Fragments of Stars

Fragments of Stars is a collection of novellas by the Hong Kong writer Yi Shu, volume 16 in the Yi Shu series, first published in February 1983 by Hong Kong's Cosmos Books Ltd. The book gathers three novellas—The Peony's Red, the Rose's Thorn; Fragments of Stars; and Thunder—all centered on urban women and love, tracing the tug between reason and feeling. The title novella is narrated in the first person by Fang Jiahao, a man already engaged to Qiqi, a calm, self-possessed woman who insists on propriety in all things. Yet he cannot forget Zhu Ming, a brilliant, passionate, willful art student on the verge of collapse after being left by Tang, Qiqi's cousin. Fang inserts himself into her life under the pretext of caring for her, wavering between the two women—determined to honor his promise to his fiancée, yet unwilling to let Zhu Ming go. Qiqi leaves quietly for America, breaks off the engagement, and marries a doctor; Fang and Zhu Ming become engaged, only to discover that what lies between them is more like sibling gratitude and dependence than love. In the end Zhu Ming returns to Tang, leaving the narrator alone. Zhu Ming once promised to paint a series titled Fragments of Stars, but in the end painted only commercial pictures and never completed it; that unfinished work, like the several romances in the book, lies in pieces that cannot be fitted together. The Peony's Red, the Rose's Thorn and Thunder likewise feature Zhou Danwei as the heroine: the former tells of her hesitation and backward glances after breaking up with her first love, Jiaming; the latter of her entanglements with the brothers Leiting and Leini. Through short sentences, dialogue, and sharp observation, Yi Shu captures the modern condition of facing love both clear-eyed and weak.