A Review of Kathryn Ma’s All That Work and Still No Boys (University of Iowa Press, 2009).

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A Review of Kathryn Ma’s All That Work and Still No Boys (University of Iowa Press, 2009).




Kathryn Ma’s All That Work and Still No Boys (winner of the Iowa Award for Short Fiction) heralds the exciting debut of a gifted short story writer. This collection is most reminiscent of the work of Frances Hwang’s Transparency where certain stories are centered in the Chinese American and Chinese immigrant experience and where others are not discernably so. The title clearly refers to the long tradition in East Asian cultures of favoring the birth of male children over females. The title story that opens the collection ruminates on the complications of such a phenomenon when a Chinese immigrant mother requires a kidney transplant and out of her five children, her one son is the only one who is a serviceable match. Unfortunately for all involved, the mother does not want to take the kidney from her son and instead wishes that it would be taken from her eldest daughter, Barbara. Indeed, the one son, Lawrence was only conceived, seemingly miraculously, after the mother had been told she would not likely bear more children. In this regard, Lawrence’s “favor” is one that is placed in contradistinction to the treatment of the other four daughters, who while not ignored, are not necessarily bestowed with such honor. Such domestic squabbles and conflicts are the foundation to collection and the readers are treated to a variety of quirky characters. If there is a tonality to the collection, one might call it “tragicomic.” For instance, in “The Scottish Play,” two “rival” grandmothers duke it out over the bragging rights of the grandchild. While one, a granddaughter, Anna, gains the lead in the school play, another a grandson, successfully completes training as a NAVY Seal. When Anna’s grandmother begins to harbor ill will toward the other grandmother over bragging rights, she sets upon her by implanting a seed of doubt that acts as a harbinger for the story’s subtly tragic ending. Another standout story, “What I know Now,” perfectly captures the awkward personal growth phase experienced by many undergraduate students as they, often for the first time, adjust to life away from home. In this particular case, a young woman navigates the treacherous and nebulous waters of college dating and romance, where even tutoring for a young boy comes with it ominous possibilities. Perhaps my favorite story is Ma’s second, which is aptly titled as “Second Child,” in which a Chinese tour guide, Daisy, operates as a translator for families on “heritage tours” for transracial adoptees. Tension arises when Daisy realizes that she may have overstepped her boundaries by sharing too much of her personal feelings with the biological child of one of the families, a young and astute observer named Sam. When he begins to show up late or even missing from allotted meet-up times for the group tours, Daisy slowly realizes that such disobediences are stemming from the very sensitive information that she shared with him. There is much to praise about Ma’s collection, one only wishes that certain stories could have been developed more. For instance, “The Long Way Home” and “Dougie” both explore family dysfunctionality but do not find as sure footing as stories like “The Scottish Play” or “Second Child.” Indeed, such stories immediately suggest that Ma’s narrative skills will also find a fertile ground in the novel or novella form, where characters and plotlines can be extended out. Nevertheless, the collection is assured in its “voice” and dynamic its depictions—certainly, one that could excerpted or adopted for courses.

Buy the Book Here:

http://www.uiowapress.org/books/2009-fall/ma-all.htm