Reviews with content warning for Racial slurs - Four Treasures of the Sky

This book is so beautifully crafted, so poetic and evocative—not just of a particular time in America but of the tug between hope and despair when your freedom has been stolen—that the tragedies it contains feel surprising despite their inevitability. Built around an actual event in Idaho in the 1880s, this story focuses on a Chinese girl who loses her family and then gets kidnapped and brought to the United States against her will. Shifting identities to hide herself, she struggles with an alter ego, a name she was given that suggests her life was bound for tragedy but that also wills her to survive.

The history of the American Frontier West has long sought to erase the people of Asian descent who helped build this country, along with the atrocities committed against them. Jenny Tinghui Zhang took the seed from a historical fact and created the kind of heartbreaking truth that only art can produce. Like the best "Westerns," this novel is not for the faint of heart, but worth the journey it will take you on.

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internationalreads's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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praya50's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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bandysbooks's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This is a book set in late 1800s China and America. It is set during the Chinese Exclusion Act and follows the story of Daiyu who is forcefully immigrated to the USA. The story is at times difficult and at others hopeful. it mingles with folklore from China.

TRIGGER WARNINGS: heavy trigger warnings, please read the warnings.

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brewsandbooks's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I really enjoyed this book. Zhang did a wonderful job writing this very heartbreaking historical fiction. I didn't realize what she based the book on until the end. And when I heard, I was even more impressed. I thought that Diayu was such a wonderful and interesting character. While she is definitely not a weak character by any means, Zhang really enforced that she is a naïve character in some ways and incredibly dynamic in many other ways. We are truly seeing a character grow into herself. I was worried during part II of the book that Zhang was going to make sure our character was always clean and perfect on the page, but she handled it deftly in the future parts of the book in a way that was impressive and understandable.

I also cannot enforce enough how impressive this is as a historical piece of literature. Zhang weaves in real life events that affected Chinese Americans, pointing out how they were affected on the West Coast in the 1800s. She doesn't shy away from these effects, and she deftly handles every moment. I was so impressed, and so glad that this book handled race in a historical context so honestly and in such a vulnerable way. Definitely read this book.

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