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mudder17 's review for:
Four Treasures of the Sky
by Jenny Tinghui Zhang
4.5 stars
This was NOT an easy book to read or listen to (I did both) and for those for whom sexual assault, lynching, and being a victim of violent racism are triggers, you may want to tread lightly or skip it altogether because this book is hard. But it is also beautifully written and crafted and through all of the tragedy of the story that HAD to be told, you feel that Daiyu and all of her identities--her true spirit--somehow managed to triumph over it all.
This is the story of Daiyu, who was named after the tragic Chinese heroine, Lin Daiyu, who she always resented because of her unhappy end. After her parents disappear, her grandmother sends her to a port city dressed as a boy, in hopes of saving her life. Initially, she lands with a calligraphy master and you think she'll end up okay. But things do not turn out that way and she is eventually smuggled to America in a coal barrel and sent to a brothel under the name of Peony. She eventually escapes with the help of someone who betrays her and finally lands in Pierce, Idaho where she is taken in by kind Chinese shopkeepers who believe she is a boy named Jacob.
This is the story of Daiyu who is also Lin Daiyu, who is also Jacob. The lessons she learned at the calligraphy master about the four treasures help form her life through all the hardship and I loved listening to her learn about people and their essence through the characters of their names. I'm so glad I listened to this book because hearing her say the Chinese names and how meaning flowed from the characters was fascinating and I think I would have missed that if I had just read it. While this book is short enough that I could have listened to it much quicker, it was a tough read and I definitely had to read it in smaller sessions. The author does not flinch from the pain and the suffering, but she somehow coaxes beauty out of the story, and in the end, you're left with an image of Daiyu flying free.
The author's note at the end was one that I was so glad to have read. While I'm glad I didn't read it beforehand because then I would have predicted the ending, I also think it added to the story to learn about the origins of her story and how it connected to true Chinese American history and the Chinese Exclusionary act. With all of the anti-Asian instances of racism that occurred every time I read the news throughout the pandemic, this book is sadly very relevant. But even if not, it is his history that needed to be told. I know I never knew about any of this history. It is appalling and I applaud the author for taking on such a tough subject and her dad for suggesting she write about it. I also enjoyed learning about how the book began being about one of the other characters but ended up turning into the story of Daiyu.
This was NOT an easy book to read or listen to (I did both) and for those for whom sexual assault, lynching, and being a victim of violent racism are triggers, you may want to tread lightly or skip it altogether because this book is hard. But it is also beautifully written and crafted and through all of the tragedy of the story that HAD to be told, you feel that Daiyu and all of her identities--her true spirit--somehow managed to triumph over it all.
This is the story of Daiyu, who was named after the tragic Chinese heroine, Lin Daiyu, who she always resented because of her unhappy end. After her parents disappear, her grandmother sends her to a port city dressed as a boy, in hopes of saving her life. Initially, she lands with a calligraphy master and you think she'll end up okay. But things do not turn out that way and she is eventually smuggled to America in a coal barrel and sent to a brothel under the name of Peony. She eventually escapes with the help of someone who betrays her and finally lands in Pierce, Idaho where she is taken in by kind Chinese shopkeepers who believe she is a boy named Jacob.
This is the story of Daiyu who is also Lin Daiyu, who is also Jacob. The lessons she learned at the calligraphy master about the four treasures help form her life through all the hardship and I loved listening to her learn about people and their essence through the characters of their names. I'm so glad I listened to this book because hearing her say the Chinese names and how meaning flowed from the characters was fascinating and I think I would have missed that if I had just read it. While this book is short enough that I could have listened to it much quicker, it was a tough read and I definitely had to read it in smaller sessions. The author does not flinch from the pain and the suffering, but she somehow coaxes beauty out of the story, and in the end, you're left with an image of Daiyu flying free.
The author's note at the end was one that I was so glad to have read. While I'm glad I didn't read it beforehand because then I would have predicted the ending, I also think it added to the story to learn about the origins of her story and how it connected to true Chinese American history and the Chinese Exclusionary act. With all of the anti-Asian instances of racism that occurred every time I read the news throughout the pandemic, this book is sadly very relevant. But even if not, it is his history that needed to be told. I know I never knew about any of this history. It is appalling and I applaud the author for taking on such a tough subject and her dad for suggesting she write about it. I also enjoyed learning about how the book began being about one of the other characters but ended up turning into the story of Daiyu.