Three Days

Author：Jane Chu
Publisher：INK Literary Monthly Publishing Co., Ltd.
Published Date：2012.04

【Synopsis】

The main characters are a mother-son pair. Through the precocious wording of a 16 year old boy, narrating for his mother, who has managed to make herself known to us through the wisdom and words of her 16-year-old son. Narrations of loving care and interaction between mother and her adolescent son seems to have revoked the memory of trauma she experienced in childhood. However, With the help of innocence of youth and the process of healing – allowing the two to step out of darkness in the respective lives.

The story begins with the 16 year old boy (An-an) falling into coma (through an injury), stepping into a “count down” for his life. And his soul in limbo was keen to return home to see his beloved mother who, unexpectedly, had gone away, leaving behind only a note that said: Please allow me three days ..... And it was in these three-day during which he struggled for survival, An-an tried ceaselessly to find out the reason why his mother left home, but could merely discover some ambiguous clues in 3 novels left behind by her.

On the first day, in the <Stand-in Actor> : As the young girl in the story subtly disclosed, her elder sister was a victim of incest committed by her elder brother or her mother's boyfriend. The narrator exemplified the theory that life is but an improvised drama in which each of us have to play a part.

In Day Two <Fat Uncle> : From a subjective viewpoint, the narrator told us the complicated romances in which her mother's mother got involved and its adverse effect on the family, inferring a eerie love affairs , taboo relationship between the living and the dead.

In Day Three <The Wall> : Based on intertextuality with Eileen Chang’s famous novel– “Love in a Fallen City”, this time narrator has her own view and touching story to tell about love, reclusion and capitulation.

The issue of family-of-origin begs the question of predetermined fate: relationship between father & daughter, mother & son, (incest) between mother’s lover & daughter, mother & father, and the gap between morality & love. Will a heart broken man or woman still believe in love? With a feeble mind and a humble heart, they look forward to finding happiness even of its most simple kind. With love and redemption as the aspiration, the novel –“Three Days” - seems to be a soul-seeking journey leading to its destination.