Love Made of Heart

by Teresa Leyung Ryan

When an emotional breakdown forces her to hospitalize her mother, forever shaming the family, Ruby Lin, torn between two different cultures, tries to help her mother heal, which leads her on a journey through her family's history.

Genres: Fiction, Asian Literature

352 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2002

About the author

Manuscript Consultant and Career Coach Teresa LeYung Ryan, author of Love Made of Heart, helps clients identify themes and polish their manuscripts, market themselves to agents and publishers, and map out their careers. www.LoveMadeOfHeart.com "

Reviews

[Ruth Silnes · Rating 5 out of 5]

LOVE MADE OF HEART is a must read. From the beginning to the end it will hold your interest.
Ruth

[Jen Stewart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesum book am so going to get myself a copy so I can read it again!

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kudos to the author for covering the much-neglected topic of mental illness in Chinese families. I believe that is the sole reason this novel is getting read in schools today (a fixture in memoir courses featuring authors of color), given the paucity of Asian American authors brave enough to tackle such an unappetizing theme.

Unfortunately the writing itself -dialogue and descriptions- are bland, flat and unmemorable. The dialogue between the therapist and the daughter is stilted and robotic. The mother and daughter dynamic is poorly fleshed out despite it being central to the story and the reader comes away feeling detached rather than involved. This could have been a moving story given the topic but instead it becomes a soap opera. Platitudes and cliched phrases abound. You get very little insight to the characters and I had to struggle to finish it.

The title doesn't help. The "Love made of heart" explanation (Chinese ideographs explained as "love being made from the brush strokes used for heart") strike one as maudlin and overly sentimental. When will Asian American authors realize that a literal translation from Chinese to English often falls flat, as English words can't capture the depth of emotion in the Chinese ones?

[Kevin Nguyen · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book “Love Made of Heart” by Teresa LeYung Ryan is a wonderful book about an Asian girl living in America. The beginning caught my attention because it was a dramatic scene where Ruby mom is getting escorting out of her apartment. This is a sad picture to image because I know for a fact I wouldn’t want to see my family member taken away from me. She had things to say but it can’t come across her lips. It like in the moment things happens so fast you don’t get to react to it the way you want to. Overall I think this book was great but it wasn’t for me. I don’t like reading about love. I’m more of a basketball type of person. I decided to read this for something different to see if I like these types of books. My sister read this book and she liked it herself so she told me to read it since I needed to read more books and need or for my language art class. I like when Ruby said “Life is not a straight line” because it’s really not. There’s all going to be bumps and down falls. Her life was definitely not a straight line because she had to go through many droughts such as seeing her mother being escorted the apartment. I thought this quote was strangely beautiful “The Chinese word for ‘love’ is made up of many brush strokes. In the center of the word ‘love is the word ‘heart.’ Love is made of heart…” (Back of the book) I wish I could understand this quote more. I recommend this book to people who like to read about love.

[Linda C. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love Made of Heart is a wonderful book filled with emotion and drama from page 1.

I read all the customer reviews before reading the PW review. Egads. What planet did that person come from?

Honestly, it is as if that reviewer willfully detached themselves from the emotions prevalent throughout the story. It was merely a summary regurgitation of plot lines, but that is not what I look for in reviews to decide whether or not a book is worth my time and money.

I want to know if I will vicariously experience the lives of the characters while turning the pages. I want to laugh, to cry, to feel fully human and alive.

I want dramatic conflict. I want to read things that I would find terribly uncomfortable in real life. Conflict is drama.

This book has all of that, and it is done with grace and a deft touch. Anyone who has a mother should be able to recognize the various guilt trips that Ruby Lin's mother tries to repeatedly foist off on her. It rings true.

I look forward to reading LeYung Ryan's next book.

[Jing Lin · Rating 3 out of 5]

this book is about this chinese american woman who is living on her on. her mother comes to live with her and starves herself. not knowing at first, it was mrs. nussbaum, her neighbor, who told her. afraid of what would happen, Ruby has her mom taken to boarding home where she is taken care of by doctors and staffs there. Ruby is forced to remember her terrible past where her father abused her mom and her brother. She finally goes to seek help from Dr. Thatcher because she was getting breakdowns. she later gets marry with vincent but it doesnt work out because their way of life differs greatly. with her mom harming herself, bad memories creeping back to her, and problems with her husband, Ruby has to find a way to get everything back together - how does she do this? read and find out.

[Wellington · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 star book. It was the best book I had to read at my disposal, so I figured I would at least finish it.

Funny how a book named "Love Made of Heart" didn't display a lot of love to me. 27 year old Ruby Lin has to hospitalize her mother. She went to find a therapist for her mom but instead ended up becoming a patient for the therapist.

Told with a lot of flashbacks pertaining to Ruby's relationship to her family, the book lacked direction. Or at last a really big climax that tied things together.

I've read books where I disliked the main character(s). I don't hate Ruby of this book. I don't really care for her either. In ways, I feel bad for not liking the book more because I feel like the book was written from the heart.

[Wendy Walter · Rating 4 out of 5]

I quite liked this story and was immediately taken by the authenticity of dialog and how true to life the family relationships appeared. The main character (Ruby) must walk a taunt wire between the traditions of a Asian/American family and her own wants and needs, growing up in the forward leaning city of San Francisco. Ruby's relationship with her mother is difficult at best, and she struggles to keep the peace every time she see's her, but see her she does, care for her, she must. This is a heartfelt story, one to curl up with and savor on a rainy afternoon.

[Alexa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had high hopes because this book is largely about the relationship between a mentally ill mother and her daughter. San Francisco, forgiveness. What could be better. But the writing style was overly simplistic (almost as if written in a second language) and the book kept aluding to a big secret which, when revealed was sad and terrible, but not quite worth the buildup.

[Celeste Leon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Charming debut novel for this author, I loved the relationship between the daughter and mother, I met Teresa Leyung Ryan for a private consult for the novel I started nearly 10 years ago. She was fantastic!

[Lara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well written, mediocre story.

[Dolly Ou · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very intimate book...