Story Review: Lust, Caution is either a long story or a short novella. I prefer to think of it as a story because it is one of those classic writings that include so much in so little. That, like an Emily Dickinson poem, captures a whole universe in a single grain of sand. Within what seems like a thriller, a spy or war story, Eileen Chang (Zhang Ailing) addresses the role of women, the role of the individual, balances love and politics and death. In Lust, Caution Chang wrote a story about political strife (often present though tangential in her stories), but then showed that her usual subjects of love, connections between women and men, a woman's place, are equally important. She demonstrates how the choices of an individual, Chia-chih, a woman, are as important as any other part of the puzzle. All rests on the single decision, the single word, of a single person, every detail described with stunning realism. For me, Lust, Caution extends out in all directions, to alternate histories and futures, to alternate possibilities of what may or should've happened, to why Chia-chih made her decision. Also a 2007 film directed by Ang Lee. [5★]
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