susiedoom 's review for:

Four Treasures of the Sky by Jenny Tinghui Zhang

5.0

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Daiyu is only a child when her parents go missing, and her grandmother tells her she must disguise herself as a boy and disappear into the city to avoid the same fate. She finds safety cleaning a calligraphy school, but only for a short while before being kidnapped and smuggled into the U.S., where she must escape a terrible fate and growing anti-Chinese sentiments.

This is, like, A LITTLE LIFE levels of tragic and devastating. It's beautifully written, with sweeping prose and immersive visual descriptions. Daiyu's story is heartbreaking from beginning to end, with only brief moments of happiness sprinkled in. The most devastating part is that it's inspired by a true story. It's a powerful and emotional story about the long history of anti-Chinese racism in the U.S. CW for pretty much everything you can imagine.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.