Tracing It Home

by Lynn Pan

In the tradition of Wild Swans and Life and Death Shanghai, Lynn Pan's Tracing It Home weaves a captivating tale of a family caught up in the turmoil of twentieth-century China. Set in motion by the death of the author's mother, the narrative chronicles the unraveling of an intricate puzzle of familial relationships spanning three generations and two continents. Here is Shanghai in the forties and fifties - a universe of drug addiction, anarchy, suffering wives, and concubines - a way of life on the brink of collapse. From this world emerges a parade of unforgettable the grandfather, a flawed but brilliant tycoon, and his two mistresses, Pearl and Jade Peach; the mother and grandmother, who refuse to waive their claims to love and fidelity; and Hanze, the devoted family retainer who paid for his loyalty with twenty-four years in labor camps. Pan follows these lives through the years of Japanese occupation, revolution, and exile, and shows how the larger wave of history takes its toll on the hearts and minds of ordinary people. With the intimacy of a novel and the pace of a mystery, Tracing It Home is a profoundly moving portrait of China in this century.

Genres: China, Memoir

288 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1992

Reviews

[Kyle Macleod · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice account of upper- class Chinese life during various modern periods of Chinese history. I enjoyed the description of Xinjiang labour camps for political prisoners.

[Belebe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting read. Beautifully written.

[Shannon Wyss · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting, if not engrossing, book.

[Diane in Australia · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 Stars = Okay. I liked the book. It was worth reading.