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The Girl Who Dreamed: A Hong Kong Memoir of Triumph Against the Odds
240 pages, Paperback
Published October 14, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
May 22, 2025
Thanks to the publisher, Blacksmith Books, the author, Sonia Leung, and LibraryThings for this ARC in return for my honest review. It truly was an eye-opening read for me and I could not fathom what this girl has gone through and endured most of her young life!
Interestingly, the author has made many references to famous Chinese authors and poets that somehow shaped her thoughts and life. Just a mere few sentences can be enlightening, making a good impression on someone as young as the author then. TBH, I do believe that literature can make or break someone, depending on how it was understood.
Having brought up in an Asian family, I get it. I understand that Asian parenting is so different from way back then. However, I guess with what we have endured then, our perspective changed in bringing up our children hence Asian parenting has evolved, and some children are more entitled these days LOL! Anyhow this is just my opinion lah!
I have enjoyed yet agonized reading through this memoir. Definitely a harrowing experience at the start and I applaud her for being so brave to remember, write it down and published it. This is not an easy feat. Also, who would have thought that a teenager could travel alone to Taiwan without her chaperone?!!! I am amazed with her will power, her positive mind and gutsy personality! I do empathize especially when she could have been with Jeremy, have a ''HEA'' with their baby too. On the other hand, I am glad that her life turned out well and I do wish her the best in her future undertakings.
Sonia, thank you for sharing your story with the world.
"Writing had empowered me once. It brought on profound changes."
Interestingly, the author has made many references to famous Chinese authors and poets that somehow shaped her thoughts and life. Just a mere few sentences can be enlightening, making a good impression on someone as young as the author then. TBH, I do believe that literature can make or break someone, depending on how it was understood.
Having brought up in an Asian family, I get it. I understand that Asian parenting is so different from way back then. However, I guess with what we have endured then, our perspective changed in bringing up our children hence Asian parenting has evolved, and some children are more entitled these days LOL! Anyhow this is just my opinion lah!
I have enjoyed yet agonized reading through this memoir. Definitely a harrowing experience at the start and I applaud her for being so brave to remember, write it down and published it. This is not an easy feat. Also, who would have thought that a teenager could travel alone to Taiwan without her chaperone?!!! I am amazed with her will power, her positive mind and gutsy personality! I do empathize especially when she could have been with Jeremy, have a ''HEA'' with their baby too. On the other hand, I am glad that her life turned out well and I do wish her the best in her future undertakings.
Sonia, thank you for sharing your story with the world.
"Writing had empowered me once. It brought on profound changes."
August 31, 2024
Thanks to Blacksmith Books and Sonia Leung for sending me an advanced copy in exchange for a review.
The Girl Who Dreamed is a first person account of the life of Sonia Leung that begins when is was a young girl in China and follows her though Hong Kong, Taiwan, back to Hong Kong, and then to the United States for a little bit. It's simply and honestly written and tells an often heartbreaking, often inspiring, tale of someone who followed her bliss, even when she didn't want to continue living.
Leung is raised by parents who clearly do not like her very much. They treat her older brother and her older and younger sisters with respect and adoration and her with comtempt; when they pay attention to her at all. Because of this, and a harrowing incident with a trusted ping pong coach, she turns to self harm and constantly dreams of suicide. She feels worthless and like her life will never amount to anything. Yet she doesn't give up and continues to make meaning. She notices the little things, pursues activities that excite her, and escapes into books any chance she gets.
When she's fourteen she somehow manages to obtain a visa to go to Taiwan by herself. While there, not having any idea what she's going to do and not knowing a single soul, she consistently meets people who go out of their way to help her. She spends two years there, bouncing around from place to place, eking by, but learning and growing and gaining confidence. She finally returns to Hong Kong, where more shitty things happen to her, but she keeps her head down and pushes on.
Through all her journeys and ups and downs, she keeps almost everything to herself. She doesn't share the violence, abuse, and neglect that happen to her with a single other person. She makes friends, but doesn't allow anyone to get too close; not believing she is worth of love or affection. When she gets to the US, to attend college in her mid 20s, she finally starts to come into her own. Unfortunately, that's where the book ends (besides a very short epilogue: two pages to sum up the fifteen years that occur between the end of the story and when this book is published).
Overall, this was a fun, fast read. The language was a bit choppy and it would have been a lot better if she had gone into more detail—it feels like she skims over a lot of very impacting incidents, and doesn't spend nearly enough time exploring her inner life—but I don't regret reading it.
The Girl Who Dreamed is a first person account of the life of Sonia Leung that begins when is was a young girl in China and follows her though Hong Kong, Taiwan, back to Hong Kong, and then to the United States for a little bit. It's simply and honestly written and tells an often heartbreaking, often inspiring, tale of someone who followed her bliss, even when she didn't want to continue living.
Leung is raised by parents who clearly do not like her very much. They treat her older brother and her older and younger sisters with respect and adoration and her with comtempt; when they pay attention to her at all. Because of this, and a harrowing incident with a trusted ping pong coach, she turns to self harm and constantly dreams of suicide. She feels worthless and like her life will never amount to anything. Yet she doesn't give up and continues to make meaning. She notices the little things, pursues activities that excite her, and escapes into books any chance she gets.
When she's fourteen she somehow manages to obtain a visa to go to Taiwan by herself. While there, not having any idea what she's going to do and not knowing a single soul, she consistently meets people who go out of their way to help her. She spends two years there, bouncing around from place to place, eking by, but learning and growing and gaining confidence. She finally returns to Hong Kong, where more shitty things happen to her, but she keeps her head down and pushes on.
Through all her journeys and ups and downs, she keeps almost everything to herself. She doesn't share the violence, abuse, and neglect that happen to her with a single other person. She makes friends, but doesn't allow anyone to get too close; not believing she is worth of love or affection. When she gets to the US, to attend college in her mid 20s, she finally starts to come into her own. Unfortunately, that's where the book ends (besides a very short epilogue: two pages to sum up the fifteen years that occur between the end of the story and when this book is published).
Overall, this was a fun, fast read. The language was a bit choppy and it would have been a lot better if she had gone into more detail—it feels like she skims over a lot of very impacting incidents, and doesn't spend nearly enough time exploring her inner life—but I don't regret reading it.
August 28, 2024
I was given a free copy of 'The Girl Who Dreamed: A Hong Kong Memoir of Triumph Against the Odds" via LibraryThing and Sonia Leung. This book was so well written, Sonia is a fantastic writer. You could feel what she was saying. The book made me feel both sad and anger, but also made me feel strong and determined. Sonia shows so much determination and grit, not accepting her difficult childhood but wanting more and fighting to achieve. Well written and well worth the time to read.
December 13, 2025
故事本身有傳奇之感，鮮見有如此勇氣的女性寫這樣的自傳。
中譯本頗感生硬，譯者汪嘉璐，對中港台各制度名物稱呼不熟悉到可以寫作者家鄉在大田「郡」、野百合反的是「人民代表」（應是國民代表——人民與國民不得混用），繁簡轉換也很隨便。
中譯本頗感生硬，譯者汪嘉璐，對中港台各制度名物稱呼不熟悉到可以寫作者家鄉在大田「郡」、野百合反的是「人民代表」（應是國民代表——人民與國民不得混用），繁簡轉換也很隨便。
February 16, 2026
Very inspiring story and but I felt like the writing was too choppy. Would be better if some sentences were combined into paragraphs.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews