FireWife: A Story of Fire and Water.

New York, NY Doubleday: Nan A. Talese, 2007. Hardcover First Ed; First Printing indicated. First Ed; First Printing indicated. Very Near Fine in Fine DJ: Book shows a bubble undernearth the paper at the front pastedown endpaper, no doubt occurring in production; else flawless; binding square and secure; text clean. DJ flawless; price unclipped; mylar-protected. Virtually 'As New'. NOT a Remainder, Book-Club, or Ex-Library. 8vo. 206pp. Deckle Fore-Edge. Author's First Book. Hardback with DJ. In FireWife, Tinling Choong writes in a wide variety of voices. In one part she reveals the squirming stillness of a woman who lies naked on the floor, serving as a sushi table for the Japanese businessmen who surround her. Choong dives into the thoughts of a Bankok prostitute celebrating her fourteenth birthday with a fly, who is boxed in the window with her. Some of the women are living with deep control, others explode into flames, once literally. Tying their lives together is Nin, who travels the globe to photograph women and to discover her true self, as a woman made up entirely of fire who is living the life of water. Fire is adventurous, masculine, sexual. Water is placid, accepting, a homebody. She spends days on planes going through sometimes hilarious machinations as she attempts to explore her soul. Nin spends 1/25th of a second with the various women, whom Choong then brings to life for the reader. As a result, at the end of Nin's journey, I felt I had more insight than she did into her genius in finding women who needed to be recognized. I also felt like a voyeur, seeing deeply into the psyches of those Nin had merely captured as an aesthetically interesting snapshot. I feel now my sympathy has depth to it and that I know them as no longer "them", but "us". Choong can write these different voices because her own is so literary and varied, being distinctively staccato at points, arching at others. If you love language, if you love exploring ideas about reincarnation and living in the truth, and if you love diving into another's mind, you're really going to love FireWife.