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nancyadelman 's review for:
Four Treasures of the Sky
by Jenny Tinghui Zhang
Daiyu is an orphan living in Zhifu, China when she is kidnapped and taken to the United States. She is sold into a brothel that fronts as a laundromat during the day. Forced to reinvent herself time and time again, she eventually manages to escape and flees to Idaho where she works in a general store. Set against the backdrop of the Chinese Exclusion Act, Daiyu is forced to confront the ghosts of her past in order to claim her true name and self.
I like historic fiction because it digs out a hidden nugget in the past and drags it out and shines a light on it for everyone to see and examine it. And this book is no exception. I had no idea that the Chinese Exclusion Act was even a thing, let alone that there were lynchings of Chinese all across the countryside. But I digress. The author also employs magical realism to depict one character, a heroine of a folktale for whom Daiyu is named. This character slides in and out of the story, helping Daiyu out at key points in the story and offering advice or suggestions.
Daiyu is the main character and the entire story is told from her first person, limited point of view. There are a number of minor characters who stay in the story for varying lengths of time, some are relatively short while others are more permanent. All of the characters are well developed and feel like people you know. This reader never knew where the actual plot was going until it did. The setting is partially in Zhifu, China, but also in San Francisco, California, and Idaho. There were some surprises on the way to this book's poignant ending. Daiyu spends several months of her life living and working in a brothel so there are multiple sex scenes and descriptions over lots of pages. There are many instances of characters having drinks, but no one does street drugs. There is human trafficking described in pretty vivid detail. There are some acts of violence from the first page all the way to the last page. If you read this book and don't feel anything for Daiyu, then I feel sorry for you. This book broke my heart, in more than one place. I am giving this book four stars.
I like historic fiction because it digs out a hidden nugget in the past and drags it out and shines a light on it for everyone to see and examine it. And this book is no exception. I had no idea that the Chinese Exclusion Act was even a thing, let alone that there were lynchings of Chinese all across the countryside. But I digress. The author also employs magical realism to depict one character, a heroine of a folktale for whom Daiyu is named. This character slides in and out of the story, helping Daiyu out at key points in the story and offering advice or suggestions.
Daiyu is the main character and the entire story is told from her first person, limited point of view. There are a number of minor characters who stay in the story for varying lengths of time, some are relatively short while others are more permanent. All of the characters are well developed and feel like people you know. This reader never knew where the actual plot was going until it did. The setting is partially in Zhifu, China, but also in San Francisco, California, and Idaho. There were some surprises on the way to this book's poignant ending. Daiyu spends several months of her life living and working in a brothel so there are multiple sex scenes and descriptions over lots of pages. There are many instances of characters having drinks, but no one does street drugs. There is human trafficking described in pretty vivid detail. There are some acts of violence from the first page all the way to the last page. If you read this book and don't feel anything for Daiyu, then I feel sorry for you. This book broke my heart, in more than one place. I am giving this book four stars.