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katharines's review
3.0
This is the first book I've read of this kind. A fictional story based on real experiences of Chinese immigrants in Vancouver during wartime. Focusing on three children of the family, telling stories from their viewpoints, all with a common theme of trying to fight who they are (or, in the case of the girt, who she is being told she is). The ending almost brought me to tears.
akublik's review
3.0
I'm trying to read all of the Canada Reads books this year - somehow I have not read any on the list yet. I really enjoyed Choy's storytelling style, and the characters.
justabean_reads's review against another edition
5.0
The novel follows three siblings in Vancouver's Chinatown in the late 1930s and early 1940s, focusing on the cultural divide across generations, with the Japanese invasion of China and Canada's entry into the war running in the background. The older two children get about a quarter of the book each, the girl's story taking place when she's quite young and seeing the world through the twin lenses of Shirley Temple movies and her grandmother's Monkey King stories. Whereas the boy, who was adopted after a tragedy killed his birth parents, is approaching puberty, spending a lot of time at a boxing gym trying to be the next Joe Lewis, and developing an agonising crush on the bad boy next door. In both, the war is still very much overseas, though its deeply affecting the Chinese community. By the time the youngest takes over narration for the back half of the book, the Commonwealth is in the war, and Vancouver's Chinese and Japanese communities are violently at odds.
More than anything, it's a portrait of Chinatown as it was, with so much of the population people who came with the railway building generation, and the old country's dialects, religion, traditions, rivalries still live on with them. The neighbourhood overflows with intertwined family histories and tragedies, most of the men battered by a life in heavy industry, most families trying to set by a little extra to ship their ancestors' bones back to China. Each of the children navigate the questions around identity differently, finding value in one tradition or another, while trying to find a place in a Canada that doesn't want them.
Gorgeous, nuanced book. I see there's a sequel (prequel?) about the oldest sibling who didn't get a point of view in this one, which I mean to check out.
More than anything, it's a portrait of Chinatown as it was, with so much of the population people who came with the railway building generation, and the old country's dialects, religion, traditions, rivalries still live on with them. The neighbourhood overflows with intertwined family histories and tragedies, most of the men battered by a life in heavy industry, most families trying to set by a little extra to ship their ancestors' bones back to China. Each of the children navigate the questions around identity differently, finding value in one tradition or another, while trying to find a place in a Canada that doesn't want them.
Gorgeous, nuanced book. I see there's a sequel (prequel?) about the oldest sibling who didn't get a point of view in this one, which I mean to check out.
rubyrjm's review
4.0
Read for Canada Reads 2010, and for my book club. I enjoyed each character's story more than the last. It was very compelling.
starenglish's review
5.0
The ending broke me! Such a good book. I liked learning new things from this book. I would highly recommend it but search up trigger warnings before you dive in!
tomikorobson's review against another edition
5.0
This has been on my “I should really read this pile” for a long time. I’m glad I finally got around to it. It’s a beautiful story.
literallykalasin's review against another edition
4.0
Wayson Choy combines the narratives of three siblings to create this compelling story of the immigrant experience in Canada leading up to the Second World War.
theloosepage's review
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
marie_gg's review
2.0
In preparation for our trip to Vancouver, BC, last summer, I looked up books about Vancouver. Wayson Choy was one of the most frequently mentioned authors. I find that Canadian authors are not very widely read in the U.S., and I've found many Canadian gems.
The novel is divided into three sections, each telling the unique perspective of three siblings growing up in the Chinatown of Vancouver. It touches on many issues of race, family, rivalry, the battle between the old ways and the new ways, discrimination, war, and homosexuality.
I found many parts of the novel interesting (for example, the young girl's unique friendship with an older, disfigured Chinese man, or the affair between the Chinese girl and the Japanese boy), but it dragged in other parts. In some sections Choy included far too many characters for the reader to follow. I didn't get the same feeling of place as I did in reading Vancouver.
I have Choy's autobiography out of the library, but I'm not sure whether I'll read it just yet. This book didn't grip me enough as it could have.
The novel is divided into three sections, each telling the unique perspective of three siblings growing up in the Chinatown of Vancouver. It touches on many issues of race, family, rivalry, the battle between the old ways and the new ways, discrimination, war, and homosexuality.
I found many parts of the novel interesting (for example, the young girl's unique friendship with an older, disfigured Chinese man, or the affair between the Chinese girl and the Japanese boy), but it dragged in other parts. In some sections Choy included far too many characters for the reader to follow. I didn't get the same feeling of place as I did in reading Vancouver.
I have Choy's autobiography out of the library, but I'm not sure whether I'll read it just yet. This book didn't grip me enough as it could have.