becthree 's review for:

The Phoenix Pencil Company by Allison King

4.0

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Allison King's debut novel is an emotional exploration of the lives of two women: Yun, living through WWII in Shanghai and later through the repressive Nationalist regime of Taiwan before emigrating to the US; and her granddaughter, Monica, living with Yun and her husband while trying to figure out what to do with her life. Yun survives through her family's eponymous pencil company and a special ability that runs through the women in the family--the ability to absorb and Reforge the writings of a pencil, pouring words onto pages and experiencing the emotions of the writers. During WWII, Yun and her cousin, Meng, along with their mothers are pulled into the Nationalist resistance to Japanese occupation, and are later separated by the split between the Communist mainland and Nationalist Taiwan. In the present, Yun is in the beginning stages of Alzheimer's and Monica is desperate to learn more about her grandmother, leading their stories to intertwine in a stirring journey through Chinese history and the modern tech landscape. Highly recommend.