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asab27 's review for:
Four Treasures of the Sky
by Jenny Tinghui Zhang
This book is hard to figure out how to review. I won it in a goodreads giveaway, and was initially very intrigued by the premise.
Overall, it is beautifully written and brings to light a part of history that few know about. While people may know about the Chinese Exclusion Act broadly, this book sheds a light on many nuances and different experiences in far greater detail than simply knowing about the act. This is especially important to learn about given the racism and hatred Asian people still face today.
However, just a warning this book is relentlessly heavy and bleak. I certainly expected that there would be some dark or sad parts, but almost no positive things happen in the entire book. Our protagonist gets out of one bad situation only to be thrust into worse ones. I suppose I expected there to be slightly more hope or positive moments amongst the negatives, and there was not much of either.
Overall, it is beautifully written and brings to light a part of history that few know about. While people may know about the Chinese Exclusion Act broadly, this book sheds a light on many nuances and different experiences in far greater detail than simply knowing about the act. This is especially important to learn about given the racism and hatred Asian people still face today.
However, just a warning this book is relentlessly heavy and bleak. I certainly expected that there would be some dark or sad parts, but almost no positive things happen in the entire book. Our protagonist gets out of one bad situation only to be thrust into worse ones. I suppose I expected there to be slightly more hope or positive moments amongst the negatives, and there was not much of either.