I was impressed by how cosmopolitan and mature the son Andi thought as an 18-year old. Then I realized that the letters were written somewhere between 2004-2008, exactly when I was 18 too. I was envious that he could discuss the cultural evolution of hip hop, democracy in Hong Kong, individual happiness vs. social responsibility with his mother that I could never broach with my mom. I was in my worst years with my parents at that point and every conversation was painful to the point that I simply wanted to get away and never feel obligated to them again.
My world was quite small compared to Andi's. Mine was all about personal ambition and gaining independence. I did not have the resources or mental luxury to travel abroad or idly discuss worldviews with friends in cafes. I had more survival instinct in me at 18 than Andi had growing up in the most wealthy suburbs in Germany. I probably thought more like his mother at her age 18, going from a fishing village in Taiwan to university, and was keenly aware of deprivations and gaps. In a way I saw myself in the mother and I am already projecting my future son on Andi, freed from daily yokes of life and taking the pursuit for higher ideals for granted. I can already see how my survival instinct will annoy my son and he will find my immigrant stories hackneyed. The generational gap is already clear in my mind.
But at the end of the day, all I wish for my son is to courageously create meaning through his life, with whatever life circumstances he's dealt. It has made me very happy and I wish the same for him.
my mother handed me the book when she visited me from taipei. i believe it is her way to reach out... that she understood that i am who i am--not quite fully asian and definitely not quite american and that i reside somewhere in between those two worlds.
this is a book about the conversations between a son and his mother... about their differences and similarities in music, booze, drugs, cigarettes, food, sex and the love that comes through from their impatience and exasperation with each other.
It's a book about the close relationship between a mother and her son. There were 36 letters sent and received by a mom lived in her hometown and her son, who studied abroad. I learned that there are certain differences of the two generations and also the current generation gap between them. Really a great book for family reading, making the parents know more about their kids and vise versa.
A book compiled with personal correspondence between a mother and a son. I can see the contrasting views from a Chinese parent and a western young adult on their understandings in life, cultural and independence. Many Chinese parents have tried to display their care and affection through repetitive inquiries on personal issues like, " do you need to pee?"(as if, it's a collective event?), " who did you hangout with tonight?' (screening and sorting your choice of friends) or " Are your feeling cold? Do you need a jacket?"(what makes you think I wouldn't know this better?) etc, even when their kids are like at their.... 30s/40s? This can be taken by the western eyes as overbearing and perverted. And I bet ya, this morbidity extends to the interview rooms, hospitals and workplace. How Andrew and Philip had stood their grounds, declaring the independence that they deserved, is in fact very encouraging to those who wish to stop weaning from excessive parental 'love'.
I could not help laughing and think when I read this book. I stated to try different communication methods with my parents after I read it. Writing is a romantic and meaningful way to keep the communication in a long time.
Interesting conversation between a mother and a son. It showed in real life how a parent child relation can be. And gently healed our own relationships with parents.
瞬间感觉就像是漂浮的叶子落了地。 (Read the book as a juvenile and picked it up once again accidentally in vacation. The same book, read in different age,always spews out a new sort of fragrance that couldn't be detected in a younger self.) 丙申 二月十六日 midnight.
Kind of philosophy about life, relationship, east and west tradition. The idea is very simple, but it is also hard and rare in typical aisa family. It comprise a patient communication to know each other from two totally diff cultural background. And in the result, readers gets most benefit during this interest culture conflict and reflect to themselves. I can tell the good educated relationship and communication could resolve it chasm.
Kind of philosophy about life, relationship, east and west tradition. The idea is very simple, but it is also hard and rare in typical aisa family. It comprise a patient communication to know each other from two totally diff cultural background. And in the result, readers gets most benefit during this interest culture conflict and reflect to themselves. I can tell the good educated relationship and communication could resolve it chasm.