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Under Fishbone Clouds

3.53 of 5 stars 3.53 · rating details · 258 ratings · 92 reviews

Under Fishbone Clouds is a universal love story, a family saga, and a journey through Chinese history, myth, and culture. Following a young Chinese couple as their love grows, and is tested, during Mao's Cultural Revolution, this elegant debut novel provides a rare and personal glimpse into the birth modern China.

When the Kitchen God is challenged by the Jade Emperor to f...more

Hardcover, 416 pages

Published December 7th 2010 by Thomas Dunne Books

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May 17, 2013 Chrissie rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: china, hf, text-checked, alt, not-finished, disliked, magic

I have to dump this book. It is just too disgusting. There is a jam jar of warm pig fat. A thief would be given a job in the restaurant if he would drink the whole bottle down. "Grey lumps floated like jelly in the thick, slimy liquid." Page 90. Only after the chef and all the other workers have spit into that jar, is it ready for the new employee to swallow it down.....
R-E-V-O-L-T-I-N-G!

I don't find pleasure in reading this.

The story switches between the magical life of the "Kitchen God" and...more

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Apr 04, 2011 Laurie rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This novel of life and love plays out against the backdrop of recent Chinese history, from the Japanese occupation of the 1940s to the 21st century. The Jade Emperor- the head of the Chinese pantheon- has made a wager with the Kitchen God that the Kitchen God cannot fathom the workings of a single human heart. For his study, the Kitchen God has chosen Bian Yuying and Hou Jinyi, who as teens are wed in an arranged marriage- the standard of the time in that place. Yuying’s rich father, who has thr...more This novel of life and love plays out against the backdrop of recent Chinese history, from the Japanese occupation of the 1940s to the 21st century. The Jade Emperor- the head of the Chinese pantheon- has made a wager with the Kitchen God that the Kitchen God cannot fathom the workings of a single human heart. For his study, the Kitchen God has chosen Bian Yuying and Hou Jinyi, who as teens are wed in an arranged marriage- the standard of the time in that place. Yuying’s rich father, who has three daughters but no son, brings the orphaned, penniless, illiterate peasant Jinyi into the family because he has agreed to take the Bian family name, thus continuing the family line.

Despite the vast difference in their upbringing, Yuying and Jinyi come to love each other. They have a baby boy, which brings them great joy. But times are changing, and Jinyi fears that life in the city won’t be safe much longer. He also wants to take his wife and son back to where he grew up, so he can raise his new family there. Taking his birth name back, he leads them on a walk halfway across China to the subsistence farm he grew up on, owned by his aunt and uncle. Partway there, their beloved son dies, and they must bury him along the road in an unmarked grave, where they will not be able to visit him.

Life on the farm is hard, with endless labor and little to eat- yams and not much else. The aunt and abusive uncle disdain them. Another baby is stillborn. Yuying, who grew up with servants, ends up working even longer than the others to earn money to send a letter home: the price of a postage stamp takes months to earn.

The harsh life never ends for Jinyi and Yuying. This is the time of the civil war, the take over by the Communists, the Cultural Revolution. From the late 1940s until the millennium, there is never enough to eat. Jinyi is beaten. They work long hard shifts at their regular jobs, and then join in at the community forge making worthless pig iron. Yuying, as the daughter of a rich man, is of the oppressor class and despised. Yuying and Jinyi are both sent to re-education camps for years, leaving their four small children in the care of Yuying’s foot-bound mother. The Chinese people of that time underwent more change and hardship-psychological as well as physical- than almost any other people have. But life goes on and love and hope never die. It’s the one thing Jinyi and Yuying can cling to, can count on as unchanging.

This is Meekings debut novel, but it doesn’t read like one. It doesn’t have that thinness that so many first novels do. The characters and the setting are well filled in. You can feel the desperation and the constant fear. You wonder how these people can go on. I very much recommend this book.
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Nov 19, 2010 crystalibrary rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I really enjoyed this book- I've read a lot of books about the Cultural Revolution, but this one gave me a real insight into what the people went through- it gave me a sense of the hardship and tolerance for the bone crushing inhumanities that went with the 'Great Leap Forward' It gave me a greater understanding for Chinese culture, and the Chinese psyche. It made me understand reasons for why Chinese people behave now, because it's like any group of people who have experienced heinous abhorrenc...more

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Mar 29, 2011 Sue rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Such an ambitious subject for a debut novel - but how exquisitely Sam Meekings carries it off. The story of a young couple in an arranged marriage in the 1940s, which follows them through to the new Millennium. Added to which we have the legend, myth and good old-fashioned tall story telling from the Kitchen god between the chapters.

Beautiful, elegant prose conveys the stark harshness and brutality of Chairman Mao's Cultural Revolution. I had never really realised here in the West just what was...more

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Feb 26, 2011 switterbug (Betsey) rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

It is almost unimaginable that Sam Meekings is a young, debut author. His innate, shimmering talent is steady and captivating throughout the novel, the characters are riveting, and the story itself is painfully soulful. With as much history as he conveyed in this story, you would think that at times, it would be flawed with a "researched" tone. But, no. He threaded the history, story, and characters together with magical stitches, and he laced it with myth and folktales that enhanced the story w...more It is almost unimaginable that Sam Meekings is a young, debut author. His innate, shimmering talent is steady and captivating throughout the novel, the characters are riveting, and the story itself is painfully soulful. With as much history as he conveyed in this story, you would think that at times, it would be flawed with a "researched" tone. But, no. He threaded the history, story, and characters together with magical stitches, and he laced it with myth and folktales that enhanced the story with awe and beauty.

The narrator is the Kitchen God. He made a bet with the Jade Emperor that he can divine the workings of the human heart. Each chapter is entitled with a symbol of the Chinese zodiac and is prefaced with a conversation between the two, and each conversation is like an ancient proverb that underscores the story.

The main characters are Yuying and Jinyi, and this book is their love story. When I think of them, I think of the love between Dr. Zhivago and Lara. I know that the latter are western, and it is a different story altogether, but this love is epic and enduring like that. It is the story of love under the most atrocious conditions, a love that threatens to collapse at times, but the human heart prevails over history, torture, and political oppression. How? That is what the Kitchen God is there to mine.

As their love story begins, the Japanese invasion is ending. The narrator refers to this second Sino-Japanese War as a time in history when the Chinese took a time out from their many civil wars in order to band together to resist the Japanese. It is no wonder that communism controlled the country in the subsequent era, a kind of recoil from Japanese imperialism.

Yuying is from a wealthy family with servants and would have lived in even more luxury if it weren't for her father's bad habits. Yuying's father is a shameless boor who has his own agenda for forcing Yuying to marry Jinyi, a lowly kitchen employee at one of his restaurants. But Jinyi is a tough and virtuous man, despite the fact that his introduction to his employment was stealing a morsel of food to abate hunger.

A year or so after they are married, Junjyi wants to take Yuying back to his home, the place where he grew up but was mistreated by his aunt and uncle. This journey was long, arduous, and the beginning of their hardship. Later, The Gang of Four come to power with the Cultural Revolution--a decade of turbulence, chaos, and propaganda so deep that even children were turning their parents in for seditious behavior, and people were frightened of saying anything that would be considered a dissent from the communist doctrine of Mao Zedong. The effect of Mao's brand of communism on Yuying and Jinyi was paramount to the struggles of their relationship, and even created an inner dialectic that often muddled their own inner truths and core beliefs.

"Have you ever dreamed of being invisible? It is easy, Jinyi thought. Turn your eyes to the ground while others are speaking. Be thin in a land of skeletons; be hungry around a man and his meal. Be hunched around the straight backs of men with medals and insignia; be dry among the drunk. Be a country boy in the crowded streets of the city...it is the unseen masses who knot the country together, the busy atoms rushing unseen between slow bodies."

Starvation, devastation, violence, oppression, and death are the cruel enemies of their marriage, a time so deeply tested that the act of survival would seem to eclipse love. But perseverance through suffering and forbearance through agony are the qualities of this couple that beguile the beguiling Kitchen God, and further entice the reader.

The author defines a sense of place, of culture, and of food, even the absence of food, within a seamless and lyrical narrative that induces an almost dreamlike state of mind when reading. The prose is aphoristic and poetic, and the pacing is flawless. This is a novel that appeals on many levels--aesthetic, historical, and political, and much more. Meekings has achieved the luminous art of storytelling.
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Jul 07, 2012 Roy Elmer rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: historical, spiritual-myth, contemporary-literature

This is an odd one. I'm just not sure what to make of this book. I'll start from the beginning, that seems to work.

First of all, 'Under Fishbone Clouds' feels like what it is: a debut novel. There are flashes of brilliance in here and moments of lyrical prose that were genuinely very impressive. I'm a sucker for such things, and I found that it drew me in.

Secondly, the narrative was disjointed. The story wasn't segmented in such a way that it didn't make sense, it was easy to follow, but it felt...more

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Oct 13, 2010 Jill rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: all-time-favorites

If this book doesn’t attain the high readership it deserves, there is no justice. It’s quite simply one of the most lavishly imagined, masterfully researched, exquisitely written contemporary novels I’ve read. And if that sounds as if I’m gushing…well, it’s probably because I am.

Under Fishbone Clouds is written by debut author Sam Meekings, who grew up near the south coast of England and currently resides in China. It is absolutely remarkable that the author is under 30; the book if full of grav...more If this book doesn’t attain the high readership it deserves, there is no justice. It’s quite simply one of the most lavishly imagined, masterfully researched, exquisitely written contemporary novels I’ve read. And if that sounds as if I’m gushing…well, it’s probably because I am.

Under Fishbone Clouds is written by debut author Sam Meekings, who grew up near the south coast of England and currently resides in China. It is absolutely remarkable that the author is under 30; the book if full of gravitas and maturity that is normally the result of decades of living and writing. Interwoven seamlessly within this mesmerizing narrative is Chinese folklore and myths – absorbingly told – in addition to insights into Chinese distant and recent past history.

This novel is narrated by the Kitchen God, a common household deity who is challenged by the more powerful Jade Emperor to fathom the inner workings of the human heart. He chooses to follow a couple who, like him and his own mythical wife, were caught in the whirlwind of history: Jinyi and his wife Yuying. The tale begins in 1942 when the two fall in love, in spite of their different backgrounds and their arranged marriage, and continues to their doddering old age as the new millennium takes hold.

At the onset, Yuying follows her husband across war-torn China to her husband’s rustic and impoverished home. Bad times ensue, and when they eventually make their way back to the city, the Cultural Revolution has begun; everything now belongs to the state and all social strata are forced to undergo hard labor in the factories and the fields.

Although the Mao Cultural Revolution years have been well documented, Under Fishbone Clouds takes you up close and personal to these dehumanizing times; it is a rare reader who will not wince at the no-holds-barred look at a country whose rigid ideology trumps personal relationships and freedoms. Business owners, entrepreneurs, artists, teachers, intellectuals – all are labeled “bourgeois” and re-educated in the harshest possible ways. In a particularly harrowing scene, a man has a heart attack and is ordered to “crawl” to comfort and stop being a slacker. The depths to which Jinyi and Yuying are forced to descend to – separately, without each other’s comfort – is heartbreaking.

Yuying reflects, “Life isn’t meant for perfect things. I knew it when we were told to put making steel above common sense; I knew it when we were told to starve patriotically because the noble peasants had been huddling around homemade furnaces instead of growing food in the fields; I knew it when the whole country began to rise up to cut down the past. I felt in the pit of my stomach all the time; I just never knew what it was until now.”

Yet despite the intensity of the Cultural Revolution years, Under Fishbone Clouds is not a book about tragedy; at its heart (and a big heart it is), it’s a family saga about the universal and enduring power of love. There is sheer magic and lyricism in the love that Jinyi and Yuying share as they navigate answers that are often impenetrable.

And, Meekings suggests, by love we are transfigured. Jinyi realizes toward the end of his life: “Love also changes shape. It is no longer slim, lithe, nervous and sweaty palmed. It was no longer sleepless, heavy, a stone weighing deep within the chest. It was now warm, slow, soft, a tarry old blanket huddled under in the dark. It was the last embers of a promise made decades before, still glowing red though the flames had petered down.”

Using Jinyi as a catalyst, the Kitchen God comes to the realization that people don’t just carry on with their lives because they must; the secret of life is love, atonement, and retribution. He puzzles out the human heart as he follows this couple through all kinds of trials: deep anguish, death of children, famine and forced labor, class warfare, drastic social and culture changes, isolation and homelessness, the loss of dignity and health.

This is one of those rare books that I would confidently recommend to anybody: those with an interest in the history of the East, those who are enthralled with mythology and folklore, those who hold out for the best of prose, and those who are simply seeking an old-fashioned story where love prevails. I predict an amazing future for this very talented author.

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Apr 30, 2011 Greta rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

I stumbled upon this book at a secondhand shop and because I enjoy stories about China and the Chinese, it appealed to me. At first I thought this first-time author was trying a bit too hard to write an eloquent epic love story. There was something a bit stilted and Writing 101-ish about it. But the story itself was engaging so I plodded on. As it turned out, I did enjoy the book. And the author's writing style improved as he went along. The story is about a couple who have an arranged marriage...more

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Oct 31, 2012 Susan rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

In 1946 a marriage is arranged between Jinyi and Yuying. Although he is her social inferior, he is an acceptable son-in-law because he is willing to give up his name and become a son to Jinyi’s family. The Chinese are looking forward to normality after the frightful Japanese occupation. But what follows is civil war, famine,hardship, illness and separation. At first, the bond between Jinyi and Yuying seems tenuous. However, over the years it becomes clear that something extraordinarily strong ti...more

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Nov 07, 2010 Jan rated it 4 of 5 stars

The book began with a fairy tale and I thought it was to be a very different story than the story it turned into. The fairy story about the kitchen god and the emperor really dragged me into the story. Maybe it was the simplistic way it was written. The stark contrast between this mythical story-line and the real story is dramatic and memorable.

Sam Meekings uses the device to refer back to the old China whilst balancing romance and realism. I found this effective as was the way the story was str...more

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Oct 18, 2012 Kris rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction

This book was good but it seemed to get away from the author. I found that I lost interest towards the end of the book...it just went on and on and on. I did find the characters compelling and I always enjoy reading about the Chinese culture. This story is told by the Kitchen God who is challenged by the Jade emperor to learn how the human heart works. He chooses to follow the life of Jinyi and his wife Yuying, from their blossoming love until their old age, in hope of finding an answer. You see...more

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Jan 13, 2011 Paula rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book began very slowly for me. I was not impressed with the overly florid prose or the strained attempt to mix myth with narrative. The insertions of historical notes were awkward and sometimes baffling - almost as if the author wanted to write a nonfiction book about early 20th century China, but felt compelled to continue with his fictional story. In the end, it was a worthwhile read, but nowhere near as compelling as Wild Swans. Meekings certainly has potential to become a solid writer,...more

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Apr 11, 2012 Benita rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I started the book once and then had to abandon it temporarily when life got crazy and I realized that it wasn't a book that I could read in short snatches--I had to devote longer stretches of time to it to keep track of the characters. I loved the love and loyalty of the two main characters as they lived through tumultuous times together. If I hadn't studied history and been a little familiar with the events in China during that time, I wouldn't have believed the events of the story were possib...more

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Nov 07, 2010 CeeAnne rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, china

Last night I finished Under Fishbone Clouds, and I still don't know how to express how much I loved this book. The story is told by the Kitchen God, Zao Jun, who is challenged by the Jade Emperor to find out what drives the human heart. He follows the lives of Yuying and Jinyi from 1942 until 2000 as they meet through an unconventional arranged marriage prior to the Communist take over and survive the years of Chairman Mao's Cultural Revolution. The Kitchen God also briefly tells his story as a...more

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Mar 12, 2012 Charlotte rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: deeper-read, historical-and-political, recent-fiction

When the kitchen god makes a bet with the Jade Emperor that he can understand the human heart, he must follow a couple through their life together. Set in China from the end of WWII through recent times, this story tells a love story through marriage, the civil war, the cultural revolution, death and children.

In between are Chinese tales of love and wisdom.

I always feel like romances end right when the true love story begins. This story begins at marriage and follows love through good and bad t...more

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Mar 02, 2012 Carole rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Finally read a Readers' Choice book from the library that was really good! Not only did the author craft a concise modern history of China(Great Leap Forward, Cultural Revolution, etc.), but he did so with language reminiscent of Chinese poetry. I've read many books on China, both fiction and non-fiction, and this one comes near the top of the list.

Loved the description of pollution: "...that had reduced the sky to a cataract."

Descriptions of aging: "It's when you're stuck halfway between gettin...more

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Jul 04, 2011 Shirley rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Under Fishbone Clouds celebrates the survival of a culture and the grit and tenacity of the Chinese people. Meekings has captured the ageless wisdom of a people through a history once destined for extinction.

Sam Meekings demonstrates an extensive knowledge of the Chinese in the period between the year of the horse in 1942 and the year of the dragon in 2000. His writing style is exemplary and his words never fail to create distinct images. He captures the reader from the first pages of the novel...more

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Feb 26, 2011 Mary rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This was a beautiful story, and exquisitely told. It is the story of Jinye and Yuying, who were married by arrangement during the Japanese occupation of China during the second world war - he an illiterate cook in one of her family's dumpling restaurants, but willing to take her name so that the family name would be preserved in a family with only girls ,and she well-educated and interested in continuing her education. Despite their differences they are much in love, throughout tumultuous years,...more

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Apr 06, 2011 Nicolette added it · review of another edition

Under Fishbone Clouds
By Sam Meekings
(Polygon)

WELL-KNOWN American author Amy Tan has written the blurb for the front cover of Sam Meekings’ debut book.
Tan says Under Fishbone Clouds is: “A powerful and mesmerising novel, both mythic and intimate ... a great accomplishment of imagination, insight and lyricism.”
This beautiful love story is set in China during World War 2 and is about the love between Yuying and her husband, Jinyi.
If you love Chinese history, myth and culture then you will enjoy th...more

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Dec 24, 2012 Samash rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is one of those books that you have to keep reading to eventually get to a more stable story, the first quarter is so bitty with shorter stories about myths etc... but once you get in to the story of Jinyi and Yuying it is mostly about them with chapters in between for the Kitchen God and the Jade Emperor. By the end though I really wanted the story to end as even though the story line was interesting it just dragged it out each time.

This would have been a much nicer book if it just focuse...more

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May 08, 2013 Gemma Hall added it · review of another edition

The write-up on the back of the book sounded really good. I've read a few books set in china and really enjoyed them, so thought this would be good!

How wrong I was! I found the whole storyline really confusing. It switches back and forth between times, characters, viewpoints etc. it got to the point where I didn't know who not where I was!

I though I'd preserve, but really couldn't get into it at all. So, I reluctantly gave up before I got half-way through (I hate giving up on book!).

Maybe I'l...more

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May 05, 2013 Jackie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I won this book from SL County Library's reading challenge. Yay, me! (my luck at winning anything has now dwindled to nil for the next few years).
On with what I loved about this book:

1. A beautiful love story between Yuying and Jinyi.
2. The writing was amazing for a debut novel.
3. Learned some Chinese folklore, customs, and history, expertly tied into the storyline.
4. Characters were very rich and real. I felt for both Yuying and Jinyi, even when there purposes were opposite.

Loved this quote. A...more

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Jan 17, 2013 Elizabeth rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I downloaded this book onto my Kindle as it was on special offer, and I must admit at first I found it a little hard to get into, but as I carried on it really grew on me. I ended it feeling that it was quite an interesting and unusual book.

On the face of it, the story traces the life of a Chinese couple from the early twentieth century, through the 'cultural revolution' and into modern times, and I felt it really opened my eyes to a very different culture, one I know little about. The story is...more

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Mar 20, 2012 Kelsey rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: book-club-book

Compelling blend of love (but most definitely not romance), history, and mythology. How often do you find that combination? An amazing debut novel, and I look forward to reading more of Sam Meekings. This is a book I'd love to pick up again in 10, 20, 30 years and see how my perspective has changed. I have a feeling I'll get even more out of this book down the road.

*Language Alert: The F-word is used a handful of times (more than 3 or 4), which is a little strange because that is the only swear...more

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Apr 19, 2011 Scottsdale Public Library added it

Shelves: fiction, adult

The Jade Emperor challenges the Kitchen God to fathom the workings of the human heart. In his quest to find the answer the kitchen God shadows the lives of Jinyi and Yuying as their lives intersect with China’s tumultuous 20th century cultural and political upheavals. From youthful blossoming love to the ghosts and fleeting memories of old age, “Under Fishbone Clouds” is heartfelt and thoughtful. Not just a love story but also a story about love. A great read for fans of Amy Tan and Lisa See!
Amy...more

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May 22, 2011 Jill rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Marked as read - finally. I began this book in January and have just now finished it, 4 months later. I was drawn to Under Fishbone Clouds mainly because of the endorsement on the front by Amy Tan. Oh Amy, Amy, Amy. Did we read the same book?

A Chinese couple is followed throughout their relationship, beginning with their arranged marriage in the early 1940's, through the revolution of Mao, birth and death of children, loss of fortune, and ends in the early 2000's. It is somewhat loosely narrated...more

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Mar 17, 2012 Susanhayeshotmail.com rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Exquisite. Initially attracted by the unusual title, the lure of a debut novelist and the blurbs by Amy Tan and Alexander McCall Smith, two of my faves, it took me a while to really "get into" this novel. In fact I confess I was close to ditching it when other responsibilities and book club reading interrupted me for a week or so but I am so glad I went back and finished this utterly beautiful story.

Narrated by the Kitchen God, who has a bet going with the Jade Emperor regarding the workings of...more

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Nov 14, 2012 Marvin rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I have a feeling that this is a very fine novel, but it never really clicked with me, though I'm not sure why. It's yet another novel set over the course of the last half of the 20th century in China that makes the political intensely political. (There have been quite a few really good ones on this topic.) That's just the kind of book that I usually really like. Maybe that story line--characters who genuinely welcome the reforms that communism promises to bring to China but who are nonetheless b...more

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Apr 10, 2013 Tonya rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2013-reads

This story starts out slow, but stay with it! I promise it will be worth it in the end. You will say, I am so glad I stuck with it. Lots of interesting details in here. I really didn't know a lot about Japan taking over China, but this was so enlightening, I think Meekings has a knack for writing!

Yu Ying and Jinyi are our two main characters and their love is one of a kind. What really was interesting is this story is part historical narrative! If that doesn't get you excited, maybe it isn't for...more

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Jan 31, 2011 Tracy rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A simply fantastic book. There are endearing, believable characters to follow through a lifetime. But what really drew me into this novel was the blending in of Chinese mythology. It gave an understanding, depth and flavor to the book. Without the mythology, the book would still be very good historical fiction set in a very interesting historical period in a very interesting country. But with the myths and tales the novel rose to a higher level. Definitely a book I will read again in a year or t...more

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About Sam Meekings

Sam Meekings grew up near the south coast of England. He took an undergraduate degree in Modern History and English Literature at Mansfield College, Oxford University and, later, a Masters degree in Creative Writing at Edinburgh University. In 2005 he moved to China where he worked as a teacher and editor. He recently moved to Qatar with his wife and family to take up a post as Lecturer in poetry...more

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Quotes from Under Fishbone Clouds

“If it were possible to swap lives... the whole world would already have become an electric storm of flitting souls.” — 2 people liked it

“And if it does not seem possible to see between the myths, the heroes, the propaganda, the hindsight and the tall tales, then do not panic: this is the way the house of history is built, and you are already locked inside. The door has no key, and what you thought windows are simply finely drawn pictures, blurred from the touch of too many fingers.” — 1 person liked it

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