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The End of East
A moving portrait of three generations of the Chan family living in Vancouver’s Chinatown
Sammy Chan was sure she’d escaped her family obligations when she fled Vancouver six years ago, but with her sister’s upcoming marriage, her turn has come to care for their aging mother. Abandoned by all four of her older sisters, jobless and stuck in a city she resents, Sammy finds herself cobbling together a makeshift family history and delving into stories that began in 1913, when her grandfather, Seid Quan, then eighteen years old, first stepped on Canadian soil.
The End of East weaves in and out of the past and the present, picking up the threads of the Chan family’s Seid Quan, whose loneliness in this foreign country is profound even as he joins the Chinatown community; Shew Lin, whose hopes for her family are threatened by her own misguided actions; Pon Man, who struggles with obligation and desire; and Siu Sang, who tries to be the caregiver everyone expects, even as she feels herself unravelling. And in the background, five little girls grow up under the weight of family expectations. As the past unfolds around her, Sammy finds herself embroiled in a volatile mixture of a dangerous love affair, a difficult and duty-filled relationship with her mother, and the still-fresh memories of her father’s long illness.
An exquisite and evocative debut from one of Canada’s bright new literary stars, The End of East sets family conflicts against the backdrop of Vancouver’s Chinatown – a city within a city where dreams are shattered as quickly as they’re built, and where history repeats itself through the generations.
Sammy Chan was sure she’d escaped her family obligations when she fled Vancouver six years ago, but with her sister’s upcoming marriage, her turn has come to care for their aging mother. Abandoned by all four of her older sisters, jobless and stuck in a city she resents, Sammy finds herself cobbling together a makeshift family history and delving into stories that began in 1913, when her grandfather, Seid Quan, then eighteen years old, first stepped on Canadian soil.
The End of East weaves in and out of the past and the present, picking up the threads of the Chan family’s Seid Quan, whose loneliness in this foreign country is profound even as he joins the Chinatown community; Shew Lin, whose hopes for her family are threatened by her own misguided actions; Pon Man, who struggles with obligation and desire; and Siu Sang, who tries to be the caregiver everyone expects, even as she feels herself unravelling. And in the background, five little girls grow up under the weight of family expectations. As the past unfolds around her, Sammy finds herself embroiled in a volatile mixture of a dangerous love affair, a difficult and duty-filled relationship with her mother, and the still-fresh memories of her father’s long illness.
An exquisite and evocative debut from one of Canada’s bright new literary stars, The End of East sets family conflicts against the backdrop of Vancouver’s Chinatown – a city within a city where dreams are shattered as quickly as they’re built, and where history repeats itself through the generations.
245 pages, Hardcover
First published March 13, 2007
17 people are currently reading
701 people want to read
About the author
Jen Sookfong Lee
15 books169 followersJen Sookfong Lee writes, talks on the radio and loves her slow cooker.
In 2007, Knopf Canada published Jen’s first novel, The End of East, as part of its New Face of Fiction program. Hailed as “an emotional powerhouse of a novel,” The End of East shines a light on the Chinese Canadian story, the repercussions of immigration and the city of Vancouver.
Shelter, Jen’s first fiction for young adults, was published in February 2011 as part of Annick Press’ Single Voice series. It follows a young girl as she struggles to balance her first and dangerous love affair with a difficult and demanding family.
Called “straight-ahead page-turning brilliance” by The National Post and shortlisted for the City of Vancouver Book Award, The Better Mother, Jen’s sophomore novel, was published by Knopf in May 2011. Set in Vancouver during the mid-20th century and early 1980s, The Better Mother is about the accidental friendship between Miss Val, a longtime burlesque dancer, and Danny Lim, a wedding photographer trying to reconcile his past with his present.
A popular radio personality, Jen was the writing columnist for CBC Radio One’s On the Coast and All Points West for three years. She appears regularly as a columnist on The Next Chapter and Definitely Not the Opera, and is a frequent co-host of the Studio One Book Club. Jen is a member of the writing group SPiN and is represented by the Carolyn Swayze Literary Agency.
Born and raised in East Vancouver, Jen now lives in North Burnaby with her husband, son and hoodlum of a dog.
In 2007, Knopf Canada published Jen’s first novel, The End of East, as part of its New Face of Fiction program. Hailed as “an emotional powerhouse of a novel,” The End of East shines a light on the Chinese Canadian story, the repercussions of immigration and the city of Vancouver.
Shelter, Jen’s first fiction for young adults, was published in February 2011 as part of Annick Press’ Single Voice series. It follows a young girl as she struggles to balance her first and dangerous love affair with a difficult and demanding family.
Called “straight-ahead page-turning brilliance” by The National Post and shortlisted for the City of Vancouver Book Award, The Better Mother, Jen’s sophomore novel, was published by Knopf in May 2011. Set in Vancouver during the mid-20th century and early 1980s, The Better Mother is about the accidental friendship between Miss Val, a longtime burlesque dancer, and Danny Lim, a wedding photographer trying to reconcile his past with his present.
A popular radio personality, Jen was the writing columnist for CBC Radio One’s On the Coast and All Points West for three years. She appears regularly as a columnist on The Next Chapter and Definitely Not the Opera, and is a frequent co-host of the Studio One Book Club. Jen is a member of the writing group SPiN and is represented by the Carolyn Swayze Literary Agency.
Born and raised in East Vancouver, Jen now lives in North Burnaby with her husband, son and hoodlum of a dog.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 75 reviews
July 11, 2009
Written in the present tense, the lyrical prose in The End of East weaves in and out of the past, covering three generations about the Chan family’s experience living in Canada. The story opens with Samantha Chan returning to Vancouver to care for her aging mother, a family obligation that she resents. But personal goals must be sacrificed when it comes to family. Lee examines the lives of early Chinese immigrants in Vancouver’s Chinatown, and the difficulties faced building a future for their families.
I would encourage you to visit Jen’s website at: http://www.sookfong.com/
While there, make sure you click on THOUGHTS. For example, a tidbit from two weeks ago, #4 of 5 THINGS YOU MIGHT NOT KNOW ABOUT ME:
I wear a fur-collared cashmere coat of my mother’s that she bought from the Woodward’s Department Store in the 1960s. This coat inspired the scene in The End of East where Siu Sang goes shopping in Vancouver for the first time and is so frustrated that she ends up buying nothing.
I read The End of East as soon as it was released and at that time I merely made a comment: “Loved it. Highly recommended.” I still stand by that comment.
I would encourage you to visit Jen’s website at: http://www.sookfong.com/
While there, make sure you click on THOUGHTS. For example, a tidbit from two weeks ago, #4 of 5 THINGS YOU MIGHT NOT KNOW ABOUT ME:
I wear a fur-collared cashmere coat of my mother’s that she bought from the Woodward’s Department Store in the 1960s. This coat inspired the scene in The End of East where Siu Sang goes shopping in Vancouver for the first time and is so frustrated that she ends up buying nothing.
I read The End of East as soon as it was released and at that time I merely made a comment: “Loved it. Highly recommended.” I still stand by that comment.
April 24, 2019
This book has some beautiful writing. The story, however, has two major flaws. One, there's too much going on. We're going among Samantha "now" and as a child, the grandfather upon arrival to Canada and later, the father when he first immigrated and when he's older, the mother before she immigrated and later, etc. And two, the tone is sad and then gets sadder for all the characters and does so without any resolution or insight. It just lingers, heavy and oppressive. In the service of what? For what purpose?
I initially picked up this book because I was interested in reading about Canada's racist history and what impact it had. I can't say that it featured enough here...
And why was the mother-in-law so bitter and angry with her son's wife. It seemed completely senseless, another element to make the lives of these characters and the reading experience needlessly a major downer.
I initially picked up this book because I was interested in reading about Canada's racist history and what impact it had. I can't say that it featured enough here...
And why was the mother-in-law so bitter and angry with her son's wife. It seemed completely senseless, another element to make the lives of these characters and the reading experience needlessly a major downer.
July 2, 2018
The End of East is a beautiful and slightly haunting tale of a young Chinese man named Seid Quan who moves to Vancouver's Chinatown in Canada at eighteen years of age to build his future, and how his future unfolds for future generations in his family.
The story opens with young Sammy Chan returning to Vancouver for her sister's wedding after leaving Vancouver over six years ago. Sammy's return stirs up all sorts of emotions. She also feels abandoned by her four older sisters. While caring for their mother, Sammy starts to uncover and piece together her family history, which begins in 1913 when her grandfather, Seid Quan, moves to Canada to earn money for his village in China.
Lee skillfully weaves past and present together into a beautiful story of longing, loss, and loneliness.
After being alone for many years, Seid Quan is finally able to bring son Pon Man to Vancouver, but it turns out that Pon Man feels scorn for his father and their relationship is tumultuous.
Pon Man's mother Shew Lin eventually joins them, and then soon enough, it's Pon Man's turn to bring his bride over from Hong Kong. Her name is Siu Sang, and the family expects much from her as the new young woman of the house.
Meanwhile, Siu Sang starts to fray around the edges. As a Hong Kong bride, her expectations of Canada were dreams of attending parties and social engagements with her handsome husband, not the dull drudgery of days at home scrubbing every inch of the house and preparing every meal. She is constantly berated by Shew Lin, and despite giving birth five times, she never gives the family what they want. She is a constant disappointment to everyone.
As Sammy's family history unfolds, she finds herself in a terribly difficult relationship with her mother and with a new man in her life. She is also still reeling from the memory's of her father's illness.
A raw, honest, and ruthless account of growing up in Vancouver's Chinatown and what it's like to be a stranger in a strange land.
The story opens with young Sammy Chan returning to Vancouver for her sister's wedding after leaving Vancouver over six years ago. Sammy's return stirs up all sorts of emotions. She also feels abandoned by her four older sisters. While caring for their mother, Sammy starts to uncover and piece together her family history, which begins in 1913 when her grandfather, Seid Quan, moves to Canada to earn money for his village in China.
Lee skillfully weaves past and present together into a beautiful story of longing, loss, and loneliness.
After being alone for many years, Seid Quan is finally able to bring son Pon Man to Vancouver, but it turns out that Pon Man feels scorn for his father and their relationship is tumultuous.
Pon Man's mother Shew Lin eventually joins them, and then soon enough, it's Pon Man's turn to bring his bride over from Hong Kong. Her name is Siu Sang, and the family expects much from her as the new young woman of the house.
Meanwhile, Siu Sang starts to fray around the edges. As a Hong Kong bride, her expectations of Canada were dreams of attending parties and social engagements with her handsome husband, not the dull drudgery of days at home scrubbing every inch of the house and preparing every meal. She is constantly berated by Shew Lin, and despite giving birth five times, she never gives the family what they want. She is a constant disappointment to everyone.
As Sammy's family history unfolds, she finds herself in a terribly difficult relationship with her mother and with a new man in her life. She is also still reeling from the memory's of her father's illness.
A raw, honest, and ruthless account of growing up in Vancouver's Chinatown and what it's like to be a stranger in a strange land.
September 17, 2007
Two very typical CanLit features here--landscape as a character and metaphor (Vancouver's Chinatown, in this case), and a healthy dose of despair. I wanted to like it more than I did, but there was too much misery and not enough hope for me, and I wanted more from the youngest daughter; she was more of a narrative framing device than a central character. If you're looking for Chinese-Canadian intergenerational stories, try Weyson Choy's The Jade Peony instead.
May 25, 2023
What a phenomenal book!
The End of East tells the story of the Chan family from Seid Quan, who is the first of the family to move to Vancouver to chase a better life, to his son, Pon Man, who experiences Vancouver for the first time as a 15-year-old with his mostly unknown father, to their lives together as a family with Pon Man's five daughters who grow up Chinese-Canadian.
This multigenerational family saga was painfully raw and reflective of traditional Chinese values and way of life. This book sheds light on the many difficulties of the Asian diaspora in a very realistic way. The racism faced by the first Chinese men who were promised a better life through hard work and the realization that the only thing they can do is give up on their dreams and work harder with their heads lowered. The repercussions such behaviour can cause were depicted incredibly well.
Jen Sookfong Lee's descriptive and lyrical writing brought to life all the complex relationships a Chinese family in a foreign country can have with each other while staying true to many traditional Chinese beliefs. The cruelty of these relationships might be hard to understand for anyone not Chinese, but for someone like me, it is easy to understand and empathize while knowing the faults of it. The characters in this book have difficulty communicating and showing their true emotions. They only know how to show love through hard work and sacrifice, a traditional Chinese mindset, to ensure success which only creates longing and regrets. And when success does not happen, they blame themselves and inevitably grow resentful of the others who also had a role in ensuring that success.
All the unexpressed love and glaring pain are meshed together to form this incredible story, making it hard to love or hate any characters entirely while making them unapologetically human.
I found many similarities between this book and her memoir, "Superfan." Reading this book after that one allows me to see that many elements of this one are inspired by her real life, making this story all the more heartbreaking and honest.
What a masterpiece; I highly recommend it!
4.5 stars
The End of East tells the story of the Chan family from Seid Quan, who is the first of the family to move to Vancouver to chase a better life, to his son, Pon Man, who experiences Vancouver for the first time as a 15-year-old with his mostly unknown father, to their lives together as a family with Pon Man's five daughters who grow up Chinese-Canadian.
This multigenerational family saga was painfully raw and reflective of traditional Chinese values and way of life. This book sheds light on the many difficulties of the Asian diaspora in a very realistic way. The racism faced by the first Chinese men who were promised a better life through hard work and the realization that the only thing they can do is give up on their dreams and work harder with their heads lowered. The repercussions such behaviour can cause were depicted incredibly well.
Jen Sookfong Lee's descriptive and lyrical writing brought to life all the complex relationships a Chinese family in a foreign country can have with each other while staying true to many traditional Chinese beliefs. The cruelty of these relationships might be hard to understand for anyone not Chinese, but for someone like me, it is easy to understand and empathize while knowing the faults of it. The characters in this book have difficulty communicating and showing their true emotions. They only know how to show love through hard work and sacrifice, a traditional Chinese mindset, to ensure success which only creates longing and regrets. And when success does not happen, they blame themselves and inevitably grow resentful of the others who also had a role in ensuring that success.
All the unexpressed love and glaring pain are meshed together to form this incredible story, making it hard to love or hate any characters entirely while making them unapologetically human.
I found many similarities between this book and her memoir, "Superfan." Reading this book after that one allows me to see that many elements of this one are inspired by her real life, making this story all the more heartbreaking and honest.
What a masterpiece; I highly recommend it!
4.5 stars
April 1, 2021
I genuinely loved this book. The perspectives of different family members on this expedition of creating a life in a new land and the trouble that comes with raising a family was so insightful. I think it could potentially be confusing how the story switches between characters, but as long as the reader is paying attention, it is possible to follow along.
November 13, 2011
Jen Sookfong Lee's first novel, The End of East, is a complicated story about immigrants, work ethic, family relationships, arranged marriages, the mythology of the North American Pacific Coast and a blending (and clash) of cultures.
The author is quite skilled at developing a very rich sense of place for her readers. I could feel the chill of British Columbia's relentlessly overcast weather just as I came to appreciate the red clay of the Chinese Village back home. I could easily imagine walking through Vancouver's Chinatown of the 1930s and later. The Chan family's saga for first-generation immigrants is one of an uprooting journey to Canada, years of isolation, loneliness, hard work and sacrifice in the face of bigotry and discrimination by Occidental Canada. For the second generation it is handling the embarrassment of and/or rebellion at the humble beginnings, rigidity and stifling expectations of the parents and the helpless frustration of unrealized potential. The third generation of Chans is a story about duty, alienation and family ties of the mother-daughter variety.
It is with this last generation where the story droops a bit. The five Chan sisters, including the youngest, our narrator, aren't well developed. What we do see are five daughters who want as little to do with their mother as possible. The complicated, mostly hurtful, relationships among female family members was a constant in the story. What stood out to me was the cruel, ironic twist of the girls' mother, herself so ill-treated by her mother in law, eventually dishing up the same animus to her own daughters. The lack of a son in this third generation of Chans was a source of great suffering to the earlier generations. As with so many cultures, much rested on having a son. By the end of the book, there is a glimmer of hope offered that things might improve between the Chan women.
While the character development was weak for this third wave of Chans, the mythology of the Pacific Coast immigrant was richly evident throughout the book. To the European mindset, North America's West Coast is 'the end," the edge of the Americas, the last stopping point. The place where the conservation movement is born, home to high-tech innovation, new ideas. To Asian immigrants, however, this place, this End of East, is but a beginning...of a new land, new opportunities, all to be tested, molded and made part of oneself. A place of beginning anew. Ultimately, that is the strength of this book: the picture it paints of the immigrant experience: the good, the bad, the ugly.
The author is quite skilled at developing a very rich sense of place for her readers. I could feel the chill of British Columbia's relentlessly overcast weather just as I came to appreciate the red clay of the Chinese Village back home. I could easily imagine walking through Vancouver's Chinatown of the 1930s and later. The Chan family's saga for first-generation immigrants is one of an uprooting journey to Canada, years of isolation, loneliness, hard work and sacrifice in the face of bigotry and discrimination by Occidental Canada. For the second generation it is handling the embarrassment of and/or rebellion at the humble beginnings, rigidity and stifling expectations of the parents and the helpless frustration of unrealized potential. The third generation of Chans is a story about duty, alienation and family ties of the mother-daughter variety.
It is with this last generation where the story droops a bit. The five Chan sisters, including the youngest, our narrator, aren't well developed. What we do see are five daughters who want as little to do with their mother as possible. The complicated, mostly hurtful, relationships among female family members was a constant in the story. What stood out to me was the cruel, ironic twist of the girls' mother, herself so ill-treated by her mother in law, eventually dishing up the same animus to her own daughters. The lack of a son in this third generation of Chans was a source of great suffering to the earlier generations. As with so many cultures, much rested on having a son. By the end of the book, there is a glimmer of hope offered that things might improve between the Chan women.
While the character development was weak for this third wave of Chans, the mythology of the Pacific Coast immigrant was richly evident throughout the book. To the European mindset, North America's West Coast is 'the end," the edge of the Americas, the last stopping point. The place where the conservation movement is born, home to high-tech innovation, new ideas. To Asian immigrants, however, this place, this End of East, is but a beginning...of a new land, new opportunities, all to be tested, molded and made part of oneself. A place of beginning anew. Ultimately, that is the strength of this book: the picture it paints of the immigrant experience: the good, the bad, the ugly.
July 23, 2010
It was quite interesting debut novel about three generations of Chinese immigrants in Vancouver, Canada. It shows nice picture of ones dreams and what they are ready to do/sacrifice to fulfill that dream (and in the end question is whether they succeeded). Apparently this novel is based on numerous true stories since Vancouver is the city with largest Chinese population away from mother land and I've found it very interesting how the villagers were collect money to send the best among them into the better life in Canada (and how then they had to repay that favour by sending money back to China).
So many customs, especially the one that involves role of woman as a daughter, wife, daughter in law were very interesting. The relationship between main characters were bittersweet (I'd say more bitter than sweet) and as such the novel leave impression of one honest confession.
The style was kind of strange but in the end it was OK. As I said this was debut novel so it's understandable.
Also I wanted to read this novel because of Winter Olympics held this year precisely in Vancouver (and because I'm aiming to send this book to a friend in Canada).
So many customs, especially the one that involves role of woman as a daughter, wife, daughter in law were very interesting. The relationship between main characters were bittersweet (I'd say more bitter than sweet) and as such the novel leave impression of one honest confession.
The style was kind of strange but in the end it was OK. As I said this was debut novel so it's understandable.
Also I wanted to read this novel because of Winter Olympics held this year precisely in Vancouver (and because I'm aiming to send this book to a friend in Canada).
May 5, 2020
This multigenerational family saga is painfully beautiful. You feel the echoes of similar regrets and longing, mirrored through time by father and son, grandmother and daughter-in-law, mother and daughter: the love that goes unexpressed, the depression that goes untreated, forgiveness that goes unasked for. With our omniscient look into the family members' lives, we can feel the catharsis often denied to them. The patterns, the repetition to their pain means that all is understood, we're all just human and all is forgiven.
The hope and the joy echoes too, through dusty pages of calligraphy and sketches, through a garden tended, grown over, and renewed, and through earnest promises made on the way to the hospital. Each sensual detail is brilliantly rendered. It whispers a message that despite whatever pain, whatever misunderstanding and whatever suffering, these lives are precious.
This book is gorgeous. It's not "confusing." It's not "too depressing." It's just gorgeous.
The hope and the joy echoes too, through dusty pages of calligraphy and sketches, through a garden tended, grown over, and renewed, and through earnest promises made on the way to the hospital. Each sensual detail is brilliantly rendered. It whispers a message that despite whatever pain, whatever misunderstanding and whatever suffering, these lives are precious.
This book is gorgeous. It's not "confusing." It's not "too depressing." It's just gorgeous.
September 29, 2017
I find this author's stories about Chinatown really difficult to read. I don't mean that it's not well written. It's just very painful. Her description is raw and ruthless. I was shocked to read about the level of racism Chinese people experienced in Vancouver. It was also difficult to read Chinese people talk about us Japanese like we are the monster. Both this book and Conjoined made me feel afraid of life. It seems like it's a chain of struggle, ending in nothing. I think it's important people who live here read her books to see what lives can be like on "the wrong side of the track". But at the same time, it's tough to stomach at times. Now I feel like I need to read something light and silly to cheer myself up.
August 7, 2010
I hesitate to give this book such a low rating, because the writing was good and the storyline was unique and interesting. However, this was one of the most depressing books I have ever read; I kept expecting one of the characters to experience some form of happiness, but they all had tragic lives and almost more tragic deaths. The main character, too, was rather enigmatic, used more to tie the generational stories together than to tell her own. I also found the time progression to be sometimes confusing and hard to follow.
November 7, 2017
Jen Sookfong Lee...Yay!! Your story covering generations is the story of all that leave ones country and 'begin anew' in another. Especially a new country with completely different everything!!
For me growing up in Victoria and Vancouver..even in the 1960's to the '80's..there was and is still so much intolerance for new people coming to Canada. It does not make me feel good..but..we all hope that for each good person..many more are informed to learn and care.
Thankx for the wonderful story.
For me growing up in Victoria and Vancouver..even in the 1960's to the '80's..there was and is still so much intolerance for new people coming to Canada. It does not make me feel good..but..we all hope that for each good person..many more are informed to learn and care.
Thankx for the wonderful story.
June 25, 2023
Okay, so here’s the deal:
While reading, I enjoyed this novel, in particular the first two generations. The story of the third generation was just m’eh, but that isn’t a slight against the novel as a whole. What was both surprising (and a little disappointing) was how forgettable the story was. In fact, each time I put it for. — even if for just a day — I found that I forgot much of the novel and had to get reacquainted with it. Super odd, because while reading, I found it engaging and I learned about Vancouver’s Chinatown and the Chinese-Canadian community. I read this book as part of a book club, and we divided the novel into four parts, reading one part each week. It is a quick read, and perhaps the breaks between the novel reading caused the forgetfulness, even though, simply a day away from the novel left me feeling like it has been a week or a month. Probably should have split it into only two parts.
So, I liked it, but I should have read it full-out and not pace myself. It may have made all the difference. In the end, it was a good read, not a great one.
While reading, I enjoyed this novel, in particular the first two generations. The story of the third generation was just m’eh, but that isn’t a slight against the novel as a whole. What was both surprising (and a little disappointing) was how forgettable the story was. In fact, each time I put it for. — even if for just a day — I found that I forgot much of the novel and had to get reacquainted with it. Super odd, because while reading, I found it engaging and I learned about Vancouver’s Chinatown and the Chinese-Canadian community. I read this book as part of a book club, and we divided the novel into four parts, reading one part each week. It is a quick read, and perhaps the breaks between the novel reading caused the forgetfulness, even though, simply a day away from the novel left me feeling like it has been a week or a month. Probably should have split it into only two parts.
So, I liked it, but I should have read it full-out and not pace myself. It may have made all the difference. In the end, it was a good read, not a great one.
May 25, 2018
I learned of this author after reading her Globe & Mail article on the Royal Wedding. I was impressed with her writing style and thought process and decided I wanted to read her books. This story was well written although I have difficulty with back and forward points in time, but it was also depressingly dismal. There were only brief flashes of happiness for any of the characters and when they occurred they seemed so far out of character and unreal and unbelievable. Sam, (Samantha) returns to Vancouver to live with her mother who needs someone with her, but yet seems lucid and capable of taking Sam to emergency after she is bleeding from rough intercourse. Given the lives of three generations of family there is a lot going on but not much joy.
June 19, 2021
This book is such a darling but sad book. The themes of isolation and difficult family connections, make this book told through the perspectives of many as one coherent story. All of the characters live very sad lives and all seem to struggle in similar but different ways, however because of their own pain they all fail to connect and help each other. This helps create a beautiful story of inter generational trauma through the Lenses of isolation. This book contains beautiful writing and metaphors that carry the book. My favourite example of this is how the sense of smell in this book is used strictly to describe negative feels such as loneliness, detest and homesickness.
October 12, 2019
I am reminded again how Canada was not as kind to some immigrants as others - the Chinese especially. This follows a fictional family from the time of the grandfather's trip across the ocean to find work in the early 1900's to his son's death and the life of his granddaughters. Those Chinese men may not have been beaten and left to die, but their solitary lives (it was over 20 years before he could bring his family from China) left men who were silent and appeared unfeeling. That filtered down to their families.
March 13, 2021
A story of migration, of Chinese culture and traditions and of both family and loss. Penny abruptly comes back to Vancouver for her sister's wedding and ends up staying to take care of her aging mother. She is looking through her father's things and is curious about his history. We then go back in time where we see how her mom, dad and grandfather came to Canada and the traumas and struggles they experienced shaped Penny's family as how intergenerational trauma has meant that their family has many issues that are unresolved or unspoken. This book is beautiful but its also very sad.
February 7, 2020
I did not enjoy this book. It was way too depressing but it wasn't what make me dislike it that much. The way they were portraying women was just unbearable. The author made them so despicable that we couldn't feel any compassion for their situation. Also, the transition with the past and present was just confusing for me. The parts with Samantha also just seemed irrelevant to me.
May 30, 2019
This is a beautiful multi-generation story (my favourite kind) AND it's set in Vancouver! I'm trying to read more local authors and this didn't disappoint.
March 18, 2021
It was an interesting story, but it jumped around too much and left a lot of questions unanswered.
July 31, 2022
I enjoyed it and agreed with other comments that there is slightly too much going on.
July 16, 2023
3.5 stars
May 13, 2011
Samantha and Penny are sisters and Penny lives at home with their mother in Vancouver, British Columbia. Samantha has just flown in from Montreal where she has been living for the past 6 years and is feeling a bit jet lagged as she enters the yard at the back of the house. There is a crackling fire ablaze in the backyard and her mother is burning her grandfather’s old, woolly clothing. She is just champing-at-the-bit and orders Samantha inside to help her sister. There are 3 other sisters: Wendy, Jackie and Daisy of which Samantha is the youngest.
Penny is on her hands and knees in her grandfather’s room ripping up the old red carpet that he brought over from his old apartment in Chinatown when he moved in. Mother is in a hurry to get rid of grandfather’s “junk” before Penny and Adam’s wedding because they’ll need that room for the tea ceremony. And mother isn’t happy that Penny is getting married so (in her terms), “quickly” and tells her she is an: “inconsiderate girl!” Penny doesn’t understand why mother is so upset, after all she has been engaged for a month and grandfather has been dead for ten years! She’s had 120 months to clean out his room. Penny figures her mother thought grandfather’s death wasn’t as important or as lucky as their father’s because it only took her one week to burn everything of his!
While cleaning out his dresser, Samantha finds a yellowed document, cracked with age that read: “Chan Seid Quan...June 27, 1913 arrived at Vancouver, B.C. on the Empress of India.” She knew he kept this because he never wanted to forget when his new life began. He owned a barber shop in Chinatown.
From here the story turns to grandfather and his arrival in Canada; his first job, his return to China to wed Shew Lin, and again for the birth of each of his 3 children, his trek back to Canada, and his takeover of the barber shop he would own and work in the rest of his life.
I wasn’t sure at first whether I was going to like this novel or not but surprise, surprise, it provided such deep and insightful information about each of the characters that I was totally taken aback. The novel provoked contemplation and emotions without effort. A quick read and beautiful story.
Penny is on her hands and knees in her grandfather’s room ripping up the old red carpet that he brought over from his old apartment in Chinatown when he moved in. Mother is in a hurry to get rid of grandfather’s “junk” before Penny and Adam’s wedding because they’ll need that room for the tea ceremony. And mother isn’t happy that Penny is getting married so (in her terms), “quickly” and tells her she is an: “inconsiderate girl!” Penny doesn’t understand why mother is so upset, after all she has been engaged for a month and grandfather has been dead for ten years! She’s had 120 months to clean out his room. Penny figures her mother thought grandfather’s death wasn’t as important or as lucky as their father’s because it only took her one week to burn everything of his!
While cleaning out his dresser, Samantha finds a yellowed document, cracked with age that read: “Chan Seid Quan...June 27, 1913 arrived at Vancouver, B.C. on the Empress of India.” She knew he kept this because he never wanted to forget when his new life began. He owned a barber shop in Chinatown.
From here the story turns to grandfather and his arrival in Canada; his first job, his return to China to wed Shew Lin, and again for the birth of each of his 3 children, his trek back to Canada, and his takeover of the barber shop he would own and work in the rest of his life.
I wasn’t sure at first whether I was going to like this novel or not but surprise, surprise, it provided such deep and insightful information about each of the characters that I was totally taken aback. The novel provoked contemplation and emotions without effort. A quick read and beautiful story.
February 18, 2017
Started this and put it down about halfway through. Came back to it expecting to give it a short second chance and possibly not finish. But when I came back to it I got hooked and finished it in short order. I wouldn't call it a "moving" story about Chinese immigrants and their subsequent generations in Canada, but I did feel immersed into that world for a while.
October 2, 2009
This is a Canadian Chinese story that spans continents and generations. The story is essentially a mishmash of stories and bits and pieces from the lives of three generations of Chinese immigrants to Canada. The story weaves through the years from Sammy Chan to her grandfather, and everyone in between.
Sammy Chan is the youngest granddaughter of Seid Quan, Chinese immigrant in 1913. The story examines his loneliness, separated from all he knows including the woman he marries and has three children with on rare visits back to his village; the anxiety his son (and Sammy’s father) Pon Man, feels when he is sent to Canada to join his father; the craziness of Sui Sang, Sammy’s mother, as she tries to fend of what she perceives as an interfering mother-in-law; and the huge cultural and generational gap between Pon Man, Sui Sang and their five daughters.
This is a story of family and self; of how we are held together and how we unravel; of obligation an desire and how they pull against each other; of family love and disregard; and of how after all that life throws at us, somewhere, deep inside, family is family, whether we like it or not.
It’s a delicate book which requires some engagement to enjoy. Fortunately this is easy. The book could be done in one sitting on a rainy Sunday spent on the couch. This does not mean in any way that it is a candyfloss read, but rather that it will drag you in immediately and, at 242 pages, is short enough to complete in a single day.
It’s well worth reading.
October 26, 2020
Read this book and didn't realize I had already read it 12 years ago! I think the same as I did then. I wanted more depth of character. The multiple perspectives aren't deep enough for me. Still I feel like it helps me understand and imagine my family's immigration story which occurred around the same era.
Had to take a break from vampire romance. I love Vancouver and part of my family history is there so this book about Chinese immigration to Vancouver is great. Written in present tense, it kind of reminds me of Frank McCourt's Angela's Ashes. So far, so good.
This novel covers generations and a lot of breadth, but not depth. So sometimes I wanted to know more about a character or specific event in that character's life. But beautifully written and I envisioned my great-grandfather and great-grandmother and their experiences.
Had to take a break from vampire romance. I love Vancouver and part of my family history is there so this book about Chinese immigration to Vancouver is great. Written in present tense, it kind of reminds me of Frank McCourt's Angela's Ashes. So far, so good.
This novel covers generations and a lot of breadth, but not depth. So sometimes I wanted to know more about a character or specific event in that character's life. But beautifully written and I envisioned my great-grandfather and great-grandmother and their experiences.
June 24, 2016
"Resonance of humanity"
With the change of times, we would expect to see differences of the lives of three generations of any family, and such variation in attitude, education, values, and lifestyles is more dramatic for the lives of immigrants. The End of East dissects the trauma and beauty of early Chinese immigrants in Vancouver. I am amazed at the hardship, but mostly the resilience, the early immigrants had gone through. While we complains about misunderstanding brought by generation gaps, I sympathized with the additional culture shock accompanied by the uprooting of a family to a different country. Our world has changed so much. We are now living in a global village - everyone of us are more or less immigrants in the time and space we live. Hope you would enjoy this book and find the resonance of humanity.
With the change of times, we would expect to see differences of the lives of three generations of any family, and such variation in attitude, education, values, and lifestyles is more dramatic for the lives of immigrants. The End of East dissects the trauma and beauty of early Chinese immigrants in Vancouver. I am amazed at the hardship, but mostly the resilience, the early immigrants had gone through. While we complains about misunderstanding brought by generation gaps, I sympathized with the additional culture shock accompanied by the uprooting of a family to a different country. Our world has changed so much. We are now living in a global village - everyone of us are more or less immigrants in the time and space we live. Hope you would enjoy this book and find the resonance of humanity.
June 18, 2009
Lee evokes fully the lives of three generations of a Chinese immigrant family. I find her portrait of Seid Quan (the grandfather) perhaps the most compelling and heartbreaking. Lee reminds us of the immense and unimaginable (to me and to, I imagine, other third generation Chinese Americans) sacrifices made by our immigrant ancestors. Seid Quan works for decades without complaint and without thanks (certainly not thanks from his own son or his daughter-in-law) and nourishes hopes that are at the same time small and seemingly unreachable (that he can be reunited with his wife, that he can provide her with a home, that his son will love him). This book gives me insight into my own family's experiences, and it feels absolutely true.
June 24, 2016
I had a rare opportunity meet the author at a workshop before I started reading this novel. That helped me understanding this work even more. I am impressed with her ability to tell two or more stories in one book, though they take place in different time periods . Of course this is a fitting literary technique because the novel is about one Chinese immigrant family in Vancouver's Chinatown over generations. Although a number of similar stories have already been written, each author adds different elements to one's work and that makes reading this kind of story interesting. This is especially true for me because I have my background in Sociology and immigration is a major topic in the discipline.
It was an easy and enjoyable read.
It was an easy and enjoyable read.
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May 20, 2008Today is the day after Asian Heritage Month. Which is fitting, since Jen Sookfong Lee wants to talk about living outside the definitions of "Chinese Canadian" and "Chinese Canadian writer." And she chuckles at the predictable, yet fitting, choice of interviewing her in Chinatown at Boss Bakery and Restaurant on Main Street in Vancouver.
Lee spent seven years working on her first novel, The End of East. Her story of three generations of a Chinese family with roots in Vancouver's Chinatown is especially timely now, with its backdrops of...
Read more...
http://thetyee.ca/Books/2007/06/01/Ba...
Lee spent seven years working on her first novel, The End of East. Her story of three generations of a Chinese family with roots in Vancouver's Chinatown is especially timely now, with its backdrops of...
Read more...
http://thetyee.ca/Books/2007/06/01/Ba...
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