Braised Pork is a strange mythical novel that unwinds into unknown territory within the real world and beyond. The book starts in tragedy with the death of Jia Jia’s husband. From there she has questions to answer and a empty flat and life to make sense of. Jia Jia is seen as a curse from her husbands family and quickly needs to make sense of what her husband left behind in his death. When she goes in serarch of answers she goes to uncharted worlds and comes across a huge mix of strange characters. Throughout there is a man in bar who seems a constant calming presence, perhaps the thing that is keeping her in reality whilst everything else becomes anything but normal. A fresh, dynamic voice and worth the acclaim its getting.

What a fantastic book! Be warned, this is not for the reader who loves a steady, clear plot. Braised Pork has a surreal feel to it, dream-like, melancholic, contemplative. Wu Jia Jia is shocked to find that her husband has died (drowned? Suicide?) in the bath tub. He leaves behind a strange drawing—of a ‘fish-man’. She, being an artist, tries to recreate it but is unable to do so. And so she travels to find the mystery of the fish-man and his connection (maybe) to her husband’s death.

The book set in Beijing night life and Tibetan high plains with ample dreams that tiptoe on magical realism, flows like water. Water finds its mention at several places in the book, sometimes as a direct word, sometimes alluded to. The novel alternates between philosophical, dreamy-storytelling and makes the reader reflect on what has happened to the characters. Was Jia Jia’s marriage one of convenience? Will her new found romance with the barman Leo—who describes her as ‘like water’— be a steady relationship or a rebound? Is she happy? We meet a Jia Jia who is visibly liberated through widowhood, free of chains of marriage to a non-encouraging (Chen Hang did not appreciate her art, he would make her feel self-conscious and cover up her birthmark while they have sex) husband and his demanding family.

The title comes from a meal Jia Jia shares with her estranged father. I love how the novel pulls the reader into the present and immediately introduces a character that they feel they know for ages. I hadn’t thought about the father at all, until this point. The act of sharing a meal, reliving memories of her favourite dish of braised pork puts into perspective so many missing pieces in the puzzle. Braised Pork is about finding yourself, being at peace with your past, navigating grief and moving forward.

What I was unsure about?—Maybe there are too many references to ‘water’ and a few might be lost to the reader. Nevertheless, it was an enjoyable read.

I enjoyed the writing and felt parts of it were a interesting examination of the life of a widow, while the later part had a slight Murakami, specially A Wild Sheep Chase, vibe.

Real life with a touch of magical realism.