Review of The Secret Talker by Geling Yan
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for proving me with an E-ARC.
I truly loved the set up and premise of THE SECRET TALKER. Written by celebrated writer, Geling Yan (also a Chinese woman! We love to see it), THE SECRET TALKER is set in Northern California, around the time of the Iraq War. (Given the mentions of numerous protests, part of me even head-canons that the husband was a professor at Cal). It revolves around the beautiful and elegant Hongmei, and how her idyllic American life has been disrupted by an online stalker who brings up her secret past.
There's a sort of allure that comes from the unknown, from the dark, and Hongmei's struggle between complacency and a hunger for novelty taps into that seduction. However, as much as I loved the idea of this book, I was still felt feeling as though it was left largely unfinished, as though we were reading the outline or a draft.
There are a plethora of themes included in the book concerning marriage, ambition, cultural difference, identity, and I really liked how they were incorporated to the core of Hongmei's dilemma/struggle, but none explored at significant depth. The same can be said for the plot details themselves, while somewhat forming an answer at the end, these story threads are very loosely tied together with no real structure. The clues are disparate, often random, and more often than not, baseless.
Moreover, the thriller aspect of the book (in which Hongmei plays cat and mouse with a stalker) barely leaves an impact since Hongmei herself never fears this interaction in the first place. From the very get go, she is itching for change, and I believe the book could have benefitted from first showcasing her dissatisfaction with idyllic American life before jumping into the thick of the "thriller" aspect of it.
What I will say about this book is that its undoubtedly unique, and it has the bones of a truly captivating novel. I was still drawn to see the answer to all these strange occurrences, and Yan makes Hongmei a compelling character on her own right. Hongmei was flawed, interesting, and complex; I was delighted to see this young Chinese women in the center of this twisting narrative.
That being said, this book really needs to be more deeply fleshed out on these particular counts:
A cultural level. For instance, really playing into how the difference in American and Chinese culture impacts Hongmei's satisfaction in marriage -and how this is even more complicated by her desire to escape humble beginnings.
A personal level. On the topic of Hongmei's hometown and past, there needs to be a deeper explorations as to how that has tied into the story itself. Really honing in on how her traditional village dealt with change, and how this haunts her actions even now, would give Hongmei’s actions more depth.
A relationship level. Perhaps exploring the parallels between both of Hongmei's dissolving marriages would have provided much more fascinating insight into her character and psyche than otherwise.
Beyond this, more clues as to why the ending is how it is (the motive for this entire plot is a bit too convoluted), as well as tightening up the details, would have made this intriguing premise into a much more cerebral and whole piece. As it is now, THE SECRET TALKER feels like you’ve gotten just a taste of the story, and that the words are not enough to truly suffuse you in the right atmosphere and tone. In regards to this sense of incompletion, I’m still curious as to seeing how its movie adaptation (directed by Italian director Cristiano Bortone) will perform, for I can see its “barebones” story line as given more life through the visual medium. All in all, I am still glad I read THE SECRET TALKER, and it was an overall entertaining introduction to Geling Yan!
