Factory Girls and Daughter of Dust

Factory girls by Leslie T Chang

Amazing book.

Every year, I would come across a particular book that I wish I could read endlessly and Factory Girls would definitely be my book for 2011. In this book, Chang ventures into the world of migrant girls who leave their villages to find work in Dongguan. As the book progresses, she describes the dynamics in the migrant world, the life in factories, the freedom that comes with working away from home and the bonds that eventually still bring them back to the villages. The two girls Chang were closest too were Min and Chunming and it was especially endearing to read about their lives as they moved up the career ladder, found boyfriends, dumped boyfriends, moved on yet all the while remaining undeniably attached to their homes. Chang also describes her own family history and the turbulence that entered the lives of her family during the Cultural Revolution.

It's amazing in so many ways that I can't even start describing them all. The thing that hit me most is her analysis about where the Chinese had gone wrong and in all aspects, I agree with her. The herd instinct, the way everything must go along in a group, it's possibly something that make yet break us. We seek comfort and solace in our close knitted community yet that is also the one thing that kills us because people change and turn their backs so fast. We are always caught unprepared. When you no longer have the support of the community, we fail to be able to stand up on our own anymore. Individualism may be selfish and evil yet I can't see how being in a community would be any better unless we are assured that the community stays intact forever. But nobody can be assured of something like that.

For the two weeks this book was sitting on my bedside table, I actually felt embarrased to laze around longer in bed every morning. Everytime I glance at that book, I'm sharply reminded of their long hours at work, the meagre salary, their zest for knowledge and how extremely hardworking they are. For a better tomorrow. It makes me feel guilty to sleep around for that half an hour longer.

Daughter of Dust by Wendy Wallace

Leila Aziz was abandoned when she was young and both she and her sister Zulima lived in the orphanage and then the village. Zulima was married off at a young tender age to a much older man despite her love for Rashid. The marriage was against her will but the nannies in the orphanage said it was lucky that anyone actually wanted to marry "a daughter of sin". The story describes the prejudice Leila and her best friend Amal faced in school and how difficult it was to make friends as mothers stopped their daughters from talking to them. She got married and after giving birth to 3 kids, Leila thought she was finally not abandoned anymore. But that was when her husband left her for another woman.

It's always interesting to read about stories from a different cultural setting which, in this case, would be Sudan. Although the bias for sons is still not completely eradicated from our society, I have to say, we do have it a lot easier here. A story about true friendship definitely, how you can depend on your true friends when you are going through hardship. There was this part of the book when I was honestly quite touched. The part when Amal told Leila that she wished it was her own wedding she was preparing for but preparing for Leila's was the next best thing. And when Abir, who was one of the few who did not shun Leila when they were in school together, came back to find her many years later. I can totally relate to that. True friends are hard to find.