After reading Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, it would appear I was on a China kick, interested in reading books set in China. Randomly browsing the shelves at the library this Tuesday White Ghost Girls caught my eye and when I found out it was set in China, I had to get it. I expected more Chinese culture, better writing, a more riveting story. What I got was an attempt at magical prose that fell short of its goal.I wouldn't recommend Greenway's novel to anyone. There really weren't any redeeming qualities about it. Her prose was too dependent on vapid lists of things like joss sticks, clove hair, lychees, rattan birdcages. The characters weren't real to me, and her over usage of the second person grated on my nerves. Her writing reminds me too much of my own style when I wrote memoir pieces for a class freshman year back at St. Lawrence. I expected immersion in the story but was instead forced to muck through overly showy verbs and adjectives, a writer struggling hard to be writerly. I hope when I write my first novel, it doesn't read like this.
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