REVIEW: Silk and Sensibility by Megnxi Seeley
A charming retelling of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility set in Ming-dynasty China.
Two sisters with conflicting attitudes on passion and restraint must each choose between the traditions that bind their hearts and pursuing the love that could save them.
Nineteen-year-old Ailin is torn between duty and desire. Following her father’s death, her family must rely on the wealthy Jiang clan for financial survival. Though Ailin knows she must marry strategically to help her family, her heart has already been captured by the poor but gentle scholar Enze. When his family opposes their union, Ailin knows she must hide her feelings from everyone until she can strengthen her dowry and stand on her own terms.
Meilin encourages her older sister to fight for her personal desires, but Meilin’s romantic ideals conflict with Ailin’s devotion to duty. Meilin believes in being honest about one’s feelings regardless of what others may think, and she unabashedly pursues a charming playwright while also clashing with a frustratingly handsome but gruff army captain.
Each sister would do anything to help the other find happiness, but their assumptions about restraint and passion are as different as earth and sky. Ailin feels honor bound to her family yet is unable to deny her love for Enze, even as circumstances push them further apart, while Meilin grapples with unexpected feelings for Captain Bai and societal restrictions that leave little room for her own hopes.
Silk and Sensibility explores the delicate cultural expectations of womanhood in historical China by following two sisters who must learn to balance loyalty and longing, courage and constraint, to claim their own happiness.
Dear Ms. Seeley,
Earlier this year I read a historical Korean take on “Pride and Prejudice.” Maybe there will be a Japanese or Vietnamese version of “Emma” to come? Anyway, here we have a Ming era “Sense and Sensibility” and I found it delightful yet also true to the novel and the time period which I can tell is no easy feat. Yes, some small differences are there but overall, the adaptation to historical China is well done.
Getting a new “take” on a famous novel is hard work but this one manages it beautifully. As I read it, I mentally said “Oh, she’s “this character” or he’s “that person” and then watched to see how well they would tally with the original. But after a while, I was more interested in how well these characters would fit into Ming era China. For funsies, look up the meanings of the Chinese names.
The bones of the story are the same, but a few tweaks such as having the Duan sisters and their mother leave the Duan family home due to their insufferable daughter/sister-in-law Fan Fulan and move to the wealthy merchant household into which Mama’s brother had married added a lot of interesting aspects to the book. I’d never heard of matrilocal marriages, in which the man moves in with his in-laws rather than his wife moving into his family home, and I must say the Jiang family household is funny yet also welcoming.
Grandmother Jiang is a hoot. The Jiangs are also merchants and although rich, they can not claim to be from a scholarly family – something which conveys status even if the family, like Fan Enze’s, is actually poor. As Mama reminds her daughters, they’ve been taken in by the Jiangs and need to show respect even if Grandmother Jiang teases them a bit and pokes her matchmaking nose into their business.
Grandmother Jiang and her daughter run this household and the family business very efficiently and I loved seeing women not only in charge but also respected. They think highly of Mama’s brother who has slotted into the business and helped them increase profits even more. Double points for him that he loves his wife and married her despite her smallpox scars. I wish we could have seen a bit more of their children but understand that the plot was already packed.
Back to Ailin, Meilin, and Mingming who are true to the Dashwood sisters. Ailin is the traditional one who also has bound feet which I took as one more clue as to how she views life, the family, and honor. When it came time to start binding her feet, Meilin rebelled as did Mingming. At times Meilin, who is a skilled zither player, is conscious of how large her (normal) feet are but given her exuberant personality, she doesn’t think of them often. Mingming, who seems to enjoy studies and learning, has a bit of sass in her and doesn’t skimp on her sarcasm. One major difference here is that Meilin knows all along about Ailin’s heartbreak which minimizes a bit the impact of her realization of her own selfishness.
As in the original story, the focus is on the Duan sisters rather than their beaux but Fan Enze the poor scholar trying to get ready to sit for the scholarly exams which by passing would elevate him in society, gruff Bai Yun who is a captain in the army with something in his background that doesn’t bother the Jiangs but does offend Meilin, and slick as snot Wei Luobi who smiles too much and promises too little are important parts of the book. As Fan Enze is on-page less, there are excerpts from unsent letters that he writes to Ailin at the start of each chapter so we can follow what he’s thinking.
Drama unfolds, roadblocks to happiness appear, and I eagerly watched to see how scenes and characters from the original would be transposed into Ming era China. Everything is thoughtfully done and makes sense not only in the plot but historically. I cringed at bit at Meilin’s emotional thoughtlessness; I laughed at Mingming’s “saying it like it is”; I enjoyed the fact that Mama actually has a bit more gumption and ability to add to the family purse; and sighed at Ailin, who also has more agency, suppressing her emotions to keep things on an even keel and maintain the family honor. Of course we know which suitors are going to marry the Duan sisters but the roller coaster ride wrings out the reader’s emotions before final understanding and happiness. This is a solid reimagining of the original and I’m glad I read it. A-
~Jayne
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@Jayne, I remember noting about reading Sense and Sensibility except the title, and I think that I will enjoy reading this book. Thank you for the review.
@LML: I hope you enjoy it. Seeley was very faithful to the original while still making it a Ming era story.