The Strength of Water

by Karin K. Jensen

In 1920s Detroit, King Ying stands on a box to iron clothes in her parent's laundry business and endures taunts of Ching-Ching Chinaman on the playground. She dreams of a home and the elegance of her Jane Arden paper dolls. But when her father incurs steep debts during the Great Depression, he sends her far from hope to live in his ancestral village.

In remote Tai Ting Pong in the Guangdong province of China, King Ying feels as foreign in the land of her heritage as she did in the country of her birth. There, she must survive hunger, deadly superstition, and Japanese invasion. When a guardian angel helps her return to California, it's a chance to seize her American dream ... if she can overcome mid-20th century racism, those who prey on the economically vulnerable, and her family's toxic expectations about marriage.

In this debut memoir, Karin K. Jensen records her mother's transpacific quest for identity, survival, and new world dreams. The Strength of Water is a work of Asian American history revealed through one's family's experiences.

Genres: Memoir, Nonfiction, History, Cultural, Asian American

310 pages, Paperback

Published March 1, 2023

About the author

Karin K. Jensen is a local news writer for the Alameda Post and the author of The Strength of Water, an Asian American Coming-of-Age Memoir, which received a coveted starred review from Kirkus and appeared on the annual Kirkus List of Top 100 Indie Books.

She has written for AsAm News and NewsBreak, winning NewsBreak editorial awards on the topics of #StopAsianHate and #AAPI Voices. Authority Magazine named her a Social Impact Author.

Karin lives in sunny Alameda, California, where she enjoys life by the ocean with her husband and two daughters, teaching children to dance, costumes, fantasy, and penning stories in the local tea garden.

Reviews

[Blaine DeSantis · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a wonderful memoir that Karin K. Jensen has written about her mother! A true labor of love to both the woman, her efforts and her memory. Jensen writes this book in her mothers voice, as if we are actually reading her mothers autobiography and does a wonderful job using that format.
This book begins in Detroit where she wa born, and then moves to China where her father took her and her siblings to live with his own mother. There her father remarried and moved back to the US, leaving his new wife and all her "new:" children to fend for themselves with just some monetary assistance from him - he was now back in the US. Eventually Karin's mother received money for a boat trip back to the US and when she gets there she no longer lives with her father, but rather two different aunts. In addition her father expected her to repay him for the cost of the passage as well as 10% of her income to support him! Fascinating look at Chinese culture here in the US, as well as life in China during 1930's and WW2; A true story of perseverance to overcome all life threw at her.. Great book, and a definite Book Club selection!!

[Shen Yang · Rating 5 out of 5]

Before I read The Strength of Water, all I knew about the gold rush in California was how Chinese men suffered and struggled to make a living; After reading the story, I had a much deeper understanding of how Chinese women survived and thrived in a totally foreign environment.

If digging for gold in the mountains was the “old gold rush” in the 19th century, then the “new gold rush” in the 20th century was definitely the laundry business. Discrimination towards Asian immigrants made it difficult for them to find other jobs at the beginning: the low start-up costs and the willingness to work hard in the laundry business provided them with a place to work and live to attain relative financial security and, most importantly, to send money back to support their families in rural areas of China.

Born in 1923 in the United States, Helen Yee was the eldest daughter of the Yee family, where she not only witnessed her young parents devoting themselves to their laundry business but also persisted in having one child after another until they finally had a baby boy. People valued sons more highly than daughters, and a woman who gave birth to only female offspring was regarded as unsuccessful back then. Their tenacity rewarded them with a son but it also took a toll on the wife’s already fragile health.

“Go with what life brings.” Helen’s mum often used to say. Indeed, life had turned out so differently from what she and everyone else in the family had expected. When disaster strikes, Mr. Yee brings his children back to his home village in China, where he can maintain them cheaply while he returns to the U.S. to earn money for their support. Consequently, we get to see a fascinating glimpse of everyday life in rural China nearly 100 years ago.

But due to the poor living conditions and a combination of other things, Helen later suffered seriously from malaria. “Our survival was only partly in our hands, so we could not but feel the influence of fate.” This time, fate didn’t turn its back, after two years of intermittent struggle with malaria, she miraculously survived. When she finally recovered, her stepmother wanted her to marry a man who is 20 years older. Luckily, her father disagreed and arranged for her to return to the US. Which was the last and the least he could do for her.

Lack of proper education and no further financial support from her father left Helen no choice but to live under other people’s roofs and work for them. “We do not take charity from anybody, we take care of ourselves!” Helen never forgot her father’s words, they were so deeply etched into her mind that independence soon became her driving force.

Prejudice and racism towards Asians at that time and lack of proper education precluded her from any job but being a waitress, but her diligence and positive attitude earned her both salary and respect.

“My whole life had been being happy to survive from day to day. With little education and parents too bound up in their survival to guide me, I had learned everything through hard knocks. But every situation in my life had been temporary so whatever mistakes I made could be fixed.”

Helen entered an ill-advised marriage when she was 20 years old. Her married life offers an intimate view of how both Chinese and American culture in the mid-20th century often trapped women in unhealthy relationships because marriage was such a key part of their status. But stepping into the wrong marriage was definitely not the end of the world. Within the darkness, she created some light.

Helen never went to university, but what she had learned in life was more than enough. She developed a high EQ, sharp observation, stronger resilience, and empathy toward others. She had observed and experienced enough in her life to know that integrity meant all the world to her. She deserved to be cherished, to be loved, to be respected, and to have a real shot at life before it was too late. Fate didn’t fail her this time, and she lived her life to the fullest.

As the eldest daughter of the Yee family, Helen not only kept in her heart what her mum had told her but also proved through her actions that she was always able to keep herself together and take care of her sisters and brother. As she said, she had the strength of water, which flows through cracks and low places, carves through mountains, remains unaltered, and connects everyone. It took ten years for her to reconnect and reunite the whole family, but it was a blessing to be together and write their own legend~

“Ever since Kimmie was little, I have told her my stories. I wanted her to know where I came from, what life can be like for those born into less fortunate circumstances, and how life isn’t always fair. I especially wanted her to know how hard some people have to fight for their slice of happiness. I am grateful and proud that I was able to enjoy some of the blessings of this world before I passed on and that I was able to help my family do the same.”

She valued family, integrity, courage, and hard work, she has taught everything she knew to her beloved Kimmie, her younger daughter, and loved her unconditionally. She was a waitress who couldn’t go to school, but her daughter had a master's degree, she was the writer of her own life, but her daughter became the author of her whole life.

This was a truly inspiring, touching, and compelling personal memoir, and I highly recommend it to anyone seeking insight into Chinese-American women, whose histories and lives interweave as they navigate life. An amazing generation exploring their own relationship with culture, heritage, identity, and love.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a lifelong Michigander, the Detroit connection interested me. It was however only a very minor part of this saga. The family worked hard and lived in the back of a Detroit laundry before relocating to California. The trials and tribulations of the 1920s and 1930s, especially for immigrants were at times heartbreaking. As the family moves between China and the US, the cultural differences are stark. Growing up in the westernized culture of California and then moving back to China, proved difficult for the main character. She encountered many challenges in the US as a minority. However, moving back to China and living in the rice paddies was perhaps more difficult. Western luxuries of running water and indoor plumbing were nonexistent. . In China she also faced hunger, gender inequality, invasion by the Japanese and more. Eventually, with the help of a Good Samaritan, she was able to return to the US. This is a story of resilience and the main character is able to adapt to most any situation, no matter how difficult or unfair. How many of us would have survived all of this?

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC

[Peter W · Rating 5 out of 5]

The long, hard path from a Chinese rice paddy to a “slice of happiness”.

Karin Jensen presents the amazing story of her mother’s life.

You feel you are sitting with Helen/King Ying as she tells you her life story, full of significant anecdotes, turning points and insightful moments from her life. You relive with Helen/King Ying the joyful, shameful, triumphant and regretful events. You wonder how she found the inner will to endure her sequence of traumatic experiences that spanned about 50 years from the 1920’s to the 1970’s. You appreciate how the forces of history are interwoven with our lives. For example, in the 1800’s Britain balanced their huge trade deficit with China by forcing China to buy opium (as a result of the Opium Wars), which fostered an epidemic of opium addicts, afflicting many of Helen/King Ying’s relatives. Another example is the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 which prohibited all immigration of Chinese laborers. Intended to last 10 years, the law remained enforced until 1943 and disrupted the travel of Helen/King Ying’s family. (The Chinese Exclusion Act was the first and only major U.S. law ever implemented to prevent all members of a specific national group from immigrating to the United States.)

It is rare to hear from someone who lived in the back of a Chinese hand laundry in Detroit, spent years as a rice paddy peasant in China, then forced to become independent at age 17 in the San Francisco Bay Area. Fortunately, Karin Jensen provides us an opportunity with this unvarnished, unsentimental story. Immerse yourself in this incredible saga that is blended with Chinese culture and global events.

[Risa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the e-arc!

While my parents are younger than Helen/King Ying and they grew up in a major city, this book felt like listening to my parents talk about their childhoods.

After reading books like "The Making of Asian America," it's beautiful but also heartbreaking to read a first hand account like this. From the Sino-Japanese War to the Chinese Exclusion Act to interracial marriage, Helen's life was the embodiment of Chinese American history.

It was an honor to read these stories and acknowledge her legacy.

[Marilyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

So inspiring — what a remarkable life! Loved this book.

[Judy Middleton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I cannot stress enough the importance of this awe-inspiring and heartwarming story with incredible hardship, heartache, tenacity, perseverance and finally joy. As I look at the devastating effects of hurricanes here in the states in October 2024 I marvel at the appropriateness of the title of this gem of a book. I admire both this extraordinary and captivating woman and the admirable daughter whose love shines through the pages as she shares her mother’s story. This book has deeply affected me especially regarding love, forgiveness and never, never giving up. One I’ll read and re-read.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

5* review of The Strength of Water
I was really surprised about this book. What a story—born American but returned to China as a child and finally returned to America. The difference in culture between the two countries really lead to what I think was a terrible life for many years. Helen (American name) didn’t complain and lived life as best as she could until she was able to change her life for the better. I am so happy that she was able to turn her life around for the better—she so deserved it.

[Lisa M · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fortitude and resilience. These two traits characterize King-Ying, the remarkable woman at the center of this gripping memoir of migration spanning the San Francisco Bay Area, 1920s Detroit, and China's rural Guangdong province prior to the Cultural Revolution. Her daughter, author Karin Jensen, has beautifully captured her fascinating and tumultuous life. Read this book and be inspired by her vitality, grace, and good humor in the face of great struggle!

[Merideth Mehlberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a wonderful read. The author was gracious to come to our book club where we had a lovely conversation not only about her mother’s story but also about the stories of various relatives of our book clubbers. It was inspiring to read and hear how the author painstakingly gathered the memories of her mom and her siblings and then translated them into such a riveting story. Highly recommend.

[Deborah Dunster · Rating 4 out of 5]

Engaging memoir of immigrant Chinese experience. I don't know what I enjoyed most: the picture of village life in pre-Maoist China; descriptions of specific, still-standing locations in the San Francisco Bay Area; or King-Ying's indomitable spirit. A great read! And a really good decision by the author to speak as her mother in the first person.

[Amy L · Rating 5 out of 5]

Karin Jensen has written a moving, fascinating, loving and historical memoir about her mother's life, shedding light on many experiences of racism and inequality along with perseverance, kindness and strength. For San Francisco Bay Area readers, this is a special gem of a book as our cities and neighborhoods come to life over the course of the story.

[CanadianReader · Rating 3 out of 5]

Subtitled “an Asian American memoir,” The Strength of Water certainly has an Asian American subject—author Karin K. Jensen’s mother King Ying “Helen” Yee—but it is really neither a memoir nor an autobiography. Over the years, Jensen had heard about her mother’s hardships in both the US and southern China, and she began to more formally interview her in 2002, eleven years before Helen’s death at age ninety in 2013. Jensen explains in an afterword that when she decided to set the stories down, she could hear Helen’s voice so clearly that she made the decision to write from the first-person point of view. So, what we have here is, more correctly, a biography, a life story from childhood to old age, albeit a rather unconventionally and imaginatively told one. Does the first-person POV telling work? Hmm. Somewhat. It does make the book fairly readable. However, just because Jensen heard her mother’s voice, it doesn’t mean the reader does.

This is a very long book. I read a digital copy, but the paperback edition apparently runs to 360 pages. While I understand that the fine details of Helen’s employment as a waitress at various San Francisco dining establishments might be of interest to her family, they make for mighty dull reading for a general audience. Ditto for the grocery-shopping tips and cooking instructions she received from her first husband’s sister. It’s my view that the book would have been improved with some ruthless excisions. Less really can be more.

The early sections, which deal with Helen’s childhood in Detroit to perhaps the age of twelve, were of some interest to me. In this section, we learn about her southern Chinese ancestry, the harsh economic conditions in China which led to her parents’ immigration from Guangdong Province to the US—first to San Francisco and then to Detroit, where Ba, Helen’s father, ran a laundry business.

However, after his fragile wife’s death from a heart condition—her ill health greatly exacerbated by many pregnancies undergone in desperation for the status-conferring son—Ba could not manage the children on his own. He was also deeply in debt to his brother-in-law. Back in Guangdong, his mother had a couple of women lined up as a potential second wife.

The family returned to China, with Ba staying only long enough to remarry. He returned to the US, leaving the children with their 21-year-old stepmother, a poor girl who was not quite a decade older than Helen herself. The details about daily life in an impoverished southern Chinese village were fascinating to me, the best part of the book by far. Life was indeed harsh for Helen, who suffered from chronic malaria and severe malnutrition. In time, her father would arrange for her and later her many siblings’ and their stepmother’s passage to the United States.

The second half of The Strength of Water focuses on Helen’s making her way in San Francisco. Her father notably did not assist her, but other relatives did. The reader learns of her unfortunate first marriage to Oliver Chan, a Chinese-American gambling addict. (The temptations of gambling, opium, and prostitution are a thread in the book.) Helen single-handedly raised her first daughter, Stephanie. She ultimately divorced Oliver —a taboo act in the Chinese community—and married a Caucasian-American teacher, Karin Jensen’s father, this at a time when interracial marriages were not widely accepted and actually even forbidden in some US states.

While I appreciated the first half, the many mundane details that followed in the second half make me loath to recommend this book.

A solid 2.5.
My rounding up to a 3 is a somewhat reluctant one, based on the knowledge I gained about southern Chinese history and culture.

[Ronald Mackay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Karin K. Jensen has captured in all its intriguing detail the noble character of her mother in this absolute gem of a memoir.

In 1923, Yee King Ying or “Helen Yee” was born to struggling Chinese immigrants in San Francisco.

The story tells of the courage, stamina and perseverance with which Helen faced the following years of her remarkable life. First, California, then the Chinese province of Guangdong, and finally back in the San Francisco Bay Area.

While still at a tender age in a harsh world Helen Yee determined to overcome every challenge and obstacle that life threw at her. In San Francisco, there were many, including financial hardship, racism, the need to work from an early age in her father’s laundry, a mother so often sick that Helen had to bring up her younger siblings, an embittered, disappointed and sometimes uncaring father.

This harsh world was replaced by another when her impecunious father, when his wife died, sent her back as a young teenager to his simple village in a tropical part of China. Fortunately, was bilingual and so was able to do her best for both herself and her sisters in her new step-mother’s home while her father returned to San Francisco to pay off debts.

No matter how difficult life becomes even as the second Sino-Japanese War begins, Helen Yee’s voice is never self-pitying but always objective, echoing her determination not only to survive, but to succeed.

She reminds herself from time to time that there are good people in this world. She acknowledges every kind gesture she is shown and appreciates the various kind people she meets along the way.

Once more back in San Francisco in her early 20s, Helen survives marriage to a Chinese husband addicted to gambling and so parents her first daughter alone. With others’ moral support, she divorces her husband at a time when divorce was a stigma in all communities.

Eventually, Helen finds someone to really love her – a teacher working in the Bay area but brought up, in rural Alabama, with moral standards and values that complimented her own.

With Tom, she has a second daughter (the author of his memoir) and, together, step-by-step, they create a happy life together – a solid, caring family of four – all with kindness for one another.

Karin K. Jensen tells this her mother’s noteworthy story with clarity, dignity and beauty.

This is not just the story of Helen Yee. It serves as an inspiration to all who feel downtrodden, abused or distressed. It is a parable telling us of the reassurance to be had if only we seek strength within ourselves and know how to accept genuine kindness from those who sincerely offer it.

[M. K. French · Rating 5 out of 5]

King Ying grew up in 1920s Detroit with her parents and sisters, helping out with their laundry. The increasing debts during the Great Depression meant her father sent her and her siblings to his mother in a remote village in Guangdong Province of China. There, the family battled extreme poverty, hunger, and lack of education as the Japanese invaded and the Sino-Japanese War broke out. She managed to return to America and struggled to build a life for herself there.

This book is a biography written as a memoir. Karin Jensen had grown up with stories told about King Ying's early life, her parents, and what it was like in the village. Extensive research and conferring with the rest of her family meant that Karin felt very close to her and wrote the biography in memoir style, first person. That gives the book a sense of immediacy, as if she's talking with us directly. There is context given for aspects of Chinese culture, the village, or how others in a similar situation dealt with life. Those without any familiarity with China, the culture, or even how Americans dealt with those of Chinese descent will immediately understand what she was going through.

I took my time reading the book because I wanted to really absorb all of the details. The family genealogy is outlined, and we see how the war, poverty, and adverse events affected them. It's fascinating to see how she lived through major historical events, constantly trying to improve and build a better life for her children.

[Carol Alliger · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't read much non-fiction but this story took place a lot of the time right where I live so I thought I might enjoy it and boy did I. It is a memoir written by the daughter in her mother's voice. Her mother was born in San Francisco. Her parents were Chinese immigrants who struggled to survive in the United States but when her birth mother died after having several children her father took the children back to a remote, rural village in China and left them there. Her life in China is primitive compared to what she experienced in the U.S. The book vividly describes her time there and then her life when she is brought back to the States. Her mother was definitely a tiger mom but she was also a hard worker and extremely smart even though she did not have much education. You learn so much about the Chinese traditions and culture that are so foreign to us. For example her dad paid her passaged back to the States but left her with distant relatives and gave her no support. Then when he found out she had a menial job so she could feed herself and pay rent he demanded she pay him money when she was barely getting by. She worked all her life, mostly as a waitress. The story is told plainly and reads like a newpaper article but it is so full of one incredible story after another you can't put the book down. To top it all off she refers to so many places and people I have heard about growing up in the same area.

[MC Leavy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This exquisitely crafted memoir takes the reader on a journey which touches the heart, and invites the us to consider the immigrant experience in the United States. As we follow the story of King Ying, one cannot help but feel her pain, her revel in her triumphs, and come to know her as a resilient and resourceful human being. For anyone who is an immigrant, or has a family member who has emigrated to the United States, this memoir will leave a lasting impression. This thought provoking true story is well-written, and told in the first person by the author who shares her mother's experience of navigating life in rural China and the United States. This book will inspire all who read it, and may make one consider the experiences of those who challenge themselves in order to seek a happier life in today's world.

[Lou Wong · Rating 5 out of 5]

Precious treasure of a book. This is a richly told story that reveals the determined spirit and plight of an American born Chinese girl, King Yin who is sent back to live in China during the depression. Written by her daughter, her life is documented in each chapter with gentle and honest feelings. The historical details of this the Chinese were treated is explained without bitterness. The details of her life and her reflections of her experiences and observations are vivid and remind me of what my mother recounted to me of her life in a Chinese village. The descriptions of the village, the household, living without plumbing, tending to the rice crop, along with the attitudes and deeply held customs and beliefs of a village culture are told without judgment. This is book is a page turner and the stories are to be cherished.

[Lina Hannigan · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's been several months since I finished this book and I still have images of village life in China in the 1930s, the harsh realities families faced in order to survive, and the limited options for women in mid-century America, flashing through my mind. Through this account I gained a deeper understanding of how traditional family values and cultural gender norms, poverty, racism, classism, and sexism can make the term "intersectionality" almost laughably insufficient to describe the disempowerment of some among us. Yet this true story shines with moments of kindness, family bonds, and hope rather than bitterness. This book to me was a tale of survival, told in stunning detail as a daughter's loving tribute to her mother's strength, courage, tenacity, and integrity.

[Texas · Rating 5 out of 5]

THE STRENGTH OF WATER - A very inspiring, loving, and full memoir of a Chinese-American woman written by her daughter. I am always interested in the different cultures and how their members lived both in their own countries and adjusting to living in America. This is a well-written tribute to a woman born in America in 1923, who also had to live in China. The differences in the two cultures created havoc, but also defined this remarkable woman. In this book, she is remarkable but she is not unique. This wonderful woman is one of the many that made America great: the hard work; the perseverance; the sacrifices; the values; and the love. Source: Netgalley. 5*

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this memoir of King Ying "Helen" Yee written by her daughter Karin. What a strong person she was to endure poverty and discrimination in the US and then sent to live impoverished with relatives in China after her mother died - just in time for the Second Sino-Japanese War. This meshing of history, culture, and overcoming hardships in both countries, sometimes shocking, always fascinating, drew me in to hope for and cheer for Helen through an incredible life story. Definitely a life story to save.

[Lisa H. Baker · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fascinating and engaging memoir of history, culture and family. The author paints a vivid picture of her mother and her grandparents, in both 1920's Detroit and a remote village in China. The story is gripping, and heartbreaking at times - the treatment of women and young children in both countries, as well as the shameful attitudes toward the Chinese in America, are explored from a very personal vantage point without ever seeming preachy. It is an amazing story of survival and eventual triumph over incredible odds.

[Ryan Kennedy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved Karin's memoir of her mother's life. She skillfully interwove actual history with her family's history, and the result is a beautiful testament to a strong woman set against the reality of a Chinese-American woman's experience in the early- to mid-20th Century. I passed it on to my mother, and then to my sister. If you love San Francisco history or immigrant stories this is a must read.

[Cathleen Myers · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The Strength of Water" is both gripping and tremendously moving. Karin Kim Jensen's creative decision to write her mother's biography in the first person makes this very true story read like a novel. I finished it in three days and was sad to realize I had read the last chapter.

[Linda · Rating 2 out of 5]

This story of a first generation American woman born in Detroit and raised in China offered many insights into a culture. I learned a lot. However, the level of detail made The Strength of Water a plodding chore to finish.