A review by nappower
Steer Toward Rock by Fae Myenne Ng

2.0

Wanted to like this book, as it takes on an interesting aspect of us history - paper families and chinese immigration policies of the u.s. The language that some may deem poetic and metaphorical (and i do love my metaphors!) kept me from entering fully into the story and feeling for the characters or getting an idea really of who these characters were. Dates are a little unclear even though it's relatively easy to figure out from who is speaking but then dialogue from the younger generation became jarring because it's neither here nor there and ends up reading weirdly to me ("Being in China only made me feel more resolute about not reversing my tubal ligation.") This kind of 'historical' fiction novel about Asian/Asian immigrant characters does bring up the question for me about how language style should or can be treated. Eh my thoughts are a little too tangled still....