In Straw Shoes, Mathias B. Freese tells the story of Ah Ling, a 19th-century Chinese farmer who gambles with Fate and leaves his fields for the brutal promise of Gold Rush–era San Francisco. He trades yielding soil for unyielding granite—farming rock instead of rice, survival instead of certainty.
But this is more than a tale of immigration and hardship. It is a meditation on duality: soil and stone, anchor and ascent, softness and strength. As the Tao Te Ching teaches, the weak may overcome the strong; the humble earth may outlast defiant rock. Restless and yearning for completion, Ah learns instead that life is accretion—laying track piece by piece, being rather than becoming.
Rich with Freese’s signature dialogues, mentor pairings, and metaphysical turns, Straw Shoes speaks in a voice both youthful and ancient. Written across decades—by the man Freese was and the elder he became—this final work resonates with hard-won wisdom. The farmer who hews cliffs mirrors the author who has weathered time: softer in insight, harder in truth.
Spare, symbolic, and deeply human, Straw Shoes is a powerful farewell from a singular literary voice—one that still speaks, long after the last page.
I am the author of 11 books and numerous short stories, combining the genres of philosophy, psychology, fiction, memoir, and creative nonfiction. Teacher and psychotherapist, I hold masters degrees in secondary education and social work from Queens College of the City University of New York and Stony Brook University. For more than thirty years I taught English and social studies in New York secondary schools. An analytically trained and insight-oriented psychotherapist, I have incorporated my abiding interest in Eastern thought into my life and my work, leading workshops on experiential and psycho-spiritual approaches to inner awareness
What a treat this was! Eloquently written, philosophical, and deeply human, author Mathias Freese dubs Straw Shoes as his final work.
Leaving his farm and family in Taishan, China, Ah sets out for California during the Gold-rush era. Not only wanting a better life for his family, he is also searching for deeper fulfillment in his own life. There is physical labor involved, both lives mirroring the other in a way, but the book puts a deeper focus on the internal life of Ah.
Perhaps more impressive than the book itself is that the author spent decades working on this story, bringing elements of his younger self and joining them with his present self. The years of growth and self-reflection are evident throughout the pages, making the writing rich and the characters richer.
I have previously read an essay collection by Mathias Freese, but this was my first novel by him. I thoroughly enjoyed the prose as well as the story. Although the book sits at under two hundred pages, the story is full and in-depth. It's bittersweet hearing that this will be this author's final work, and I sincerely hope there may be a chance at one more, but if not, I think this book serves as a great testament to his craft.
A huge thanks to the author for sending me a copy of this book!
In his final work, set in the nineteenth century, Freese tells the story of Ah Ling, a thirty-year-old Chinese farmer from Taishan province in China.
Existentially restless, Ah wants to experience the full texture of his life before it is too late. Embracing fate's vagaries, he leaves the soil behind, takes passage to San Francisco, and decides to carve out his own destiny as a coolie, hewing rock for railroads, a fraught, perilous reality that forces Ah to confront the raw friction of survival in all its brutal physical and psychological dimensions…
Freese originally wrote Straw Shoes in his early 30s. Some fifty years later, he revisited it, a much older man with five decades of lived experience effectively co-authoring with his younger self. Freese seamlessly blends youthful energy with elderly wisdom. This fascinating cross-era collaboration has not only brought a spellbinding story to light but also added profound nuance to the narrative.
Indeed, dualities, dichotomies, and pairings in all their figurative and literal guises permeate Straw Shoes. The novel opens with Ah Ling walking in his fields, a sense of philosophical disquiet nagging him. Freese writes with sublime simplicity. His words have a poised, exquisite quality that feels timeless, and he magically plays to the reader’s senses.
The first part of the novel appears gently suffused with straw-colored light and soft earthiness. It’s a painterly portrayal of the landscape, lending the captivating impression of being half-dreamed while evoking the historical atmosphere and cultural mores of 19th-century China with compelling ease.
Ah Ling is a complex, searching, and persistently self-reckoning character. Freese renders him with single-minded honesty, and although Ah Ling’s decision to leave his family could, in a lesser writer’s hands, seem self-indulgent, it does not.
Freese delicately embroiders Ah Ling’s inner turmoil with visceral emotion and candor. The central character’s ontological unease is a sharply relatable and enduring concept, and Freese has placed it within a wondrously imagined framework.
Rich in symbolism and metaphor throughout, with a veneer of Eastern spirituality and a sprinkling of leitmotifs, the narrative is crafted with impeccable skill and a deceptively light touch, as it begins to take on allegorical proportions.
Nonetheless, Straw Shoes can be read on a purely surface level as an intriguing tale of one man taking an enormous gamble, and Freese controls plot and pace superbly. It’s a riveting story, entirely free from pretension or pomposity and effortlessly absorbing to read.
All of the characters are acutely observed, with some achingly lovely descriptions. Each serves purpose and pivot for Ah Ling’s decision, no matter how briefly they appear, such as the wandering sage Poy Chin, friend of Ah Ling’s father, Yin. Poy Chin is instrumental in ensuring Ah Ling views his father as more than a physical husk.
Ah Ling’s dynamic with younger brother Wu is, initially, fraternally fiery but matures satisfyingly. His marriage with insightful wife, Mai, feels freighted with fatality and her intrinsic awareness of such, from the start.
However, it’s his friendship forged against the unforgiving rockface of Cape Horn with Yu-lan, the coolie foreman, that has the most impact in the second part of the novel. Although the latter half, set first in San Francisco and then against the granite, is as austere as the fields in Taishan are lush, Ah Ling eventually thrives and flourishes. The passages where he swings into the mountain’s cut are breathless with exhilaration and shot through with reckless energy.
Overall, Straw Shoes unfolds through Ah Ling’s third-person perspective, although Freese occasionally lets the reader glimpse other characters’ aspects. It’s an omniscient view rather than a close one, and in places, a knowing, slightly arch tone softly punctures the narrative, as if to remind the reader of Fate’s role in Ah Ling’s journey. This role is ultimately fulfilled with pathos and a cinematic rush of violence.
Among the multiple tiers of meaning contained within the novel, its title possibly has the most powerful connotations, a moniker whose interpretations deftly and poignantly evolve as the novel progresses.
Flawlessly edited, Straw Shoes is a hauntingly beautiful little novel written with mesmerizing clarity. Brilliantly wrought, finely calibrated, and gossamer-layered, Freese’s decision to finalize and publish this novel was a shining one, securing its place in the Freese canon as, quite possibly, its magnum opus.
Mathias B. Freese's "Straw Shoes" is a remarkable literary achievement that transcends the boundaries of historical fiction to become something far more profound. It is a meditation on duality, resilience, and the eternal human struggle between surrender and defiance. Freese, a teacher, psychotherapist, and author of ten books, has crafted what may very well be his finest work to date, a novel that speaks in a voice both youthful and ancient, shaped by decades of introspection and hard-won wisdom.
The story follows Ah Ling, a 19th century Chinese farmer who makes the fateful decision to leave his fields in Taishan, China for the brutal promise of Gold Rush era San Francisco. He trades yielding soil for unyielding granite, farming rock instead of rice, survival instead of certainty. But this is not merely a tale of immigration and hardship. It is a meditation on duality: soil and stone, anchor and ascent, softness and strength. As the Tao Te Ching teaches, the weak may overcome the strong, and water wears away stone. Freese captures this philosophy beautifully as he traces Ah Ling's physical and spiritual journey across continents and through the trials of a harsh new world.
Freese's prose is nothing short of exquisite. His eloquent words are never presumptuous or distancing, but instead invite us into the sphere of his insightful mind. From the opening lines, the reader is transported into Ah Ling's world: "Sky and earth merged at the far reaches of Ah Ling's land, an insignificant parcel of Taishan, China. As he walked the fields, he spoke to his shadow. 'When does it begin?' he asked. 'And where does it come from?'" This poetic, contemplative tone permeates the entire novel, grounding the reader in a consciousness that is both deeply personal and universally resonant.
The author's abiding interest in Eastern thought is woven seamlessly into the narrative. Freese, who has led workshops on experiential and psycho-spiritual approaches to inner awareness, brings a depth of philosophical insight that elevates this novel beyond mere storytelling. The dialogues, mentor pairings, and metaphysical turns that characterize his signature style are present here in full force, creating a reading experience that is as intellectually stimulating as it is emotionally moving.
What makes "Straw Shoes" truly special is the sense that it was written across decades, by the man Freese was and the elder he became. This is a novel that carries the weight of a lifetime of reflection and growth. The farmer who hews cliffs mirrors the author who has weathered time's conferring insight, hard-earned and deeply felt. There is a gentle mastery in the way Freese handles his material, a wisdom that comes not from academic study alone but from lived experience.
‘The humble earth may outlast defiant rock’ – An eloquent journey in time
Mathias B. Freese earned his degrees from Queens College of the City University of New York and Stony Brook University, and is a teacher, a psychotherapist, and a writer who has authored ten books - THE i TETROLOGY, DOWN TO A SUNLESS SEA, THAT MOBIUS STRIP OF IFS, I TRULY LAMENT: WORKING THROUGH THE HOLOCAUST, TESSENTE: A MEMOIR OF TWO SUMMERS, AND THEN I AM GONE: A WALK WITH THOREAU, NINA’S MEMENTO MORI, AGAIN, AGAIN AND AGAIN: AWAKENING INTO AWARENESS, IN THE THROES, and now STRAW SHOES. Offering insight into this new novel, Matt offers ‘I have incorporated my abiding interest in Eastern thought into my life and my work, leading workshops on experiential and psycho-spiritual approaches to inner awareness.’
STRAW SHOES escorts the reader from China’s farm land to the Gold Rush era of San Francisco through the life and experiences of Ah Ling, as the opening lines suggest: ‘Sky and earth merged at the far reaches of Ah Ling’s land, an insignificant parcel of Taishan, China. As he walked the fields, he spoke to his shadow. “When does it begin?” he asked. “And where does it come from?” His fingertips trolled through the heads of grain as he queried himself. Beneath a gnarled ginkgo tree, he sat down upon the moss-backed earth and leaned his head against the trunk. There was nothing in his mind except the sky and earth hemmed in by distance. The susurration of the leaves caressed his ears. Nothingness calmed him, and his mind was still – for the moment.’
Having read and been continually impressed with almost all of Mathias’ books, it is refreshing to enter his thoughts anew in what may just his finest work to date. Reading this fine novel reminds us of the profound depth of intelligence that is Mathias Freese. His eloquent words are never presumptuous or distancing, but instead invite us into the sphere of his insightful mind, a jurisdiction that becomes a golden opportunity to engage and be in his moment. Mathias is wise, thoughtful, inspiring - and a very fine writer. This is a gentle masterwork!
In what appears to be this author’s final book, I am once again amazed by the depth and intelligent writing style used to tell this unique story. A historical fiction meets metaphysical and philosophical novel, this story does a fantastic job of being descriptive while leaving plenty of room for readers' imaginations to bring these characters to life in their mind's eye. This creates an immersive experience that is uniquely the author's point of view and allows the reader to feel connected to it.
The balance between powerful character development and inspirational insights played a major role in this novel. The protagonist and the intense work they experience as they make this major life change, leaving their home country and going from work as a farmer to a railroad worker, speaks to the powerful experience so many immigrants faced in the 19th century, especially during the Gold Rush era. Yet this book also felt like a unique collaboration between the author's younger and older selves. Returning to a story they began writing decades earlier, the author uses the protagonist's journey to show how lived experience can reshape a person’s thinking, and explores the concept of being rather than becoming in a way that will resonate with many readers.
The Verdict
A poignant, heartfelt, and enlightening work of fiction, Author Mathias Freese’s “Straw Shoes” is a must-read historical fiction story that blends metaphysical themes with genre fiction. This novel immediately engages readers intellectually and philosophically while crafting an immersive narrative that highlights a journey of self-discovery and lessons earned through a lifetime of experience.
Mathias B. Freese’s *Straw Shoes* offers a contemplative historical narrative that follows Ah Ling, a Chinese farmer who ventures to Gold Rush–era San Francisco in search of a different future.
Through Ah’s difficult transition from cultivating rice fields to confronting an unforgiving landscape, the novel explores the cost of pursuing hope amid uncertainty.
Its deeper strength lies in the interplay between hardship and philosophical reflection, particularly the tension between softness and strength, rootedness and transformation.
Drawing on Taoist ideas, Freese invites readers to reconsider what it means to grow, endure, and find meaning in an imperfect life.
The author’s characteristic dialogues, mentor relationships, and metaphysical insights give the story an allegorical depth beyond its historical setting.
Spare yet evocative, the narrative brings together the struggles of immigration, the search for belonging, and the wisdom that can emerge through time.
Readers drawn to literary historical fiction, Eastern philosophy, and introspective storytelling may find *Straw Shoes* a moving and memorable experience.
It took me longer to finish because I'm busy with thesis proposal and I really didn't expect the book to be so heavy, but I must say I'm glad I chose this book. It's been a long time coming for me to read another book with an Asian character as an Asian myself. One of Ah Ling's most memorable quotes for me is "I'm not satisfied with who I am as a person. Is this all there is? Or is there something here I haven't obtained? I'm not a simple man. I needn't go across a mountain to find out who I am --- or do I?"
From one Asian to another, I totally understand his dilemma, even though he's from East Asia and I'm from Southeast Asia. Being a 25-year-old Indonesian woman still doing my Bachelor's degree and not knowing what I must do, as well as dealing with mental health, Ah Ling's saying is so relatable to me. I'm definitely rereading this!