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3.62 AVERAGE
3.62 AVERAGE
I am not sure if I think a girl my sister's age should be writing her memoirs. (My sister is turning 28 this year.) Egotistically, I compare people's life experiences to mine, and I don't think I have done anything memoir-worthy yet. I don't think the author of Unpolished Gem has done anything memoir-worthy, either. Basically, she grew up Asian in Australia. That is it.
I have read many books with the "child-of-immigrants-trying-to-assimilate-into-western-culture" storyline (see one I reviewed here). Actually, I live that story. I don't think it can be that different than other people's. But I will get into that later.
I think the story starts strong- perhaps because it is more about her parents and her grandparents than about her. She describes the plight of her mother with empathy- her mother is a strong, intelligent and hard-working woman living in a country where she is completely isolated due to language barriers. She also talks about her grandmother, and her wonderful ability to weave stories with words and gestures and voice inflection.
However, after that, the story goes to Alice herself, and I started to lose interest. It seems like Alice didn't really talk to anyone for much of her life- we rarely hear about her friends, and those that are mentioned only feature peripherally. We don't know much about any of her life that takes place outside her parents' home. Though it seems like she doesn't have much of a life that takes place outside her parents' house. She attends her high school graduation and realizes the only people in school she talks to are other Cambodian/Chinese students. She blames this on her "culture," and the inability for other people to understand it. Also, on her parents' strict curfew. She gets a white boyfriend, whom she breaks up with for reasons that I didn't quite understand. Though she was 18 at the time, so I suppose it is natural to break up with a guy at that age for obscure reasons.
I didn't really love the book. But that said, it looks like Australia doesn't have many books about the immigrant experience in that country, at least based on the newspaper reviews I've seen. In that case, maybe it is an important book.
I have read many books with the "child-of-immigrants-trying-to-assimilate-into-western-culture" storyline (see one I reviewed here). Actually, I live that story. I don't think it can be that different than other people's. But I will get into that later.
I think the story starts strong- perhaps because it is more about her parents and her grandparents than about her. She describes the plight of her mother with empathy- her mother is a strong, intelligent and hard-working woman living in a country where she is completely isolated due to language barriers. She also talks about her grandmother, and her wonderful ability to weave stories with words and gestures and voice inflection.
However, after that, the story goes to Alice herself, and I started to lose interest. It seems like Alice didn't really talk to anyone for much of her life- we rarely hear about her friends, and those that are mentioned only feature peripherally. We don't know much about any of her life that takes place outside her parents' home. Though it seems like she doesn't have much of a life that takes place outside her parents' house. She attends her high school graduation and realizes the only people in school she talks to are other Cambodian/Chinese students. She blames this on her "culture," and the inability for other people to understand it. Also, on her parents' strict curfew. She gets a white boyfriend, whom she breaks up with for reasons that I didn't quite understand. Though she was 18 at the time, so I suppose it is natural to break up with a guy at that age for obscure reasons.
I didn't really love the book. But that said, it looks like Australia doesn't have many books about the immigrant experience in that country, at least based on the newspaper reviews I've seen. In that case, maybe it is an important book.
4.5 stars rounded up to 5.
Reading this book made me feel some sort of connection between me and Alice Pung. After all, she has sent me a message before, 4 months ago:
You thought I was joking.
So yes, I have talked to her. But even more than that, she lived in the same area as me (she lived in Footscray while I live in Sunshine North, which are both of Melbourne's western suburbs and about a 20-minute drive away from each other), and in FACT, she went to the same school as me! (Well, actually, I'm not even sure if her campus was part of my school back then--there were two schools near each other and they thought it would be a good idea if they just merged into ONE school with two separate campuses, and the smaller campus would only have Year 7 to Year 9 girls, but I'm not sure if they merged before or after she went there... oh well, she still went to the same campus as me!) This just made me feel a stronger connection to her as I read this book, knowing she has seen the same places and encountered the same types of people as me.
This book was funny, down-to-earth, and intelligently written. Alice Pung is such a magnificent writer and I hope she comes out with more books, because she is one to watch out for.
Reading this book made me feel some sort of connection between me and Alice Pung. After all, she has sent me a message before, 4 months ago:
You thought I was joking.
So yes, I have talked to her. But even more than that, she lived in the same area as me (she lived in Footscray while I live in Sunshine North, which are both of Melbourne's western suburbs and about a 20-minute drive away from each other), and in FACT, she went to the same school as me! (Well, actually, I'm not even sure if her campus was part of my school back then--there were two schools near each other and they thought it would be a good idea if they just merged into ONE school with two separate campuses, and the smaller campus would only have Year 7 to Year 9 girls, but I'm not sure if they merged before or after she went there... oh well, she still went to the same campus as me!) This just made me feel a stronger connection to her as I read this book, knowing she has seen the same places and encountered the same types of people as me.
This book was funny, down-to-earth, and intelligently written. Alice Pung is such a magnificent writer and I hope she comes out with more books, because she is one to watch out for.