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A review by vickycbooks
The Jade Peony by Wayson Choy
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
The intense sense of place and atmosphere that THE JADE PEONY evokes is one of the highlights of Choy's writing. It firmly grounds the reader in 1930s and 40s Vancouver and provides a vignette-like look at three different children in a Chinese immigrant family.
In many ways, the short novel looks at one specific experience (Chinese immigrants to Vancouver at this time period), but in other ways, it contains a wide breadth of thought and feeling from its characters. Each of the main characters, Jook-Liang, Jung-Sum, and Sek-Lung all take on different roles in the family which significantly shape their varied experience.
I think Jook-Liang's story was my favorite -- hers was in many ways the lightest of the three. It predominantly looks at a formative time period when she was young, idolizing Shirley Temple and forming a close and heartwarming bond with an elderly man in the community that their family knows. Jook-Liang struggles with her position in the family (she is less cared for in some ways because she is a daughter, as well as being birthed by her father's second wife, whom she must call "Stepmother") and basks in the elderly man's kind attentions on her.
Jung-Sum's story is a story of boyhood and queer awakening, looking in a non-chronological nature at how he enters the family (he is adopted into the family) and his position as a second son. We see him develop an interest in boxing, and this takes Jung-Sum's story in places which lead him to understand new things about himself.
Sek-Lung's story is in many ways the darkest -- it is firmly grounded during World War II and we see a lot of tension between Sek-Lung and others, especially as he sensationalizes the war and experiences increased aggression towards Japanese people in particular. His story is as much a coming of age as it is a coming of empathy, as his experiences with his new babysitter leads to conflicting feelings and new perspectives for Sek-Lung.
Overall, I thought THE JADE PEONY was a very moving work and I can see why it is a classic piece of Canadian fiction. (My copy was used and clearly annotated by a student in school -- I had the pleasure of reading two different definitions of concubine by their hand lol). I'm interested in reading the next book, especially as the first son's experience is only highlighted through other characters' perspectives.
Content Warnings:use of racial slurs, not just for various Asian ethnicities, but for Black, Native, and other ethnicities; internalized & external racism; war; homophobia; death of a loved one; gender discrimination within a household; corporal punishment; mentions of domestic violence; a self-enacted abortion
In many ways, the short novel looks at one specific experience (Chinese immigrants to Vancouver at this time period), but in other ways, it contains a wide breadth of thought and feeling from its characters. Each of the main characters, Jook-Liang, Jung-Sum, and Sek-Lung all take on different roles in the family which significantly shape their varied experience.
I think Jook-Liang's story was my favorite -- hers was in many ways the lightest of the three. It predominantly looks at a formative time period when she was young, idolizing Shirley Temple and forming a close and heartwarming bond with an elderly man in the community that their family knows. Jook-Liang struggles with her position in the family (she is less cared for in some ways because she is a daughter, as well as being birthed by her father's second wife, whom she must call "Stepmother") and basks in the elderly man's kind attentions on her.
Jung-Sum's story is a story of boyhood and queer awakening, looking in a non-chronological nature at how he enters the family (he is adopted into the family) and his position as a second son. We see him develop an interest in boxing, and this takes Jung-Sum's story in places which lead him to understand new things about himself.
Sek-Lung's story is in many ways the darkest -- it is firmly grounded during World War II and we see a lot of tension between Sek-Lung and others, especially as he sensationalizes the war and experiences increased aggression towards Japanese people in particular. His story is as much a coming of age as it is a coming of empathy, as his experiences with his new babysitter leads to conflicting feelings and new perspectives for Sek-Lung.
Overall, I thought THE JADE PEONY was a very moving work and I can see why it is a classic piece of Canadian fiction. (My copy was used and clearly annotated by a student in school -- I had the pleasure of reading two different definitions of concubine by their hand lol). I'm interested in reading the next book, especially as the first son's experience is only highlighted through other characters' perspectives.
Content Warnings: