Book Review: Can I Not Get Married (可不可以不嫁人) – Yi Jin (忆锦)

Can I Not Get Married

Title: Can I Not Get Married (可不可以不嫁人)
Author: Yi Jin (忆锦)
Published: January 2010

When I first read the introduction to Can I Not Get Married by Yi Jin, I thought to myself, this female lead just seems like she could be another one of those weak, without backbone, girls who allow themselves to be hoodwinked and fall into the claws of the male lead. So I was pleased when this turned out not to be the case.

At the very beginning, we are introduced to Du Lei Si, the name of a well-known condom brand, Durex; and, coincidentally, the name of our female lead. Having such an ill-fated name renders Du Lei Si jobless and boyfriend-less right at the get go. So when a handsome and rich looking man gets down on one knee to propose to her on the street, right after she has had possibly the worst day of her life, what does she do? She accepts, of course! But the best part about this is that she only does so because she thought it was a hidden camera show. Little did she know that Lian Jun (廉骏), a CEO, was completely serious.

What Can I Not Get Married does well is not making the two leads too outlandish and still gives them room to grow. There’s no big bad wolf or an innocent, defenseless lamb. Du Lei Si isn’t actually completely repulsed by the notion of marriage, it just happen to fall into her lap, and she tries to make the best of it. Her husband, Lian Jun, is also just trying to make do with what he had been tasked to do — find a wife. Lian Jun does not torment Du Lei Si, in fact, he tries his best to make her comfortable. When he does do something wrong, she doesn’t just sit back and take it. Even though she might be a bit more naive, Du Lei Si stands up for herself when she needs to (she did grow up with the name of a condom brand,) and has a grasp of what is and is not appropriate.

There is really no overarching conflict in this story, nor are there really antagonists. A few jealous feelings are thrown in, coupled with some misunderstandings, but at no point does it become something to agonize about. In fact, I looked forward to seeing how Lian Jun handled each twist and turn. At the root of it, this 65 chapter (+ 1 epilogue) story is about how two people who have met by fate and slowly, but surely fall in love with each other in their own way.

Read or Not:  Read for the slow and steady romance.

Introduction (the one I was misled by):

What’s so good about getting married? How much money rushes out like water when holding a wedding ceremony? After you give birth to a child, you still have to raise it. If you aren’t careful, you become out of should, and the who knows if a vixen will pounce out from somewhere to steal your husband and take your baby?

Not getting married! Definitely not getting married!

But fate will precisely give you what you are afraid of.

She encounters a stranger’s marriage proposal even by just walking perfectly fine on the road. The dazzling diamond ring is placed in front of her; a handsome man with sincere eyes kneels with one leg in front of her, saying, “Miss, will you please marry me?”

What…what show is this right now?

After pondering about it, it’s bound to be some channel’s new show pulling a prank; getting a star to do fake proposals to passer-bys. Nowadays, there’s an economic crisis; it’s not easy on the producers.

Therefore, she accepts the ring out of kindness before finding out that all of this was actually for real! The ring is an eight starred diamond from South Africa, and the groom is the genuine product, a golden turtle (grandeur) husband!

So this is the commonly talked about marrying rich? Why does it keep feeling like there is a black belly CEO looking at her like a wolf or a tiger? With just one mishap, she’ll be eaten up. And then there is the crowd of people, standing there watching without understanding the situation. Before even completely understanding it herself, the fame of the CEO’s wife had already been spread far and wide.

This time, Du Lei Si really regrets it.

Who can come tell her — can she not get married?