Like Spilled Water by Jennie Liu is an interesting peek into the world of Chinese culture through the eyes of 19-year-old Na, a young girl studying at a modest trade school while her younger brother studies for the Chinese National Higher Education Entrance Exam that will catapult him onto the path toward University, and a prestigious future that will allow him to provide for his parents.

But Na’s life changes when a death in the family shuttles her back home, and into the role of becoming her parents’ new provider. Sacrificing her education for the sake of her family, and willing to marry a childhood friend in order to carry on the family line, Na starts to question her role in life, and wonder why death should have visited her family in the first place.

When a dark secret emerges, Na must face a choice: should she continue being the dutiful daughter and save her parents from destitution? or should she follow her heart, and make a future for herself?

This was a book outside of normal for me to read, so I don’t really have anything to compare it to. Overall, I really enjoyed it. The writing style was strong, and I did like the view into Chinese culture and the Chinese way of life. (It made me very grateful to live in America, where we take so many freedoms for granted).

There was an unexpected element near the end which I didn’t care for, but this was an interesting book, very thought-provoking, and tightly written. 

This book was sent to Compass Book Ratings for review by Carolrhoda Books

Content Analysis:

Profanity/Language: 1 mild obscenity; 1 derogatory name; 1 scatological word; 2 F-word derivatives. 

Violence/Gore:  Report of a character’s family member being dead; a character appears to have self-harm issues; a man has a manic episode; a character is reported to have committed suicide; a character has jealous feelings about a family member; characters retrieve the ashes of a deceased family member; a character watches a video of a student killing himself after failing a high-intensity test; a character flies into a rage; a character tussles with a drunken character and gets scratched while the drunken character vomits; a character looks up characteristics for suicide and depression; characters frequently think/talk about another character’s suicide; characters plan to bury a family member’s ashes; while two characters fight, one character accuses the other of killing someone, and the second character confesses to the accusation; characters discuss the cover-up of a death.

Sex/Nudity:  A woman is pregnant; characters talk about dating; a character finds drawings of a girl; characters walk through a “marriage market” which is lined with stat sheets for matchmaking; a girl texts her boyfriend some of the pictures from the marriage market; a girl is told she’ll soon find a boyfriend and get married; a boy hugs a girl; a boy proposes to a girl and they kiss; characters occasionally talk about a marriage proposal; a girl has feelings of jealousy; a character is sent an inappropriate, passionate text; characters kiss passionately; characters occasionally discuss a wedding; a woman finds out about her daughter’s marriage proposal; characters haggle over a bride price; a girl wonders why there has been no intimacy between herself and her betrothed; a character thinks about marriage and having babies; a boy and a girl hold hands; a girl interrupts two boys alone in a bedroom (not overly sexual); a girl has disagreeable thoughts about two boys having sex (not overly sexual); a gay character talks to a girl about the two of them having a marriage of convenience and divorcing after having a baby; a character talks about his sexual orientation (not overly sexual).

Mature Subject Matter:

Suicide; gender/sex identity issues; homosexuality; socioeconomic conflicts; death of a family member; death of a child; unemployment; mental disorder; physical, verbal, and emotional child abuse; homicide; addiction; debt; marital strife; abandonment of family members; challenging societal norms.

Alcohol / Drug Use:

Mention of a character taking liquor shots; a man is hungover; a character is an alcoholic; a room is full of empty liquor bottles and smells of ash; a woman sedates a manic man with baijiu liquor; a man smokes a cigarette; a man incessantly drinks; cigarette butts are scattered over a floor; a man drinks himself to sleep; a character sips from a bottle of tea and liquor; a character is almost chronically drunk; a man staggers drunkenly through a street; a man snatches up a bottle of baijiu; a character steps outside to smoke; a girl asks about a character’s drinking problem; a man smells of alcohol; a character gets drunk and strikes out at other characters.