“The Chinese Groove” by Kathryn Ma is a funny and insightful novel, a satisfying immigration story told by an 18-year-old narrator, Zheng Xue Li, from Yunnan province, China. We can’t help but love the determined and steadfast young man even as we laugh and wince and worry about him.
Zheng Xue Li, nicknamed Shelley by his quirky English teacher, Miss Chips, speaks British-accented English and frequently references the idiosyncratic vocabulary she’s taught him. “Hoarfrost, she taught us, dewlaps, farting. Hugger-mugger, Bric-a-brac.”
He has decided he will be a poet in order to win the admiration and love of Miss Chips’ niece, Lisbet, from California, with whom he is practicing English. He is undeterred by the fact that Lisbet suddenly returns to the United States, as he, himself, has already planned to emigrate.
Shelley’s relentlessly optimistic voice and his impressions of the United Statesbump up against what we readers “know” and create a wonderful tension that keeps us turning the pages. Especially when he first arrives in the U.S., his observations are so fresh and funny, they set a humorously poignant tone and suggest that our hero will survive even the most harrowing aspects of his experience: “Cousin Deng told me that poets in America got fancy cars and special housing, revered as they were by their fellow citizens as keepers of the famous American freedoms. Thus my foolproof plan took shape.”
Shelley settles in San Francisco, in the Sunset District, “the Outerlands,” with an uncle and his wife who agree to house him for just two weeks. A series of adventures begins as he searches for “Family. Love. Fortune. Three Achievables. Three worthy goals,” Ma writes, amongst a cast of vibrant characters that include Ted, the uncle; Ted’s elderly estranged father; Ted’s Jewish wife, Aviva; their friends, Chinese American Kate and her Jewish wife, Orit, and their son, Leo; Lisbet; friends he makes at his jobs and school and their families and friends. Seen through Shelley’s eyes, each of these characters springs vividly from the pages, occasionally edging toward caricature, but never crossing the line: “Kate was Chinese. I forgot to earlier mention … I’m sorry if I confused you. Take all the time you need to make the necessary adjustment. … I didn’t neglect to tell you out of teasing or spite. When someone is telling me a story, I naturally assume the people in it are the same race as I am … ”
Ma plays brilliantly with stereotypes without stereotyping. She deftly handles a multitude of plot threads and conflicts among Shelley’s web of connections in the U.S. and China as he carries on, almost in spite of himself.
She is a master of voice. If you like “The Chinese Groove” but have missed Kathryn Ma’s previous books, you’ll want to read those too: “The Year She Left Us” and “AllThat Work and Still No Boys.”
“The Chinese Groove” is certainly a contender for the funniest book about survival that you’ll ever read.
The Chinese Groove
By Kathryn Ma
(Counterpoint Press; 304 pages; $27)
Booksmith presents Kathryn Ma in conversation with Bonnie Tsui:7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 24. Free. RSVP recommended. 1727 Haight St., S.F.www.booksmith.com
Mrs. Dalloway’s presents Kathryn Ma in conversation with Sylvia Brownrigg:下午7点星期四sday, Jan. 26. Free. Registration required. 2904 College Ave., Berkeley.www.mrsdalloways.com
Book Passage presents Kathryn Ma in conversation with Vanessa Hua:4 p.m. Feb. 5. Free.51 Tamal Vista Blvd., Corte Madera.www.bookpassage.com