The Bonesetter’s Daughter

Ruth browses the turnip selection at the supermarket. She used to love the spicy turnips LuLing would make for the annual family reunion dinner each September. Ruth would eat them until her mouth burned, and she has a taste for them today. Art tolerates the turnips in small doses, but his girls hate the smell. Ruth selects a large sea bass to prepare for that night’s supper, suddenly deciding to invite LuLing to join them after her doctor’s appointment. 

Ruth returns home and settles down in her office to work. She calls her newest client, Ted, for whom she’s writing a book called Internet Spirituality. Ted badgers her about publishing the book as soon as possible. Ruth tries to tell Ted she’s not in charge of publishing dates, and Ted accuses her of not trying hard enough and not being suitable for the project. She hangs up, annoyed at the amount of work she’ll need to do to appease Ted and keep up with her other projects. Ruth gazes at the shelf that contains projects she’s collaborated on, most of which are in the self-help, wellness, and new-age genres. She wishes she could write books about philosophy, science, and medicine instead.

Ruth reminds herself that she’s good at her job, which can sometimes be quite difficult. It irritates her when people—even Art—don’t take her work seriously, though she admits this might be because she tends to downplay her efforts. She remembers how once, LuLing had defended her work to Auntie Gal. Ruth was surprised at but grateful for her mother’s remarks. Recently, though, LuLing has criticized how little time Ruth has for her. 

Ruth scans her notes for another project, Agapi Agnos’s Righting the Wronged Child. Agapi is a psychiatrist, and she’s charming and approachable. When Ruth calls her to discuss updates that day, Agapi laughs at Ruth’s habit of organizing concepts in the book into lists. After talking with Agapi, Ruth plays back a tape of one of their previous meetings, during which they’d discussed how a parent willingly or unwillingly imposes a worldview on their child. Agapi had repeatedly sensed that Ruth was confused or unreceptive to the idea. Ruth had never been to therapy, having written for enough therapists to know that they, too, are full of their own problems and need help.

Ruth works some more and then calls her agent, Gideon, to complain about Ted. She predicts Ted will fire her soon, but Gideon claims this will never happen, since Ruth will give in to him like she always does. Ruth realizes Gideon is calling her a pushover and wonders if there’s any truth to this. It’s true that she doesn’t see any point in arguing, but this is only because LuLing has been argumentative her whole life, and Ruth has seen how counterproductive it is. Ruth wonders how LuLing got to be so angry and unhappy.

Ruth considers that LuLing’s poor English is what makes her get into fights, as well. It’s always seemed odd to her that LuLing hasn’t been able to improve her English, since she and her sister, GaoLing, emigrated around the same time, and GaoLing’s English is excellent. In contrast, LuLing can’t even pronounce Ruth’s name correctly and refers to her as “Lootie.” As a child, Ruth was LuLing’s “mouthpiece” and was in charge of translating for her mother in all kinds of situations, changing her fragmented, confusing words into thoughts the outside world could understand. In a way, reflects Ruth, it was her mother who inspired her career as a book doctor.

Ruth finishes paying the plumber, faxes an updated outline to Agapi, and rushes to LuLing’s house in San Francisco’s Sunset district to drive her to the appointment. At 77, LuLing is unusually healthy, so her recent confusion has concerned Ruth. LuLing has been mixing up words. Last March, she got in a car accident, which she blamed on a pigeon that flew near her windshield.

Ruth arrives at LuLing’s two-unit house. She looks at the lawn and remembers how LuLing used to make her go to neighbor to complain about the neighbor’s dog, which would urinate on the lawn and create brown spots. The task mortified Ruth, even more so after her mother continued to force it on her during Ruth’s visits home from college. When Ruth mentioned the unwanted tradition to her roommate, the roommate was shocked that Ruth let her mother push her around like she was a small child. Determined to stick up for herself, Ruth told LuLing to complain to the neighbor herself if she was so upset. Ruth’s disobedience upset LuLing, who accused Ruth of wishing she was dead.

As Ruth approaches the house, the downstairs tenant, Francine, intercepts her to complain that LuLing has been bugging her about paying rent even though she’s already paid. Francine often complains about the building needing repairs. Although Ruth knows the woman is right, LuLing refuses to make the repairs, and Ruth usually ends up secretly resolving them herself. Ruth defuses Francine’s current complaint, promising to discuss the subject with LuLing.  Francine’s complaint worries Ruth, who sees it as further evidence of LuLing’s declined mental state.

Ruth enters LuLing’s home. LuLing believes her appointment was at 1:00 accuses her of being late. Ruth knows the appointment is at 4:00 but goes along with LuLing’s accusation to avoid escalating the tension. She scans her mother’s face for signs of a stroke but can’t detect anything. Ruth walks to the back of the home and looks at her mother’s calligraphy supplies, noting how LuLing appears to have abandoned the poem-painting she’d been working on mid-character. LuLing is an exceptionally talented calligrapher who is exceptionally careful about caring for her supplies, so it’s odd that she’s left them out like this.

LuLing practiced calligraphy to supplement the household income when Ruth was a child. She sold signs for stores and wrote good-luck couplets for Chinese restaurants. Ruth grew up watching her mother write, and she admired how calm and controlled her mother appeared when she practiced calligraphy. LuLing told Ruth that Bao Bomu (Precious Auntie) taught her to write. She tried to teach Ruth, too, but she quickly grew impatient when Ruth struggled to learn the complicated, intricate characters.

Making sure LuLing is out of earshot, Ruth calls the doctor’s office to voice her concerns about LuLing’s condition, though she feels like a traitor. When Ruth gets off the phone, LuLing tells another concerning story about losing her purse. She accuses GaoLing of stealing her purse out of jealousy.

LuLing and GaoLing have always had a contentious relationship. They came to the U.S. around the same time and married two brothers who were the sons of a grocer. LuLing’s husband, Edwin, attended medical school and was destined for success. GaoLing’s husband, Edmund, was in dental school and considered lazy. However, everything changed when Edwin was killed in a hit-and-run when Ruth was only two. Edmund grew up to be a successful and respected dentist. When the grocer and his wife died, most of the inheritance went to Edmund, with very little left to LuLing, who had only been married to Edwin for a brief time. While LuLing could only afford to buy a two-unit house with her inheritance, GaoLing and Edmund moved to a big house in Saratoga.

Ruth searches LuLing’s house for the missing purse and is excited when she finds it under a mound of junk mail that has piled up on top of the dining table. Ruth notices a stack of magazines, and LuLing smiles as she presents Ruth with a sweepstakes coupon resembling a check that she’d clipped from a magazine. Excitedly, LuLing informs Ruth that she’s won $10 million. Ruth says nothing and tells LuLing she should show her doctor the check. LuLing tells Ruth that all the money is for her, and Ruth feels a sudden urge to hug and protect her mother.