress is concerned for her safety.
Nianxing's portrayal is also specific, but I actually think her portrayal is kind of flat or not set in stone. One must say she is lucky, she indeed is lucky to have a golden finger that helped her to survive and she also admits that she was just a playgirl who did nothing and she was not cut out for studying and regretted for studying badly, but I don't think there is any potetial in her developing a true metaphysics talent like reading calligraphy or reading faces, although she studied it.. for some time, but it was not mentioned since. She also adapts to her situation, since she can only help 3 people a day. She is also lucky through twists and turns of fate to come out of predicaments when it came to her illegal status, so she solved it eventually and stayed in Hong Kong (there was no point for her leaving to the mainland, otherwise she had to start from scratch too). Because she didn't want to leave and also did not see herself being involved only in metaphysics (three clients a day makes it a limited income), she got involved into opening a small dining place, which also allowed visitors to take part in her fortune-telling. Either you are lucky to draw lottery or pay the price. If it wasn't for her reputation who would believe she can do it.
I've read only like 60 chapters and must say I have no idea where this novel will lead this character. The story so far consists of small episodes of people who come to see her, some we see later and see how their "fate" changes, others are just episodic visitors, but there is no "bigger picture" outside of these episodes, as I said it's been 60 chapters and nothing bigger happened yet, but who knows if it will, this novel is actually quite long (293+extra) and this is why I decided to write a short review right now, because I kinda float with it. This is why I say this novel seems reactional, as if today we write about this and the next day we mention this. She can tell fortunes, she has her own small business, sometimes gets involved with saving people, helping police etc. It's not a bad thing, I'm just stating facts in differencies between true metaphysics and her golden finger story.
Another thing might be mentioned is that you may have different reactions to those small episodes and people's fates, I'll be honest in first 60 chapters there wasn't a single story that would touch me, many are just average cheating stories etc. Maybe the one standing out was about a pregnant woman whose husband was going to poison her and she, allegedly, changed the glasses and he drank the poison instead. I think this was the longest to be mentioned so far. But we don't get a glimpse at emotional level or motivation of such actions. Maybe people will talk about it, but they only share an opinion or gossip, but there is no deep dive into the story emotionally, we are truly like spectators as if we are a part of the gossip crowd and can only make assumptions.
No rating, might come back to rate if I finish it.
[update]
I've read a bit further (up to ch80+) and actually switched to the ending, nothing new and mainly it was written like I expected it to be. Very episodic, short-form style of telling fortune. The true metaphysics were mentioned not for gimmicks, she mastered it for real, although still relying on her golden finger more. She also became super famous etc.
As for personal life, by the chapter 60 we get to know Captain Liang and see him a lot, but he is too faceless and was called old, so I thought I might be wrong, but there were too many jokes about their relationship. They indeed came together, but I won't bother to find out how they did it. Both he and FL were quite faceless to me, like no description on looks and who knew what they were feeling.
It didn't feel like I lost anything if I haven't finished it, it wasn't as exciting for me. Maybe others will like it.
Still not rating, because of skipping a big chunk of text.
No comments:
Post a Comment