驚艷的山谷

Susan著 小哭譯

在我讀譚恩美寫的《驚艷的山谷》一書前，我認為這本書可能是一本相當枯燥的歷史虛幻故事，所以我根本就不想讀。我也不知道自己為什麼有那種感覺，我絕對沒有理由不喜歡這本書，但那就發生了。你可能會想，我讀過那麼多的書，應該更明白不要根據書皮來評判一本書的道理。呵呵。幾乎將這書讀了兩遍之後，我現在已經快速地把它提升到了我第二喜歡的書了。

*警告，下面段落有劇透*

《驚艷的山谷》是關於一個叫做維奧萊特(又譯“紫兒”)的小女孩的生活，書中涵蓋了她生命中的四十多年，從她出生到四十一歲。維奧萊特曾經是一個在上海開辦高級歌妓院的美國女人的享有特權的女兒（第六段還有更多介紹）。後來，隨着清朝滅亡和新的共和國的建立，形勢的變化將維奧萊特與她的媽媽分開了，她自己不得不過上了歌妓的生活。經歷過與她的第一個客人也是愛人的一段心碎的情感後，她從錯誤中吸取了教訓，成為了一名非常受歡迎的歌妓。當她與一個叫做愛德華的美國男人結婚後，日子開始好了起來。他們有了一個女兒，並且維奧萊特最後脫離了歌妓的生活模式。然而，幾年後，愛德華死於西班牙流感，維奧萊特的女兒被愛德華的家庭給帶走了。經過了又一段短期的歌妓生活後，維奧萊特與一個學者結了婚。這個學者原來是一個有精神疾病的虐待狂，維奧萊特不得不從他的村莊中逃走。無處可去的她，最後想辦法回到了上海。在那兒，維奧萊特的生活總算是安定了下來。二十八歲那年，她回到了第一個愛人和朋友暨方王爺的身邊，並在他的公司里謀到了一份工作。後來，他們結婚了。在方王爺的幫助下，她最後找到了媽媽，接着又找到了女兒。而此時，她四十一歲。故事在此就結束了，籍着她與方王爺之間美滿的婚姻，她與母親和女兒之間的麻煩終於解決了。

《驚艷的山谷》一書非常長，這應毫不奇怪，因為它含蓋了一個非常有趣兒的女孩的四十年的非常有趣的生活。書中也有96頁關於維奧萊特母親的生活。如同生活本身一樣，這本書無法預測；還是如同生活本身一樣，這本書是一部情感過山車。我從來沒有讀過這樣的一本書，讓我有着這麼多種不同的強烈情感。

這本書的魅力超出了我對其的預期，特別是還這麼長。一些評論家認為書太長了，但是我不在乎。讀這589頁書我一點也不覺得枯燥。《驚艷的山谷》讓我在讀書的過程中覺得我和維奧萊特就生活在一起，這很了不起。在讀的過程中我被她的生活、她的愛情和她的辯論所吸引，但是隨着時間的推移，維奧萊特學會了放手，我也從她那兒學會了放手。在我讀這本書的幾個小時之內，我真的覺得自己成長了四十歲，經歷了所有維奧萊特所經歷過的事情。因為我只有幾個小時的時間去消化維奧萊特四十年所經歷的所有這些信息和情感，讀完後我深受震撼。

當我回頭再讀時，又是一次全新的經歷。第一次讀的時候，開始我用七歲孩子的眼睛在讀，然後十五歲的，接着一直在用着維奧萊特的年齡在讀。當我回頭讀第二遍時，則是用一個已經經歷過書中提到的每一件事兒的長大後的維奧萊特的眼睛在讀了。所以，相對於被故事情節所吸引住的第一次，第二次讀的時候，我是帶着一個有着童年記憶的女人的偏愛在讀。我能理解很多維奧萊特在那時所不懂的事情，我還認識到了她的錯誤。再讀這本書所帶來的驚喜是我突然間理解了她的媽媽。與我第一次讀時相比，現在我對她的看法是如此地不同。

《驚艷的山谷》教了我很多有關高級妓院的事情。由於維奧萊特不時地因為曾是歌妓而被別人侮辱，因此在這一點上我變得很保護她。歌妓不是多數人以為的那樣。與歌妓最接近的同意詞應該是賣淫女，但是歌妓和現在的賣淫女根本不一樣。一個男人不能只是走近她們花上幾個錢兒就可以獲得性服務。相反，這個男人不得不追求她們幾個月，與她們一起喝茶，送她們禮物，最後，要求成為她的資助人。然後，要簽一個合同，說明這個男人將會包養他們多長時間（通常一個季或二個）。在這段時間內，這個男人要不斷地給歌妓送禮物和金錢。整個過程優雅並有技巧。一個歌妓必須得精通誘惑與假象的技巧才能成功。還有，不象多數人以為的那樣，她們並非邪惡與操縱的。維奧萊特是一個非常可敬與善良的人，她的歌妓朋友們也是如此。她們沒有人主動選擇這種生活方式。我以前認為歌妓或賣淫女很“髒”或很“貪婪”，看來我對她們有很多誤解。閱讀有關歌妓院的內部運作方式是一件有趣兒的事兒。

這本書有一些性描寫（好吧，不是一些，是很多），但那很容易理解，要知道主人公的一半生活是在妓院裡度過的。書中也有愛情故事，那使得每一件事兒都更令人激動。當然，對於譚恩美來說，她還寫了一個複雜的母女關係（事實上，兩個）。總體來說，我認為這是一本關於一個女人去尋找她自己、去了解她實際上是誰的旅程的書。她是誰呢？嗯，在這本書中，維奧萊特有很多個角色，其中包含一個不服管的孩子、一個受歡迎的歌妓、一個快樂的妻子、一個母親、一個女兒，還有更多。自從與她母親分開後她改變了這麼多。我是如此地驚訝於一個人一生中可以發生這麼多的事兒。有時我會想如果她的媽媽沒有離開、或者如果沒有遇到這個人、或者如果沒有發生這件事的話會如何，結果應該會大大地不同。我很高興每一件事情最後都轉到了應有的方向。我不為維奧萊特所經歷過的那些困難高興，但是過去就是過去了。最終，她有了一個有意義的生活和幸福的結局，讓發生過的每一件事兒都值得。

即使結局很幸福，也不如我期待的那麼好，有點太慢了並且平淡無奇。然而，那符合維奧萊特做為一個中年女人在經歷了四十年戲劇人生之後、最後能夠安頓下來的形象。我真的為她高興。雖然我確實懷念她與愛德華結婚時的那些好日子，但方王爺也沒什麼不好，自始至終我確實也都在支持他。總體來講，結局不怎麼出彩，但也足夠好了。我聽到一些評論家說這個令人失望的結局毀了全本書，可我不這樣認為。我還是非常地喜歡這本書。

我讀到許多評論家說《驚艷的山谷》與譚恩美的其它作品太相似了。對於她的一些長期粉絲來說，這書讀起來很無聊。因為我從來沒有讀過她的其它作品，對此我無話可說。我猜想一旦我去讀她的其它作品，可能我會覺得它們與這一本太想像了。我一般不讀這種裡面壓根就沒有魔法、吸血鬼和龍什麼的書，不讀如此寫實並且與真實生活如此緊密相聯的書。然而，這本書正在說服我去閱讀多一點寫實小說。沒有任何魔法的故事實際上也能夠相當地好看，真實生活中的浪漫故事與吸血鬼的一樣有趣兒。

我非常喜歡《驚艷的山谷》，願意將它推薦給任何不怕讀一本600頁長書的讀者。然而，我不推薦這本書給小孩子，因為裡面有許多他們無法理解的事情（再說小孩子怎麼會去讀一本600頁的書呢？）。我認為閱讀這本書幫助我成長了不少，知道了童話故事與哈里.波特之類魔法世界之外的生活到底是什麼樣的。從現在起我肯定還會去讀更多的譚恩美所寫的書！

【小哭介紹背景】這篇小文讓我想寫的東西太多了，只能選部分來寫了。我現在還記得與這篇文章相關的幾個小細節中，最令我心跳加速的是，我一邊讀着這篇讀後感，一邊做着最壞的猜想，這本書到底寫了什麼、而Susan她到底看到了什麼、又因此想到了什麼？我怎麼這麼大意，竟然將這樣的內容帶進了她的閱讀領域。隨着她後面的敘述，很顯然，她並沒有看輕維奧萊特，在她眼裡維奧萊特和僅僅出賣肉體的賣淫女不同。同時她還提到她眼裡的維奧萊特身上諸多與性無關的身份——小孩、女兒、母親、安於居家生活的妻子等等，嗯，看來這書並沒有將她帶到“壞”的方向。讀到最後，Susan竟然說她通過第二次閱讀，更好地理解了這本書，這本書讓她成長，讓她重新審視閱讀的體裁，這？這也太令我意外了！(參考她對同性戀的理解，其實我不應如此意外)

拓展她的閱讀面這件事兒，我可是一天到晚都在動腦筋啊。我一直在想着有什麼辦法能夠讓她明白，寫實的書其實非常地好看、並且更能讓人從中獲得生活中所需要的信息和道理呢？結果竟然是這樣的一本書敲開了這道難啟的門！！我真的不知道如何評說這事兒了。讀到此，我的內疚感基本上沒剩多少了。至於後面，Susan說她願意向讀者推薦這本書，但不包括小孩子：）我笑了，我知道，我的擔心多餘了。Susan閱讀此書的心態，遠非她的實際年紀——13歲，她已經達到了16-18歲的心態了。當然，當然，我還是為自己讓她這麼早就接觸到了這類書有很多的不安，反正再等幾年會更好。

讀完這篇讀後感後，我控制不住地想和什麼人分享一下看法，我想自己當時處於一種相當地激動與緊張不安之中。因為知道一時半會兒不會翻譯這篇文章，還因為知道這書的特殊性，所以，我突然間發現，自己身邊並沒有什麼朋友可以和我一起討論這個話題。最後，我還是又給百忙中的昭君發了郵件。我當時確實有點急於去拿到可靠朋友的反饋意見，看看自己是否要做點什麼補救的事情。結果昭君的回信極大地安慰了我那顆焦慮的心：“我再次驚訝於 Susan寫作中表現出來的成熟心智！這本書照理說對她這樣年紀的女孩是不太合適的，但難得的是她從中得到的啟迪和成長，這也是我們做家長的難以預料和控制的地方吧。我有什麼理由“批評”你呢，只能說，enjoy the very moment of the process，和孩子一起成長吧。”

還有，借書那天的細節，我也記得非常地清楚。那天，我帶着Susan和小寶進到圖書館，她就帶小寶下到地下層去看他們感興趣的東西了，而我則留在一樓碟片處看看有什麼好看的DVD沒有。等到他們拿了一堆書上來告訴我可以準備走了時，我們就一起去電腦那邊辦理借書手續。就在走向自助借書處的過程中，最後一本進入我的眼帘的書吸引了我的注意力。那個書架是新書推薦處，每一本新書都占據着稍大的空間，書呈半打開狀態，書皮色彩很靚麗，一個女人只露了半張臉，紅唇特別地顯眼；而中式的衣領在大綠的顏色中點綴着小花，讓人覺得嫵媚漂亮又不失優雅端裝，我拿起一看是譚恩美的書就豪不猶豫地就把這書順便借回家了。當時我並沒有細想這書到底是我看還是給Susan看，不過Susan當場就表態她不看這書！嗯，我自己看好了。最後這書怎麼又被Susan看到了，我就不清楚了。她一天到晚再忙，都會抽出時間來閱讀的，估計是她手上沒有什麼好書的時候隨手拿過去看的吧。

話說譚恩美，我們來美國的第一年，就從Susan那個得了子宮癌的ESL老師MM（這個老師的抗癌故事現在還是進行時，我一直在幫她宣講）那裡聽說了。當時她就說，希望熱愛寫作的Susan有一天會成為譚恩美一樣的華裔作家。後來我在橡樹園學英語時，我的志願者老師J找來的第一本書又是她的書，說是這樣的書可能對我來說更容易讀，那時老師和我一句一句地讀了不少頁呢。一邊糾正我的發音，一邊討論不同文化背景下的母女關係。當時我們經常拿我與Susan的關係對照書中的關係，偶爾在家裡我也會跟Susan談起譚恩美的媽媽強迫她學習鋼琴的細節及後果。就在我翻譯這篇小文的過程中，竟然不可思議地收到了MM老師提到了譚恩美的郵件，其中一句話是關於Susan的寫作的“She is the next Amy Tan-I am convinced. Meaning she is the one and only Susan Cao, but perhaps a famous Chinese/American writer like Amy Tan! （我確信她是下一個譚恩美。我是說，她是Susan並且是唯一的Susan，但是，可能她會成為一個象譚恩美一樣著名的華裔作家。）”看看 ，譚恩美在這些普通美國人心目中的地位還是相當高的。希望有朝一日Susan會用她的筆寫出如譚恩美一般受人歡迎的文字來吧。

附上英文原文：

The Valley of Amazement

Before I read Amy Tan’s book, The Valley of Amazement, I thought it was going to be a really boring historical fiction story. I did not want to read it at all. I don’t know why I felt that way, I had absolutely no reason to dislike the book, but I did. You would think, after reading so many books, I would know better than to judge them by their covers. After reading it almost two times now, I have just promoted this book as my second favorite book ever.

*big spoiler alert in the next paragraph*

The Valley of Amazement was about the life of a girl, Violet, and covered more than four decades of a her life, starting from before she was born to until she was forty-one. Violet used to be the privileged daughter of an American woman who ran Shanghai’s most exclusive courtesan house*(more on those in paragraph 6). Then, as the Ching dynasty was overturned and the new Republic established, a turn of events separated Violet from her mother and forced her to live the courtesan lifestyle herself. After suffering a heartbreak from her first patron and lover, she rose from her mistakes and became a very popular courtesan. Things were going really well when she married an American guy, Edward, gave birth to a girl, and finally left the courtesan lifestyle. However, a few years later, Edward died from the Spanish Influenza, and Violet’s child was taken away by Edward’s family. After a short time as a courtesan again, she got married to a scholar. This scholar turned out to be an abusive man who had mental problems, and Violet had to escape from his village out in nowhere and find a way to get back to Shanghai. There, Violet’s life finally calmed down. At age twenty-eight, she went back to her first lover and friend, Loyalty Fang, and got a job at his company. Later, they married, and through him, she finally reached her mother, and then her daughter. By then, she was forty-one. And that was when the story ended, with her happily married to Loyalty, and the troubles between her mother, her, and her daughter finally settled.

The Valley of Amazement was very long, not surprising since it covered forty very interesting years of a very interesting girl’s life. It also included 96 pages about Violet’s mother’s life. Just like life, the book was unpredictable, and just like life, it was an emotional rollercoaster. I have never read a book that made me feel so many different emotions so strongly.

This book exceeded my expectations on how captivating it was, especially for such a long book. Some critics thought it was too long, but I didn’t mind. I was never bored throughout its 589 pages. The Valley of Amazement was amazing in the way it made me feel like I was living Violet’s life as I read the book. I was caught up in her life, in her romances and arguments as I read them, but as time passed and Violet learned to let go, I learned to let go with her. I really felt like I aged forty year and experienced all that Violet experienced in the few hours it took me to read the book. And since I only had a few hours to digest all the information and emotions that took Violet a forty years to process, I felt like I was in shock after I finished reading.

When I went back to read it again, it was a whole new experienced. The first time I read it, I read the pages with the eyes of a seven year old, then a fifteen year old, and then whatever age Violet was in. When I went back and read it the second time, it was with the eyes of a grown-up Violet who has already experienced everything metioned in the pages of the book. So, instead of getting caught up in the story, the second time I read the book, I read it with the fondness of a woman remembering her childhood. I understood a lot of things that Violet didn’t understand back then, and I recognized her mistakes. A suprising thing about reading the book a second time was the sudden understanding I felt for her mother. I think of her so differently now, compared the when I first read about her.

The Valley of Amazement taught me a lot about courtesan houses. Because Violet often got insulted by others about how she used to be a courtesan, I have grown to be very protective of that part of her. A courtesan is not what most people think. The best synonym of it would be prostitute, but a courtesan is nothing like an average modern prostitute. A guy can’t just walk up to them and get sex for a few bucks. Instead, the guy has to court them for months, having tea with them, give them gifts, and finally, ask to become her patron. Then, there would be a contract stating how long the guy would get to have the girl for (ususally a season or two), during which the guy will continuously bombard the courtesan with gifts and money. There’s an elegance and art to the whole thing. A courtesan has to be really skilled in the art of seduction and illusion to become successful. And, unlike most people think, they’re not immoral or manipulative. Violet is a very honorable and kind person, and so are her courtesan friends. None of them chose their lifestyle. I use to think of courtesans or prostitutes and the like as “dirty” or “greedy”. Turns out that I misjudged them, a lot. It was interesting to read about the inner workings of a courtesan house.

There was some sex in this book (okay, not just some, a lot), but that’s only to be expected when half of the main character’s life was spent in a courtesan house. There was romance too, and that was what made everything more exciting. And of course, being Amy Tan, there was a complicated mother-daughter relationship (actually, there were two). Overall, I think this was a book about a woman’s journey to find herself, to discover who she really is. And who is she? Well, Violet was many things throughout the book, including a bratty kid, a popular courtesan, a happy wife, a mother, a daughter, and a lot more. She changed so much since she was separated from her mother. I was surprised so much could happen to a person in one lifetime. Sometimes, I wonder what would’ve happened if her mother had not left, or if had not meet this person, or if this thing had not happened. The results would’ve been drastically different. I’m glad that everything turned out the way it did. I’m not glad for the troubles Violet went through, but the past is the past, and ultimately, she had a meaningful life and a happy ending, which made everything worth it.

Even though the ending was happy, it wasn’t as good as I had expected. It was a bit too slow and undramatic. Howerever, that fitted the image of Violet as a middle-aged woman finally able to settle down after a forty years of drama. I feel really happy for her. Although I do miss the old days when she was married to Edward, Loyalty isn’t so bad. I had actually been rooting for him all along. Overall, the ending wasn’t amazing, but it was good enough. I’ve heard some critics say the dissapointing ending ruined the book. I don’t think so. I still like the book a lot.

I’ve read lots of criticism saying The Valley of Amazement was too similar to Amy Tan’s other works. For some of her long-timed fans, it was a bit boring to read. Since I’ve never read her other works, I can’t say anything about that. I guess once I read her other works, I might find them too similar to this one. I usually don’t read books that are this realistic and this connected to real life, with no magic or vampires or dragons at all. However, this one is convincing me to read more realistic fiction. A story can actually be quiet good without any magic, and real-life romances are as interesting as vampire ones.

I enjoyed The Valley of Amazement very much, and I would recommend it to anyonewho are not scared of reading a six-hundred paged book. I would not recommend this to kids, though, since there are a lot of things in their they might not understand (why would a child want to read a six-hundred page book anyway?). I think reading this book helped me grow up a little, and learned about what life is really like outside of fairy tales and Harry Potter-like worlds. I’m definitely going to read more Amy Tan books from now on!