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A review by nina_reads_books
Ghost Girl, Banana by Wiz Wharton
3.0
Ghost Girl, Banana by Wiz Wharton is historical fiction focussed on a woman from Hong Kong who is exiled from her family to London and what happens once she marries an English man and has two daughters. It is a dual timeline with the chapters set in 1966 onwards told from the point of view of Sook-Yin Chen and her time in both Kowloon and London and then the chapters set in 1997 focussed on Sook-Yin’s adult daughter Lily. The title draws from this dual focus with Lily the Ghost Girl (a bi-racial woman who doesn’t know her cultural heritage) and Sook-Yin the Banana (only yellow on the outside).
In 1997 we learn that Sook-Yin died when Lily was a small child and she has lived in London with her dad and older sister ever since, estranged from all of her mother’s family. When Lily learns that she has been named as a beneficiary in the will of a rich Chinese stranger, she travels to Hong Kong to find out who this man was and how he was connected to her mother. In doing so she connects with her lost cultural identity and uncovers deep secrets about her family.
The premise of this book really appealed to me but I’m not sure that it fully delivered on its potential. While I enjoyed the themes presented in the novel such as mother-daughter relationships, cultural identity and feeling torn between two cultures, the execution didn’t work for me. The chapters are short which makes for a page turning read but it also felt like the story didn’t ever go deep enough. I found the inclusion of the male characters exasperating. Sook-Yin’s British husband and brother back in Hong Kong are both awful. In particular I found her husband a manipulative asshole! Some of Sook-Yin’s chapters were so drawn out and frustrating because of this.
Another aspect I found didn’t work was that Lily’s visit to Hong Kong coincided with the British handover of Hong Kong and while this had some interesting historical connections it felt like a tokenistic addition.
Overall this was a quick and easy read but it didn’t really grab me strongly enough to be a favourite.
Thank you to @hachetteaus for my #gifted copy.
In 1997 we learn that Sook-Yin died when Lily was a small child and she has lived in London with her dad and older sister ever since, estranged from all of her mother’s family. When Lily learns that she has been named as a beneficiary in the will of a rich Chinese stranger, she travels to Hong Kong to find out who this man was and how he was connected to her mother. In doing so she connects with her lost cultural identity and uncovers deep secrets about her family.
The premise of this book really appealed to me but I’m not sure that it fully delivered on its potential. While I enjoyed the themes presented in the novel such as mother-daughter relationships, cultural identity and feeling torn between two cultures, the execution didn’t work for me. The chapters are short which makes for a page turning read but it also felt like the story didn’t ever go deep enough. I found the inclusion of the male characters exasperating. Sook-Yin’s British husband and brother back in Hong Kong are both awful. In particular I found her husband a manipulative asshole! Some of Sook-Yin’s chapters were so drawn out and frustrating because of this.
Another aspect I found didn’t work was that Lily’s visit to Hong Kong coincided with the British handover of Hong Kong and while this had some interesting historical connections it felt like a tokenistic addition.
Overall this was a quick and easy read but it didn’t really grab me strongly enough to be a favourite.
Thank you to @hachetteaus for my #gifted copy.