White Horse

by Yan Ge, Nicky Harman (Translator)

This compact novella contains a gripping psychological tale, enlivened by wickedly sharp insights into contemporary small-town life in China. 

Yun Yun lives in a small West China town with her widowed father and an uncle, aunt, and older cousin who live nearby. One day, her once-secure world begins to fall apart. Through her eyes, we observe her cousin, Zhang Qing, keen to dive into the excitements of adolescence, but clashing with repressive parents. Ensuing tensions reveal that the relationships between the two families are founded on a terrible lie.

Genres: China, Fiction, Chinese Literature, Short Stories, School, Family, Literary Fiction

86 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Yan Ge (Chinese: 颜歌; born 1984) is the pen name of Chinese writer Dai Yuexing (戴月行).

Yan Ge was born Dai Yuexing in 1984 in Sichuan, China. She began publishing in 1994. She completed a PhD in comparative literature at Sichuan University and is the Chair of the China Young Writers Association. Her writing uses a lot of Sichuanese, rather than Standard Chinese (Mandarin).[1] People’s Literature (Renmin Wenxue 人民文学) magazine recently chose her – in a list reminiscent of The New Yorker's ‘20 under 40’ – as one of China's twenty future literary masters. In 2012 she was chosen as Best New Writer by the prestigious Chinese Literature Media Prize (华语文学传媒大奖 最佳新人奖).

Reviews

[Abigail · Rating 4 out of 5]

A brief young adult novella, translated from the Chinese, Yan Ge's White Horse chronicles a few years in the life of Yun Yun, a young girl whose family life begins to deteriorate, as she and her cousin Zhang Qing grow older. Episodic in nature, the narrative here skips from scene to scene, depicting key moments of change, from the ways in which Zhang Qing begins to draw away from Yun Yun, and to rebel, as she reaches adolescence, to the slowly building revelation that Yun Yun's widowed father and Zhang Qing's married mother have a more complicated relationship than either girl realized. It is at these key moments that Yun Yun sees a mysterious white horse, whose function - a harbinger of those changes? a talisman protecting Yun Yun against the worst harm those changes can bring? - is not always clear. The story ends as Yun Yun graduates from primary school at the top of her class, her family life terribly compromised...

At a brief eighty-four pages, White Horse is a quick read, and I finished it the other day during the course of a single train commute home. Mulling it over ever since, I've come to the conclusion that I don't entirely understand it, although I did find it engrossing and at times quite poignant. I'm not sure that I grasped the significance of the white horse in the story, although I learn toward the interpretation that it offered both warning and protection, as Yun Yun did seem to retain quite a bit of her innocence (or perhaps just distance?), despite the sordid events occurring around her. Of course, I also wondered whether the horse was related to her father, since one of his chess moves, at the beginning of the story, involved "white horse bright hooves." I found some of the revelations toward the close of the book somewhat confusing as well. Apparently Yun Yun's father and Zhang Qing's mother had been pretending to be siblings, for the benefit of Zhang Qing's father, even though the whole town knew otherwise, and had previously had a romantic relationship. I wasn't sure if the implication of this was that Zhang Qing was Yun Yun's sister, or what to make of the identity of Yun Yun's mother. Her statement to her classmate, at the close of the book, that she was the child of a white horse, just added more confusion.

This was definitely worth reading, if for nothing else than the Chinese take on the classic theme of growing up, but I think it is also worth reading for the storytelling, despite the confusion I felt. Some of the scenes - especially the ones in which Auntie is being abusive to Zhang Qing - are very well done, and really made me cringe in sympathy. Recommended to anyone looking for coming of age stories, or for young adult novels set in China.

[Deborah · Rating 1 out of 5]

The story line to this book was hard to follow and I never really understood the symbolism of the White horse. Also, note there is a lot of language and some minor sensuality in the book. I would not consider it appropriate for younger children.

[Liwen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yan Ge knows how to write a novel. She's a genius.

[Helen Wang · Rating 5 out of 5]

When two girls – cousins and best friends - reach adolescence, they feel the difference in age between them. As their relationship shifts, the dynamics of their parents’ relationships also change, revealing devastating secrets of the past and the present. The story is narrated by Yun Yun, the younger girl, who manages to keep her head in her small world of home and school, but how much does she really understand? And does it affect her more than she lets on?

This is probably the first piece of Chinese YA fiction to be translated into English. There is plenty of YA fiction in China, especially online, but much of it is transient. Congratulations to Hoperoad PUblishing for selecting this YA story by a very perceptive young author and a prizewinning translator.

[Edward Rathke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kind of a cute and depressing coming of age story about family. It's a realist thing where the focus is on the miscommunication of family, the gulfs between them, the love they share without knowing, without saying, and how we learn to be ourselves.

It's okay. It might even be something you love. Probably my hopes were too high, but this was just okay, I thought. Still, it's worth a read. It only takes about half an hour.

[J. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Maybe I missed something due to cultural differences, but the white horse "apparitions" never made any sense to me and I feel like I was just expected to understand what it meant/symbolized, yet here I am still very confused after having finished this novella.
I also don't think the revelations make sense either, as how everything is connected, what any of it means, or why I am ultimately expected to care about the story and its characters simply remain far too inscrutable and confusing for most readers, leaving far too much in the murk of the unsaid and misunderstood.
Ultimately I do not think this work is successful and I have a hard time figuring out who it's ultimately for, as it is too juvenile for mature readers, but much too disturbing and thematically inappropriate for younger ones. A weird piece of fiction that just did not feel very accomplished at all.

[Charlotte · Rating 4 out of 5]

This little book was such a treat. It only took about an hour to read and had such gorgeously simple illustrations by James Nunn. It is a tale of the coming of age of a young girl, Yun Yun, in a small town in China. During important parts of her youth like her first real conversation about love, being left behind (figuratively and literally) by her older cousin Qing, and preparing for her big exams she sees a mysterious white horse. At different times it intrigues her, frightens her, and emboldens her. There is so much packed into this little book especially the family secret that unravels everything.

[Manoshi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book. I was really invested in the characters and found them interesting but they just weren’t developed enough. The plot wasn’t developed either I wish the author dedicated more pages to this book because it really would’ve benefited from it. I didn’t get the significance of the white horse? There was no backstory and it just kept on appearing randomly and made the story more weird. I liked the cousin dynamics and was really interested in what happened before but the book dedicated basically one to two lines to it and just moved on. I wish it was longer because it would’ve been such a good book if everything was developed more!!

[Sookie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A coming of tale set in a Chinese village, a young girl Yun Yun, sees white horse with bright hooves when she encounters emotionally taxing moments in her life. When the book starts she is still in her third grade, playing with her cousin Qing who moves to middle school and being older, comes the changes. Their close partnership is in inertia, their family dynamics constantly changing and by the time Yun Yun finishes her primary school exams, finishing her sixth grade, its family secrets about her widowed father and her auntie is revealed, with more appearances from white horses.

[Oana-Maria Uliu · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't really know why I didn't dnf this book. Probably because it was short and I hoped it would get better. I felt uncomfortable reading it and I don't understand what the white horse is supposed to mean.

[Koral Intens · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ciekawe opowiadanie, końcówka w gruncie rzeczy bardzo mnie zaskoczyła i nie jestem pewna jak ją odbierać....

[Yael Veitz · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really solid book. I can imagine a lot of people not getting it, but I wish more Western YA were like this. It’s spare and honest.

[Paula · Rating 3 out of 5]

I confess I didn't understand the significance of the white horse.

[Ana · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars *may change

literally what the hell was this book about

[Asia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not sure what the significance of the white horse was - some interesting themes of growing up and challenging family dynamics but needed a bit more word count to develop

[Daniel Roth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loved this novella. It’s hard to write well from the POV of a child but I think the author did amazing

[Ronan Doyle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Curt and comic, this slim little read raised more than a few chuckles from me—enough to excuse the mixed metaphor messiness of its titular image. Loved the illustrations throughout, and the odd lapse into boldly bawdy humour.

[Maggie · Rating 1 out of 5]

1 ⭑ - Not for me

I think this is the sort of story where you have to get your head thinking a little bit and I wasn't in that mindset at the time, so when I had reached the ending of the book it felt incomplete and like a second part was missing.

If anyone knows what the white horse symbolises feel free to let me know because I still have no clue. I can't quite decipher what the purpose of the story was. I'm aware not every story has to have a purpose, but this one felt like it did, or at least was trying to.

I also did not like certain aspects of the story, so it's just not for me.

[Irene · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, this was a surprising (pleasingly short) read!

I recently finished Thirst for Love, by Mishima, and was looking for another Asian story, but more YA-ish (kind of). A quick Goodreads search led me to White Horse.

White Horse explores the process of becoming a teenager and losing your innocence on the way. It is very metaphorical, revolving around conceptual imaginary rather than a plot, which is to say that the plot is used as a means to convey something bigger.

I enjoyed the Chinese take on the ever-interesting coming-of-age narrative, and the main character, Yun Yun, is sweet, witty and very likeable.

I would recommend White Horse to anyone interested in alternative fiction. Plus, a novella is a quick read and is ideal for those times when you just don't feel like... well... committing to Mr. Dostoevsky. Not that I've postponing Karamazov Brothers for a long time or anything.