Review of Women, Seated by Zhang Yueran

*Women, Seated* by Zhang Yueran, translated by Jeremy Tiang (2025). Published by Riverhead Books.

If you’re new here, and stumbled upon this blog through the mythical powers of the Internet, welcome! I know a lot of visitors to my website are people who randomly come upon this website through search engines like Google, but I also do have a lot of visitors who come back. Regardless: my name is Ashley, and I started this blog in order to keep track of everything I’m coming across in the world.

This blog post is interesting to me because lately, I’ve been struggling to get in my reading time. I was working for the longest time as a freelancer and contractor, but recently pivoted to an 8-5 job where I’m in an office. It’s not hybrid, so I’m always at home trying to put the puzzle pieces together of how I’ll get my reading done. I also continue working on this blog when I’m not at work, so the Instagram reels I’m fed about a 5-9 feel too real right now.

Anyways, I am trying to find that time to read here and there. Somehow I’m still on track for my Goodreads goal, even though I’ve been slowly giving up on the notion of reading goals in life. I think they can be a little too much pressure and takes the fun off of reading at the end of the day, and I want to read because I want to stay in touch with literature while also pursuing my side career as a writer.

For the past few years I’ve been saying that I’m not into Chinese literature, but I really want to be. Y’all, I’m desperate to find a book that I can enjoy from an entire country’s catalogue, which is such a shame—it’s not good to write off an entire nation and culture’s literary output because I haven’t found something I enjoyed yet.

However I remember when Women, Seated came out, remembered it, then decided to put a hold out in the library to get the chance to read it. I ended up reading the entire book while housesitting one day, which I then found out I didn’t have the wifi password and didn’t want to bother the owners while they were away.

Let’s get into the review though! I can see this introduction getting long.

As a political family in China faces financial and social ruin, their maid tries to figure out what to do in this situation.

Our main character and narrator in this novel is Yu Ling, who comes from outside an urban center in China. There’s a specific past she has that complicates the events of the novel, and influences the decisions she makes, especially toward the end of the book.

Anyways, right now she works as a maid for a wealthy Chinese family. She sees how the family she works for lives this life of opulence and splendor, and deep down she finds herself in envy for the life she lives.

However, she forms a bond with their son, Kuan Kuan, which may be the only reason she’s still there. It’s also how she forms a plan with someone else, Donghu, to hold Kuan Kuan ransom and try to extort money from the family. One day she’s out when she discovers that the patriarch of the family has been busted.

The entire family is now in jeopardy, with the Madame going into hiding from the state. While the other maid makes off with the resources in the home, Yu Ling finds herself alone with Kuan Kuan and unable to just leave him alone. With distant relatives unwilling to try and take him in, she feels stagnant with what she has to do next.

This novel does take a disturbing turn towards the end, especially if you’re someone who can’t handle depictions of animal cruelty. I was not expecting that specific scene to come forward in the narrative, but I was kind of wishing I would pick up the clues that something was going to happen then.

All of this is to say: this is a fascinating perspective on wealth and how quickly it can crumble in modern China. It’s unlike anything I’ve read so far from the region.

Overall Thoughts

This novel is a quick one to read, and I finished it in about an hour while taking my time with it. The writing style and translation is also rather straightforward and fluid, making the pacing just right for this kind of story.

I find it a fascinating novel to pick up in the context of modern China and the depictions of wealth, especially considering how Yu Ling finds herself as a bit of a fly on the wall. There’s some maid politics going on here as well, adding another element of class struggle to what’s happening on the page.

I didn’t love this novel though. I did kind of wish there was more to it, especially with the main character. We just get to learn her story and how she got here and then the novel ends. I wish there were more meaty elements.

I think it’s worth picking up at least once, though. Give it a chance if this novel interests you in any way!

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