I read this book because I loved the movie. The book actually contains three unrelated stories, the first of which was the basis for the movie. All three fit into a total of under 300 pages, so the movie must have been relatively loosely based on the book.

I did not like this book. I kept going through the first, familiar story, even though I didn’t think it worked as well as the movie. But I gave up in the middle of the second one: it was dull, ugly and depressing.

The title story is about a girl who becomes the fourth wife of a rich man, and her relationship with the other three wives. Scheming, adultery, cruelty, jockeying for position and manipulation. It ends, as Chinese stories often seem to do, in tragedy.

The second story, “Nineteen Thirty-Four Escapes” is about the wife (again) of a peasant who’s moved to town and left her behind to take care of the children and their plot of land. It’s all about poverty, tiredness, struggle and cruelty. Perhaps this is for ideological reasons (it’s a book about pre-Communist times written during the Communist times, after all) but whatever the reason, I want no more of it. I also found it confusing – Chinese literary conventions being different from Western ones – but I could have lived with that if it hadn’t been for the unpleasantness of it all.

The third story I can’t say anything about because I never read it.

Amazon US, Amazon UK, Adlibris.

Until just a few days ago, I didn’t feel particularly pregnant – apart from not fitting into my normal clothes. I didn’t look particularly pregnant, either: as long as I was wearing a jacket or sweater, you look right at me and not notice anything. And even when I was wearing a normal dress, you’d have to pay attention to notice the bump.

Now suddenly the bump has started growing and become more visible. And at the same time it’s making itself noticed in daily life. It’s beginning to get in my way when I clip my toenails. And it’s taking up internal space, so there’s less room for food in my stomach. After a normal-sized meal it feels like I’ve overeaten and I’ve got food up to my throat.

Today I had my second appointment with the midwife. I chose her for one reason only: she does planned home births, and that’s a rare thing in this country. Luckily she’s turned out to be a good fit otherwise, too. She’s relaxed and down to earth. “Any idea how much you might weigh now? No? OK, not to worry, it’s not that important. How are you feeling? Any complaints or discomforts? No? Well, in that case, since your blood pressure is looking good, we won’t bother with a urine sample, unless you want to. See you again in a month.”

Two middle-aged people – William and Neaera – both lead lonely, quietly miserable lives. They both happen to visit the aquarium at London Zoo, and feel sorry for the sea turtles there. They keep visiting the turtles and, independently of each other, discreetly ask the head keeper how one would go about kidnapping and freeing the turtles. Somehow, without really ever deciding, they decide to rescue and free the turtles together.

You might perhaps expect this to end in romance of some sort, but Hoban is better than that. The two are so used to being lonely that they’re bothered by each other’s company. Neither does their adventure change their lives. The world doesn’t even notice; there are no news stories and no police investigations. But their little project does give each one a tiny little kick, launching them on what might become a new path in their lives.

The tone of the book very much reflects the lives of the two people. It is quiet and melancholy, through and through.

I have mixed feelings about the book. On the one hand, it is delicately written, and the two lives really come to life. But at the same time I couldn’t help finding these lonely lives depressing and dull. I didn’t exactly find it riveting, but I enjoyed reading it, yet I’m not sure I’d want to re-read it.

Amazon US, Amazon UK, Adlibris.

We will hopefully have home-grown tomatoes this year. (That’s assuming the rest of the experiment turns out as successful as the first week.)

… I submitted my Swedish tax declaration by phone, entering two numeric codes from the declaration form to confirm that I agreed with their pre-printed numbers. Turns out I have underpaid by 1740 SEK while Eric has overpaid by 1790.

… I searched the web for maternity swimwear and found nothing I would want to wear. Which came as no surprise whatsoever, since I had difficulties finding normal non-maternity swimwear to suit my taste, and of course the maternity selection is much narrower.

… I made myself a kogel-mogel for the first time in years.