It’s my New Year’s resolution to watch more movies and read more books in 2017. Am glad I stumbled upon this book because a friend gave me a copy – Broken Mirror: Inside a Chinese Marriage. It details the life story of Aurora Teo Mei Ling as told to author Coylee Gamboa.
Am usually partial to foreign books but I have to admit this one was hard to put down.It helps that the writer narrates it in a simple, easy to relate style. The heroine Aurora (her alias) went through so much pain and torment in life that her travails can already be classified as “fit for the movies.” Her experiences make you think how unbelievable for those to happen to someone in real life. But yes, it’s certainly true that a lot of people suffer the effects of childhood abuse and a loveless marriage like Aurora. Some choose to end or destroy their life further, a few good ones manage to overcome the horrors of living.
What is enlightening is the peek the book gives on Chinese family and marriage life. Aurora lived to see her father maintaining a lot of mistresses, but wasn’t quite prepared when it happened to her too, being compelled to accept her husband having a ‘second’ wife and a couple of stepchildren to go with it.
It is quite an eye-opener, as I don’t know enough about Chinese culture and traditions to make a judgment. Straying outside of marriage also appears to be more Asian than distinctly Chinese. But it’s safe to assume that Aurora portrays the typical Chinese woman who is expected to care for the family, raise the children well and help the family business. It was just heartbreaking to see her married life transform like her nightmarish childhood. Though she lived a luxurious life as the wife of a rising taipan, it is also true that loads of money coupled with an Hermes bag and BMW car bought on a whim can’t replace personal happiness.
Broken Mirror is published by Caelestis Production Inc and is now available at Fully Booked Branches in the metro at P500 per copy. For more information, check out www.brokenmirrorph.com and whoisaurora.com.
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