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4.21 AVERAGE
4.21 AVERAGE
What a beautiful epic! To be honest I didn't realize how attached I was to the story and the characters until I talked about it to someone after I'd finished, so I guess that's why it's not fully 5 stars. I loved almost everything about it, the sweeping story across decades and multiple generations, the complicated relationships and the loss and grief and the connection with culture... just really amazing, I would highly recommend to absolutely everyone.
Excellent story about family, loss, tragedy, growth, new life, and the complexities of the human experience and immigration.
Read harder challenge 2023: Read a historical fiction book set in an Eastern country.
Beautiful, heart-wrenching story spanning 6 decades, 3 generations and 2 continents.
Whenever I think about people who leave their country of birth to live somewhere new, I tend to idly assume I can imagine roughly what the experience might be like, or at least because I like to think of myself as an empathetic person, I can give it a good try. This book showed me how far from the truth I have been. Until I immersed myself in this story, I was unaware of just how complicated, traumatic, fulfilling and devastating this experience can be.
Peach Blossom Spring is a story about a mother and son who escape war-torn China in the 1940s to Taiwan, and the son's eventual emigration to America, where he starts a family with an American woman. The sheer emotional depth of the story and stark immediacy of the writing pull you into the characters' world. A world which is all too full of trouble and pain and heartache, and is all too real.
The effects of the son's emigration from China to America are like a wave, rippling through the generations in both directions, impacting both his mother and his daughter. His suspicion of and reaction to the geopolitical machinations of China and the USA over the decades form part of a constant struggle to keep his family safe and happy.
The writing is stark and pure, containing some beautiful imagery and metaphor, all woven into a beautiful tribute to the power of storytelling.
Beautiful, heart-wrenching story spanning 6 decades, 3 generations and 2 continents.
Whenever I think about people who leave their country of birth to live somewhere new, I tend to idly assume I can imagine roughly what the experience might be like, or at least because I like to think of myself as an empathetic person, I can give it a good try. This book showed me how far from the truth I have been. Until I immersed myself in this story, I was unaware of just how complicated, traumatic, fulfilling and devastating this experience can be.
Peach Blossom Spring is a story about a mother and son who escape war-torn China in the 1940s to Taiwan, and the son's eventual emigration to America, where he starts a family with an American woman. The sheer emotional depth of the story and stark immediacy of the writing pull you into the characters' world. A world which is all too full of trouble and pain and heartache, and is all too real.
The effects of the son's emigration from China to America are like a wave, rippling through the generations in both directions, impacting both his mother and his daughter. His suspicion of and reaction to the geopolitical machinations of China and the USA over the decades form part of a constant struggle to keep his family safe and happy.
The writing is stark and pure, containing some beautiful imagery and metaphor, all woven into a beautiful tribute to the power of storytelling.
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This is honestly a 10 out of 10 read.
I’m glad I didn’t shy away from this book just because of the page count.
You would think the author was a historian or history major with the amount of knowledge, information and history is jam packed in here. I did not know just how intertwined Chinese and Taiwanese history was and still is to this day. It’s from 1938 to 2005 from Meilin, her son Renshu (Henry) and his daughter Lily.
It’s a book about sacrifice, seeking asylum, wondering what is home, questioning your childhood, questioning your identity, finding your roots and belonging. I am not an immigrant or the child of one but this book does resonate with me in a sense with Lily and the feeling of not belonging in a group with your race and ethnicity.
You really see how each person responds to trauma, how they chose to accept the past, looking towards the future and what they see as home.
This story shows the sacrifices a mother at that time makes for her and her child, you get what she thinks she could’ve don differently to make things easier for her son. You read about the consequences of certain actions that were taken during a time where you had to do what you needed to do, especially since families were split and broken while fleeing and seeking asylum.
You read about PTSD showing VERY strong in Renshu (Henry) and how that affected him, his relationship and his family. How being told to be wary about getting involved with politics because you never know who could be watching and listening. How FRAGILE the American dream can be and how that can be easily taken away with the wrong move.
You stayed quiet, do the job you were meant to do and stay with that job for security.
This book was phenomenal, fantastic, Informative, emotional and reflective.
This is the perfect example to me of what a Historical Fiction book is and should be. This is what I look for, I want a story with real world experiences and events that really happened.
———————— SPOILER ———————
I was really hopeful that Lilly would find the handscroll that Meilin sadly had to sell for coins for travel.
I’m glad it was mentioned that Meilin would always go to any new museum that popped up to see if she’d find her late husband’s precious treasure. Her last connection to their home when it was her, her husband and their son. But to me it signifies that the scroll is just like anything else during that time; goods, documents, memories and stories; lost in the past during a period of war. *sigh*
I’m glad I didn’t shy away from this book just because of the page count.
You would think the author was a historian or history major with the amount of knowledge, information and history is jam packed in here. I did not know just how intertwined Chinese and Taiwanese history was and still is to this day. It’s from 1938 to 2005 from Meilin, her son Renshu (Henry) and his daughter Lily.
It’s a book about sacrifice, seeking asylum, wondering what is home, questioning your childhood, questioning your identity, finding your roots and belonging. I am not an immigrant or the child of one but this book does resonate with me in a sense with Lily and the feeling of not belonging in a group with your race and ethnicity.
You really see how each person responds to trauma, how they chose to accept the past, looking towards the future and what they see as home.
This story shows the sacrifices a mother at that time makes for her and her child, you get what she thinks she could’ve don differently to make things easier for her son. You read about the consequences of certain actions that were taken during a time where you had to do what you needed to do, especially since families were split and broken while fleeing and seeking asylum.
You read about PTSD showing VERY strong in Renshu (Henry) and how that affected him, his relationship and his family. How being told to be wary about getting involved with politics because you never know who could be watching and listening. How FRAGILE the American dream can be and how that can be easily taken away with the wrong move.
You stayed quiet, do the job you were meant to do and stay with that job for security.
This book was phenomenal, fantastic, Informative, emotional and reflective.
This is the perfect example to me of what a Historical Fiction book is and should be. This is what I look for, I want a story with real world experiences and events that really happened.
———————— SPOILER ———————
I was really hopeful that Lilly would find the handscroll that Meilin sadly had to sell for coins for travel.
I’m glad it was mentioned that Meilin would always go to any new museum that popped up to see if she’d find her late husband’s precious treasure. Her last connection to their home when it was her, her husband and their son. But to me it signifies that the scroll is just like anything else during that time; goods, documents, memories and stories; lost in the past during a period of war. *sigh*
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Violence, War
Moderate: Child abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Deportation
Minor: Rape, Sexual assault
Beautiful. Absolutely gorgeous writing, and covers so much ground without being clunky or overwhelming. The characters felt real and present, and I was so invested. It made me want to learn more. And that doesn’t even begin to cover how beautifully and gracefully the story maneuvered issues like inter generational trauma, culture and heritage, war, coming of age, and all the lovely and hard things that come with a book like this.
adventurous
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A sweeping family history that follows a young boy from mainland China to an escape to Taiwan, and then to the U.S. He grapples with his complicated history as he makes his life in the US.
The story was reminiscent of Lisa See’s Shanghai Girls novels and maybe also a bit of Interior Chinatown.
The story was reminiscent of Lisa See’s Shanghai Girls novels and maybe also a bit of Interior Chinatown.
love reading about a time and place that I’ve never read about before.
