Caner Uzun Uzun itibaren Raghopura, Rajasthan, India itibaren Raghopura, Rajasthan, India

3Q 3P MJ The story in Bound focuses on the troubled youth of Xing Xing after the passing of her father. She lives with her Step-mother and her half sister Wei Ping in a small cave on the outskirts of their small village in China. Along with her sister, Xing Xing's future is in doubt and may very well be held in the hands of her unloving Step-mother whose only concern seems to be the marrying off of her daughter Wei Ping. Without her father or her mother, Xing Xing has no family heritage left outside of her half-sister, but she is too naive and self-centered to worry about the struggles of her sister. The book is a historical novel around the time period of the end of the Ming Dynasty. While this book has a decent story of the development of the introverted Xing Xing into an independent young woman, it moves rather slowly and relies heavily on poetic writing that can be a bore. There are too many similes and metaphors scattered to the book, and I think this may either grow tired of teen-aged readers or simply be over their heads. Also, it would be difficult to have male readers get into this book because there are no significant male roles and the main topic of most of the book is marriage. There are some positives however, the resolution is very heart warming and the character of Xing Xing is very admirable. The adventure she takes in the middle of the book does add a little excitement and intrigue, but again there is no climatic scene that will stick into a reader's head as they move on from this book. This book is a solid read, but honestly very average. Female readers will likely be able to relate with Xing Xing, but other than that, I don't think this book will stick with them over the long haul. It is a pretty quick read however, so its worth a shot if you are interested in this particular time period or culture.