A review by brewsandbooks
Four Treasures of the Sky by Jenny Tinghui Zhang

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad 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

4.25

I really enjoyed this book. Zhang did a wonderful job writing this very heartbreaking historical fiction. I didn't realize what she based the book on until the end. And when I heard, I was even more impressed. I thought that Diayu was such a wonderful and interesting character. While she is definitely not a weak character by any means, Zhang really enforced that she is a naïve character in some ways and incredibly dynamic in many other ways. We are truly seeing a character grow into herself. I was worried during part II of the book that Zhang was going to make sure our character was always clean and perfect on the page, but she handled it deftly in the future parts of the book in a way that was impressive and understandable. 

I also cannot enforce enough how impressive this is as a historical piece of literature. Zhang weaves in real life events that affected Chinese Americans, pointing out how they were affected on the West Coast in the 1800s. She doesn't shy away from these effects, and she deftly handles every moment. I was so impressed, and so glad that this book handled race in a historical context so honestly and in such a vulnerable way. Definitely read this book. 
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