What do you think?
Rate this book
Reflections from Gavea: My Epic Journey Home
Nothing can separate a parent and child, or a person from the country and people she loves. Marianne Campagna has lived a multi-ethnic life like few have. Half-Chinese and half-German, born in China, with a childhood in Brazil, an adult life in the United States, and extensive trips to Germany, Brazil, and China, she has spent her life trying to find where home lies. Join Marianne on her incredible journey around the world and back again. While a young girl in China, Marianne’s parents divorced and divided the family. Marianne went to live with her German mother while her brother lived with her Chinese father. And when her mother remarried and decided to immigrate to Brazil with her, Marianne experienced a thirty-two year separation from her father, brother, and extended Chinese family. Reflections from Gavea is the tale of one woman’s true-life search for a sense of identity and wholeness, amid the mountains of Brazil, university life and marriage in the United States, and a return to the land of her birth. Beyond Marianne’s personal story is a multicultural kaleidoscope of images that depict the history of China and Brazil from World War II to the present. Amid wars, revolutions, immigration and displacement, Marianne learns how a person’s soul can supersede cultural, ethnic, national and language barriers to be part of the universal human experience.
432 pages, Paperback
First published May 10, 2013
4 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 15, 2013
It is October 1949. The Communist Party has already driven Chiang Kai-shek and his Nationalist Party to Taiwan. Five-year-old Marianne approaches a Shanghai port, and before her wide-eyes is an enormous ship, the Wooster Victory. She knows that she will be "going by ship to another world, not one made of earth and people, but a magical world..." And thus, her farewells are full of glee. She clamors on board the ship with her mother, a strong and independent German woman, and then from the ship’s railing she looks down at her Chinese father and brother standing dockside. Marianne cannot understand the significance of this separation; she doesn’t realize that she might never see her father and brother again.
This memoir tells an incredible family history that spans four continents -- Europe, Asia, South America, and North America. And through it all, there is an intense searching, a search for family, a search for belonging, a search for oneself. The physical journey across the world is amazing in and of itself, but Marianne’s personal journey is what touched my heart.
The main drawback is that the author spends far too many pages detailing her family tree, which I suspect may be uninteresting to an unrelated reader. Reading all of the names feels overwhelming. As this memoir is meant to document the author’s family history, I completely understand the importance of including those names. What a wonderful gift to bestow to her children and grandchildren! But to the unrelated, I say, gloss over the names, don't worry about them, and just keep reading. The book is still worth your while.
As for the writing, I’d say it waxes and wanes. At times it is beautiful, poetic, and poignant. At other times it is straightforward and simple. But Marianne commands a strong voice throughout. Her indomitable spirit pours forth with abundance. And it is this spirit that makes the memoir a captivating read.
In full disclosure, I admit I am a biased reader, for Marianne is my aunt-in-law. Still, in my defense, the bonds between us are tenuous; her family history is not mine and I haven’t even seen her in years. This memoir is a wondrous exploration of family, of culture shock (repeated many times over in China, Brazil, and the US), and of faith. It is ultimately the story of a soul with a hole desperately trying to heal itself.
This memoir tells an incredible family history that spans four continents -- Europe, Asia, South America, and North America. And through it all, there is an intense searching, a search for family, a search for belonging, a search for oneself. The physical journey across the world is amazing in and of itself, but Marianne’s personal journey is what touched my heart.
The main drawback is that the author spends far too many pages detailing her family tree, which I suspect may be uninteresting to an unrelated reader. Reading all of the names feels overwhelming. As this memoir is meant to document the author’s family history, I completely understand the importance of including those names. What a wonderful gift to bestow to her children and grandchildren! But to the unrelated, I say, gloss over the names, don't worry about them, and just keep reading. The book is still worth your while.
As for the writing, I’d say it waxes and wanes. At times it is beautiful, poetic, and poignant. At other times it is straightforward and simple. But Marianne commands a strong voice throughout. Her indomitable spirit pours forth with abundance. And it is this spirit that makes the memoir a captivating read.
In full disclosure, I admit I am a biased reader, for Marianne is my aunt-in-law. Still, in my defense, the bonds between us are tenuous; her family history is not mine and I haven’t even seen her in years. This memoir is a wondrous exploration of family, of culture shock (repeated many times over in China, Brazil, and the US), and of faith. It is ultimately the story of a soul with a hole desperately trying to heal itself.
September 25, 2013
I read the manuscript as this book was being written. Unfortunately the author removed me from her life, she told me several times because of pressure from her 4 adult daughters. I haven't read the finished book yet. I love the author with all my being and wish more than anything to be with her again. She is the love of my life. If I had not already been in love with her when I read the manuscript I would have fallen in love with her for this book talks about so much of why I love her so deeply.
June 24, 2015
Breathtakingly beautiful and honest biography about being lost and knowing the only way to find yourself and move forward is to go "home." Campagna's writing is elegant and simple and organized beautifully and you simply will not put this book down. I want more.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews