Reading Between the Lines
If you like emo and vulnerability, ‘The Original Daughter’ is for you
by Mary Jo David
When you grow up with four sisters and only two brothers, you might think you’ve got the sister thing figured out. It’s never true. When you least expect it, one of them is bound to throw you a curveball. You might hit it out of the park, or you might whiff the ball entirely—and finish by throwing your bat at the offending sister. But after enough time goes by, you’re back to being in each other’s good graces. (Right about now my sisters and my brothers are wondering, “Where does she come off using sports analogies—she was on the debate team, for gosh sakes!”)
When I selected “The Original Sister,” by Jemimah Wei, off the New Books shelf at the library, I was pretty certain I wouldn’t be reading anything I hadn’t experienced before. Admittedly, the story is set in Singapore, so culturally, I expected some differences, but emotionally, I expected no surprises.
I was wrong.
Gen, the “original” daughter, was an only child. When she was 8, a complicated family history results in her grandfather’s granddaughter, Arin, from Malaysia, coming to live with Gen’s family. Arin is just 7 years old. It takes time, and the death of Gen’s grandmother, for a bond to begin forming between these unlikely “sisters.”
The story unfolds in first person, with Gen as the storyteller. Through her eyes, you meet her mom who is kind, intelligent (but never intelligent enough), and creative. This last quality is important because it enables Ma to find ways to make both girls feel wanted and loved. In less than a month’s time, the sisters have created a CONTRACT OF SISTERHOOD, pledging that they are “sisters forever and ever. Till death do us part.”
Gen and Arin are very different from each other. Gen is the serious, studious one, and Arin is the creative one. Gen’s focus on academics is right in line with the stereotype of Asians who endeavor to study hard to achieve personal and professional success. During her youth, Gen sees her Ma as brilliant yet completely left behind due to life choices and never finishing a college degree, and this drives Gen.
Arin is the sister who, from a very young age, studies human nature and how to make it work for her. In doing so, and maybe without being able to help herself, she uses her sister Gen to get ahead—first as a young girl and later as a young woman. Gen plays along because she has no idea she’s being used, and each time she finally figures it out, it results in a rift between the sisters. Eventually, they repair their relationship, always staying true to their contract, until the very last time.
In the first half of the story, Gen is the apple of her parents’ eyes as she achieves only the best grades and takes her younger sister under her wing to help her find direction in her life. But Gen’s moodiness, competitiveness, jealousy, and singular focus on grades make it difficult for her to make friends and, later, these qualities are her downfall, academically and personally. Eventually, Arin surpasses Gen in both of these areas. In the second half of the book, it’s Arin who tries to get Gen focused and on a path to success. Arin is most successful after Gen leaves Singapore for New Zealand, which causes Gen to see herself as being “demoted, not from associate to accessory, but to encumbrance.” Eventually, Arin can’t help herself and she ends up using Gen’s weakness to further her own career.
Sure, most siblings—sisters and/or brothers—experience some jealousy, moodiness, and regular tiffs. But what I, as an experienced reader, and sister, wasn’t prepared for was the depths of sullenness, depression, and self-sabotaging Gen portrayed throughout this novel. It became tough at times to keep reading, and in fact, I seriously considered picking another book to review so I wouldn’t have to finish this one. It took me a week to get halfway through the book, but then only two evenings to finish the second half.
“The Original Daughter” was interesting insofar as it provided insight into Singaporean life in the 1990s and 2000s. In some ways that life was very similar to young people in the United States, including the undeniable influence of cellphones, the web, and eventually, social media influence. On the other hand, as someone who was raised with many siblings many years before this, I realize how fortunate we were to have had, even then, homes with more than one bedroom and to not have to sleep three to a bed.
As a reader, I’m less apt to enjoy books that immerse the reader in extensive description and detail, and I don’t generally seek out tragedies. Give me an interesting storyline, great characters, some meaningful (and at least occasionally upbeat) conversation, and I’m hooked. This was not that. Besides bogging you down, primarily with Gen’s thoughts, which were so often self-sabotaging, “The Original Daughter” could probably have achieved its goal in half the number of pages without forsaking any of the emotion or plot.
On a positive note, after almost 350 pages, Gen allows herself to hope.