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Disappearing Moon Cafe
Sometimes funny, sometimes scandalous, always compelling, this extraordinary first novel chronicles the women of the Wong family from frontier railroad camps to modern-day Vancouver. As past sins and inborn strengths are passed on from mother to daughter to granddaughter, each generation confronts, in its own way, the same problems — isolation, racism, and the clash of cultures. Moving effortlessly between past and present, between North America and China, Sky Lee weaves fiction and historical fact into a memorable and moving picture of a people’s struggle for identity.
317 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 1991
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1469 people want to read
About the author
Sky Lee
8 books13 followersSky Lee (born September 15, 1952 in Port Alberni, British Columbia) is a Canadian artist and novelist. Lee has published both feminist fiction and non-fiction and identifies as lesbian.
Lee was first published as the illustrator of 1983's children's book, Teach Me to Fly, Skyfighter! by Paul Yee. The book is a collection of four stories exploring what it is like to grow up as a Chinese-Canadian in a community with links to both Asian-Canadian and Anglo-Canadian cultures.
Lee's first book, Disappearing Moon Cafe, published in 1990, explores the Wong family over four generations, as they operate the titled cafe. Nominated for the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize and the Governor General's Award, the novel won the City of Vancouver Book Award..."
In the same year, Lee contributed to the collective prose, Telling It: Women and Language Across Culture. The book's writing is attributed to the "Telling It Book Collective", of which Lee was a member. The book explores issues of racism and homophobia experienced by native, lesbian and Asian Canadian women.
In 1994, Lee published Bellydancer: Stories, a collection of 15 short stories that explore a range of feminist themes, with allegories focusing primarily on the "bellydancer," an archetype of survival. The back cover of the book explains: "bellydancing was originally performed at the bedside of women in labor, as an erotic dance of creation."
Her short stories have also appeared in Vancouver Short Stories as well as periodicals such as West Coast Line, The Asianadian, Kinethis, and Makara.
(from Wikipedia)
Lee was first published as the illustrator of 1983's children's book, Teach Me to Fly, Skyfighter! by Paul Yee. The book is a collection of four stories exploring what it is like to grow up as a Chinese-Canadian in a community with links to both Asian-Canadian and Anglo-Canadian cultures.
Lee's first book, Disappearing Moon Cafe, published in 1990, explores the Wong family over four generations, as they operate the titled cafe. Nominated for the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize and the Governor General's Award, the novel won the City of Vancouver Book Award..."
In the same year, Lee contributed to the collective prose, Telling It: Women and Language Across Culture. The book's writing is attributed to the "Telling It Book Collective", of which Lee was a member. The book explores issues of racism and homophobia experienced by native, lesbian and Asian Canadian women.
In 1994, Lee published Bellydancer: Stories, a collection of 15 short stories that explore a range of feminist themes, with allegories focusing primarily on the "bellydancer," an archetype of survival. The back cover of the book explains: "bellydancing was originally performed at the bedside of women in labor, as an erotic dance of creation."
Her short stories have also appeared in Vancouver Short Stories as well as periodicals such as West Coast Line, The Asianadian, Kinethis, and Makara.
(from Wikipedia)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 250 reviews
April 2, 2021
Enjoyed this story but found it a little hard to follow all the storylines listening to audio.
August 3, 2021
This is truly one of the saddest epics I’ve read in a long time— perhaps because it resonates so loudly with my own Cantonese Toisan (peasant, poor) paternal heritage, and the secrets that the upper generation relatives kept— all the way to their graves.
We will never know the truth— as is revealed through the diary letters written by Fong Mei. Sweeping in its scope of 5!? Generations, it’s a sad tale of this lack Kok of love and respect... instead, replaced with guile and a force and manipulation and secrecy. I know many a Mui Lan (flower) characterization— so harsh and rage-filled and vituperative folks that bark, not talk.
Survival, acculturation, individual female agency, cultural heritage, family roots, identity, and large complicated family dynamics and relationships explored and illustrated.
I would have been a hapless fool were I without the key to this whole thingy: a mapped family tree (most especially because Chinese names (two characters), one cannot tell the gender at all!
Too, themes of racism and racial bias. Also, the angst and ineffable feelings of rage for missed hopes and desires, an immigrant’s vulnerable place in a new culture, the “other” in constant survival mode.
The style of this book toggles back and for there between then and now.. sometimes focusing on a specific fam member’s perspective, and sometimes back to a specific time period. The “hiddenness” of so much in this family saga hurts me and I transferred a lot of what was being revealed.
PS slightly annoying and noticeable:
The audiobook version has the very talented actress using Cantonese for most “conversations” when in italics. But she toggles between pronouncing the names of characters in Mandarin, and others in Cantonese. That irked me
We will never know the truth— as is revealed through the diary letters written by Fong Mei. Sweeping in its scope of 5!? Generations, it’s a sad tale of this lack Kok of love and respect... instead, replaced with guile and a force and manipulation and secrecy. I know many a Mui Lan (flower) characterization— so harsh and rage-filled and vituperative folks that bark, not talk.
Survival, acculturation, individual female agency, cultural heritage, family roots, identity, and large complicated family dynamics and relationships explored and illustrated.
I would have been a hapless fool were I without the key to this whole thingy: a mapped family tree (most especially because Chinese names (two characters), one cannot tell the gender at all!
Too, themes of racism and racial bias. Also, the angst and ineffable feelings of rage for missed hopes and desires, an immigrant’s vulnerable place in a new culture, the “other” in constant survival mode.
The style of this book toggles back and for there between then and now.. sometimes focusing on a specific fam member’s perspective, and sometimes back to a specific time period. The “hiddenness” of so much in this family saga hurts me and I transferred a lot of what was being revealed.
PS slightly annoying and noticeable:
The audiobook version has the very talented actress using Cantonese for most “conversations” when in italics. But she toggles between pronouncing the names of characters in Mandarin, and others in Cantonese. That irked me
February 26, 2015
At first I was having a hard time keeping names and characters straight, but after a while and after flipping to the useless family tree at the beginning I just didn't care anymore.
The characters were inter-changable, female characters were weak when young and nasty when old, male characters were weak all through. The lovers were sad and the lives of these people unreal.
I did not get attached to any characters deep enough to care if their life fell apart, if they killed themselves or just ruined their or their families lives, they were unreal, unlikable, and just sad.
The Concubine's Children by Denise Chong is a much better book, and is non-fiction.
The characters were inter-changable, female characters were weak when young and nasty when old, male characters were weak all through. The lovers were sad and the lives of these people unreal.
I did not get attached to any characters deep enough to care if their life fell apart, if they killed themselves or just ruined their or their families lives, they were unreal, unlikable, and just sad.
The Concubine's Children by Denise Chong is a much better book, and is non-fiction.
July 2, 2019
First, do not look at the family tree that’s near the front of the book. It reveals spoilers. Second, content or trigger warning: the book has 2, possibly 3 or 4, instances of incest.
This book is a good read and provides a glimpse into Canada’s racist past, one similar to the USA’s and unfortunately, one that the US continues to foster presently.
I was taken from the start and remained so through most of the four generations described. Given the book’s structure, I had difficulty, at times, tracking the characters because the perspective jumps among the characters and across time. I don’t usually have this challenge. Perhaps it’s due to the particularly unusual romanization of Chinese names here. The book includes a few characters, a mother-in-law and a daughter-in-law, who are mean and cruel. However, the author made their despicable attitudes and actions understandable within the confines of these characters’ experiences. I especially appreciate authors who make very unlikeable characters humane and somehow frame their hostility with some level of sensitivity or sympathy.
The pacing is quick and steadily so until the end, when it seems like lots are being packed in. For instance, ghosts talk and one of the characters, a writer, speaks somehow very directly to the reader. This all occurs to explain various elements, give a final punch, and tie up loose ends.
I'm curious if this author is still writing.
A few quotes:
Not until he touched the bones. When he finally did, he was awed by them. At first, he actually dreaded the macabre work. What were a few dried bones to him, except disgusting? But the spirits in the mountains were strong and persuasive. The bones gathered themselves into the human shapes of young man, each dashing and bold. They followed him about wherever he roamed, whispered to him, until he knew each of them to be a hero, with yearnings from the same secret places in his own heart.
There was a time when Gwei Chang would have felt the same as the other men, when he would have wanted to reach out to tear out a handful of hair too, where he could. He too was once a hungry worker who sold his body for wages, who swallowed the bitterness of being cheated every day period these overseas chinese were like derelicts, neither here nor there, not tolerated anywhere; an outlaw band of men united by common bonds of helpless rage. Fuming and foaming, talking just as malevolently, wanting to inflame as if that could appease their own pain! Ahh, but he was an old man now; very old and spirit, if not in years. And he had learned that anger only splatters pain, like hot oil onto shrinking skin. Nothing assuages pain, except maybe time. Even then, pain only tempers into a hard, glinty edge which cuts without warning. He had been cut enough times, so he knew.
Driving it out on the open highway was such a pleasure, I discovered sheer ecstasy in the cars hypnotic rhythm of freedom. It was like something unthrottled in my head, and the vehicle flew through space that wasn't distance and didn't matter anymore . The TransCanada a satin ribbon trance. It beckoned me on and on.
This book is a good read and provides a glimpse into Canada’s racist past, one similar to the USA’s and unfortunately, one that the US continues to foster presently.
I was taken from the start and remained so through most of the four generations described. Given the book’s structure, I had difficulty, at times, tracking the characters because the perspective jumps among the characters and across time. I don’t usually have this challenge. Perhaps it’s due to the particularly unusual romanization of Chinese names here. The book includes a few characters, a mother-in-law and a daughter-in-law, who are mean and cruel. However, the author made their despicable attitudes and actions understandable within the confines of these characters’ experiences. I especially appreciate authors who make very unlikeable characters humane and somehow frame their hostility with some level of sensitivity or sympathy.
The pacing is quick and steadily so until the end, when it seems like lots are being packed in. For instance, ghosts talk and one of the characters, a writer, speaks somehow very directly to the reader. This all occurs to explain various elements, give a final punch, and tie up loose ends.
I'm curious if this author is still writing.
A few quotes:
Not until he touched the bones. When he finally did, he was awed by them. At first, he actually dreaded the macabre work. What were a few dried bones to him, except disgusting? But the spirits in the mountains were strong and persuasive. The bones gathered themselves into the human shapes of young man, each dashing and bold. They followed him about wherever he roamed, whispered to him, until he knew each of them to be a hero, with yearnings from the same secret places in his own heart.
There was a time when Gwei Chang would have felt the same as the other men, when he would have wanted to reach out to tear out a handful of hair too, where he could. He too was once a hungry worker who sold his body for wages, who swallowed the bitterness of being cheated every day period these overseas chinese were like derelicts, neither here nor there, not tolerated anywhere; an outlaw band of men united by common bonds of helpless rage. Fuming and foaming, talking just as malevolently, wanting to inflame as if that could appease their own pain! Ahh, but he was an old man now; very old and spirit, if not in years. And he had learned that anger only splatters pain, like hot oil onto shrinking skin. Nothing assuages pain, except maybe time. Even then, pain only tempers into a hard, glinty edge which cuts without warning. He had been cut enough times, so he knew.
Driving it out on the open highway was such a pleasure, I discovered sheer ecstasy in the cars hypnotic rhythm of freedom. It was like something unthrottled in my head, and the vehicle flew through space that wasn't distance and didn't matter anymore . The TransCanada a satin ribbon trance. It beckoned me on and on.
September 1, 2008
As a feminist writer, Sky Lee uses the familiar Chinese-Canadian novel format of weaving together the stories of different generations, to highlight Chinese women's struggles for independence. The story hops between past and present, slowly piecing together all the dirty family secrets (suicide, adultery, incest..).
The novel is very plot-driven, and I found myself losing interest because the characters were very flat - like stepmothers in a fairy tale. The elements of historical fiction were interesting, and Sky Lee seems to want to drive home issues of racism for the reader. But without the depth of characters, the hardships of chinatown read more like a textbook (boring!). The strength of the novel is really in the way it unfolds the tensions and passions in mother-daughter relationships. The rivalry between each generation of women ties the fragmented tale together nicely, and gives a unique perspective on women's positions in Chinese-Canadian culture throughout history.
The novel is very plot-driven, and I found myself losing interest because the characters were very flat - like stepmothers in a fairy tale. The elements of historical fiction were interesting, and Sky Lee seems to want to drive home issues of racism for the reader. But without the depth of characters, the hardships of chinatown read more like a textbook (boring!). The strength of the novel is really in the way it unfolds the tensions and passions in mother-daughter relationships. The rivalry between each generation of women ties the fragmented tale together nicely, and gives a unique perspective on women's positions in Chinese-Canadian culture throughout history.
June 6, 2021
Very confusing and hard to keep up with people and time periods and relevance.
September 29, 2010
I just randomly picked this one up off the floor of our apartment and couldn't put it down. Really well written, shocking and tragic at times...even made me cry at one point. I love reading about the history of Vancouver from different perspectives...really makes me view it in a whole different light.
April 16, 2021
If 2.5 stars had been a choice I would have given the book that rating, reflecting my ambivalence about it: I liked parts of it and wanted to like it more, but found reading it also produced much tedium and disappointment. Decided to lean toward 3 stars to recognize effort and ambition.
It looked promising because of the descriptions of it as a classic and because of the prospect of learning something about a Chinese-Canadian point of view. It did deliver glimpses of that particular community and of how Canada can look to one writer from that background.
It also delivered contradictions and dead ends. A powerful symbolic start involving a search for remains of dead Chinese labourers shrivels into a passing anecdote. Oppressive and driven mothers are swiftly explained in the end as the products/victims of a patriarchal society (not an unknown phenomenon but the connection is not well made). A real-life racist incident stemming from a Vancouver murder in the 1920s makes an appearance in the story, disappears and then is suddenly and rather awkwardly brought back toward the end.
The biggest disappointment is the writing. What begins as an omniscient third-person voice blurs into a first-person narrator's voice and then occasionally blurs back again. The writing style itself often feels kitschy. It isn't clear whether that is Lee's own voice or the imagined voice of the character doing the narrating/imagining. Two short excerpts will serve as an acid test. If you like these you may like the novel, but if not … :
"There, she found a pair of brand-new scissors … All these long years, she had totally forgotten about them … These she picked up with a rather deliberate gesture, then turned threateningly to her torturer. Mui Lan took fright and flight. She almost made it out of the bedroom, but Fong Mei dragged her back with the strength of ten madwomen."
And: "There I was in Chinatown, a lovely young female with a body that hungered beyond my control, surrounded by this restless ocean of male virility lapping at my fertile shores."
This 2017 reissue of the 1991 original includes an academic afterward and the transcript of another academic's interview with the author. Both sections offer interesting views of how specialist academics can interpret the world in a highly formalized, carefully modulated way (E.g., Canada is split between an "indigenous" society and a "settler society," as if every non-indigenous person springs from a class of homesteaders; and there's the standard embrace of puns like "pain of glass"). The academics and even the author also seem to hold an artificially constructed view of the novel, one quite separate from its direct reality as a story written for and encountered by a mass readership.
It looked promising because of the descriptions of it as a classic and because of the prospect of learning something about a Chinese-Canadian point of view. It did deliver glimpses of that particular community and of how Canada can look to one writer from that background.
It also delivered contradictions and dead ends. A powerful symbolic start involving a search for remains of dead Chinese labourers shrivels into a passing anecdote. Oppressive and driven mothers are swiftly explained in the end as the products/victims of a patriarchal society (not an unknown phenomenon but the connection is not well made). A real-life racist incident stemming from a Vancouver murder in the 1920s makes an appearance in the story, disappears and then is suddenly and rather awkwardly brought back toward the end.
The biggest disappointment is the writing. What begins as an omniscient third-person voice blurs into a first-person narrator's voice and then occasionally blurs back again. The writing style itself often feels kitschy. It isn't clear whether that is Lee's own voice or the imagined voice of the character doing the narrating/imagining. Two short excerpts will serve as an acid test. If you like these you may like the novel, but if not … :
"There, she found a pair of brand-new scissors … All these long years, she had totally forgotten about them … These she picked up with a rather deliberate gesture, then turned threateningly to her torturer. Mui Lan took fright and flight. She almost made it out of the bedroom, but Fong Mei dragged her back with the strength of ten madwomen."
And: "There I was in Chinatown, a lovely young female with a body that hungered beyond my control, surrounded by this restless ocean of male virility lapping at my fertile shores."
This 2017 reissue of the 1991 original includes an academic afterward and the transcript of another academic's interview with the author. Both sections offer interesting views of how specialist academics can interpret the world in a highly formalized, carefully modulated way (E.g., Canada is split between an "indigenous" society and a "settler society," as if every non-indigenous person springs from a class of homesteaders; and there's the standard embrace of puns like "pain of glass"). The academics and even the author also seem to hold an artificially constructed view of the novel, one quite separate from its direct reality as a story written for and encountered by a mass readership.
Read
January 19, 2022Did not finish :( couldn’t get in to it.
November 15, 2018
Rating: 5 / 5
Have you ever encountered a book that, under no normal (meaning, non-school-related) circumstances, you'd never pick up, because it has nothing whatsoever to do with you or interest you, but then you read it, and see that it's good, and end up finishing it much more easily than you thought you would, your concluding thought being that the book is much better than it has any right to be for a book that's not suited to your usual tastes?
That in, a nutshell, is my experience with Disappearing Moon Cafe, which expresses a story about a race, culture, and general background that is 100% out of my interest range and relatability, and yet is still something that I enjoyed immensely.
Well-written, with an original story and unique characters, I'm not sure how, but Sky Lee managed to drive the plot forward for all it was worth and overall make something intelligent, interesting, and all in all a spectacular read.
I'm still a bit awed by it, to be honest, so there's not really much I can say, and even less that I'd care to give away. The only thing I can recommend is that if you like intellectual reads with moral lessons in history, revolving around juicier fictional (or not-so-fictional) subjects, that is both well-written and respectfully conveys the message it's trying to show, then you're in for a treat with Disappearing Moon Cafe.
Seriously, never before has "don't just a book by its cover/summary/generally everything" applied more to me than to this book before. I am, in two words, astounded and impressed.
Have you ever encountered a book that, under no normal (meaning, non-school-related) circumstances, you'd never pick up, because it has nothing whatsoever to do with you or interest you, but then you read it, and see that it's good, and end up finishing it much more easily than you thought you would, your concluding thought being that the book is much better than it has any right to be for a book that's not suited to your usual tastes?
That in, a nutshell, is my experience with Disappearing Moon Cafe, which expresses a story about a race, culture, and general background that is 100% out of my interest range and relatability, and yet is still something that I enjoyed immensely.
Well-written, with an original story and unique characters, I'm not sure how, but Sky Lee managed to drive the plot forward for all it was worth and overall make something intelligent, interesting, and all in all a spectacular read.
I'm still a bit awed by it, to be honest, so there's not really much I can say, and even less that I'd care to give away. The only thing I can recommend is that if you like intellectual reads with moral lessons in history, revolving around juicier fictional (or not-so-fictional) subjects, that is both well-written and respectfully conveys the message it's trying to show, then you're in for a treat with Disappearing Moon Cafe.
Seriously, never before has "don't just a book by its cover/summary/generally everything" applied more to me than to this book before. I am, in two words, astounded and impressed.
March 2, 2012
My preparation for my trip to Vancouver, BC led me to this book. It was a heart wrenching book, not allowing for much hope in the arena of human nature. I did learn through the process of reading the book a lot of the Chinese migration to the Gold Mountains- both CA and BC. I didn't know there was such a large pollution of Chinese in the vAncouver area.
I was stunned by the seemingly cruel way in which the women would speak to their children, and daughter-in-law, yet it seemed familiar. It reminded me of The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mom, and her reference to the name-calling that can be characteristic in Chinese homes. I'm not sure if this is a cultural aspect, or if the combined trauma of relocation at a time of prejudice and suspicion of Chinese immigrants and being a woman in a society that seemingly undervalued women coalesced to create for meanness.
It seems there is a lot of literature regarding the relationship among generations of chinese women, and the trauma that is carried down through the generations, often by virtue of the lack of power the women felt.
I was stunned by the seemingly cruel way in which the women would speak to their children, and daughter-in-law, yet it seemed familiar. It reminded me of The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mom, and her reference to the name-calling that can be characteristic in Chinese homes. I'm not sure if this is a cultural aspect, or if the combined trauma of relocation at a time of prejudice and suspicion of Chinese immigrants and being a woman in a society that seemingly undervalued women coalesced to create for meanness.
It seems there is a lot of literature regarding the relationship among generations of chinese women, and the trauma that is carried down through the generations, often by virtue of the lack of power the women felt.
January 28, 2018
Disappearing Moon Cafe was interesting to me, especially as a second generation Chinese Canadian, in that it worked within an "undertold" history and sought to tie the connections and experiences of Chinese across generations. I actually appreciated the jumping between persons and times—the non-linearity of time was important to building upon the meaning and plot of the book. And after finishing it, I wanted to pore over the pages, trying to find clues and connections towards the endings. I was disappointed though that the history wasn't better articulated or contextualized, because this story was an opportunity to tell that in a captivating way. And I agree with some of the critiques that the characters sometimes felt flat. I also worried that the characterizations of Indigeneity were even more one-dimensional and felt more justice could've been done to that history and Indigenous and mixed folks. One final note: Was there a little gay in there? Or am I looking for what I hope to see?
June 26, 2021
If I could give this 0 stars I would. It's so boring. And you end up caring for none of the characters. Trying to try so many stories together is confusing. It would have made for a more enjoyable read if there wasn't so much jumping around between characters...or if the story was more cohesive between them. It was a disjointed and clunky read.
August 20, 2021
I wanted to be nice and give this three stars, but I can't do that in good conscience lmao. I really enjoyed the beginning segment, but the book soon became just a complete mess of timelines and reading this as an audiobook was a mistake because my idiot brain couldn't keep the names of anybody straight. I frequently had to guess who the narrating character was and after a while of doing that, I just stopped caring, to be honest! Also :( there was no mention of incest in the description so that was a very unpleasant surprise...
Would not recommend this to anyone.
Would not recommend this to anyone.
April 24, 2019
It took me a while to be absorbed by this book, following a few generations of a Chinese family in Vancouver - it moves back and forth between multiple generations and multiple characters and at the beginning it didn't have the impact because I wasn't remembering the relationships. But I loved the twisty second half.
June 14, 2021
"Mui Lan lived a lie, so Fong Mei got sly
Suzie slipped away; Beatrice made to stay.
Kae to tell the story,
all that's left of
vainglory."
this book tells a story about a multigenerational Chinese-Canadian immigrant family as they deal with racism, sexism, and more. there are a lot of characters but this story is told from Kae's perspective (I was quite confused at first because we are introduced to Kae later on in the book. ) the stories take place from the late 1890s (where many Asians were sent to Canada to build railways) to 1950s.
I enjoy this book because of the characters that even when you're only introduced to them a few times yet it felt like you know them. you feel for them, their sorrows, griefs, and joy. I couldn't help but to want their own stories, books dedicated to each of the women. however, it did take me a couple of weeks to finish this one idk if it's because of my reading slump or that this book is the one causing it haha...I will say that the plot of this book is very interesting especially because of the romantic relationships. at first, it was quite hard to understand the family because it jumped from one timeline to another but the family tree in front of the book helped a lot! (but it did give huge spoilers.) I wished that there was more explanation on the idioms or slang words that are clearly a direct translation from mandarin (luckily I bought the second-hand copy and the previous owner had written notes.)
if you're interested in reading an Asian multi-generational book, you may want to check this one out! (especially about the mother in law relationship hahaha)
Suzie slipped away; Beatrice made to stay.
Kae to tell the story,
all that's left of
vainglory."
this book tells a story about a multigenerational Chinese-Canadian immigrant family as they deal with racism, sexism, and more. there are a lot of characters but this story is told from Kae's perspective (I was quite confused at first because we are introduced to Kae later on in the book. ) the stories take place from the late 1890s (where many Asians were sent to Canada to build railways) to 1950s.
I enjoy this book because of the characters that even when you're only introduced to them a few times yet it felt like you know them. you feel for them, their sorrows, griefs, and joy. I couldn't help but to want their own stories, books dedicated to each of the women. however, it did take me a couple of weeks to finish this one idk if it's because of my reading slump or that this book is the one causing it haha...I will say that the plot of this book is very interesting especially because of the romantic relationships. at first, it was quite hard to understand the family because it jumped from one timeline to another but the family tree in front of the book helped a lot! (but it did give huge spoilers.) I wished that there was more explanation on the idioms or slang words that are clearly a direct translation from mandarin (luckily I bought the second-hand copy and the previous owner had written notes.)
if you're interested in reading an Asian multi-generational book, you may want to check this one out! (especially about the mother in law relationship hahaha)
May 26, 2021
3.5/5: An oft-jarring cultural immersion into the lives and struggles of Chinese immigrant families in North America, told from multiple viewpoints and highlighting familial stereotypes in relationships such as father/son, daughter-in-law/mother-in-law, uncle-niece. The invariable closet skeletons are painted vividly in transliterated style, which added to my mirth at hearing the Cantonese/Hong Kong cultural nuances which once dominated my childhood. Overall, not an easy read (nor hear), but mostly because it was so blasé and realistically-rendered. *shudders* I feel I need an airy chick-lit detox after the emotional upheaval from this heavy novel, which nonetheless is a credit to the author SKY Lee for penning such relatable characters in fine descriptive detail.
May 3, 2021
This is a meaty book. Full of love and loss, scandal and shock, complicated relationships, convoluted family, and so many women. I feel like it's the kind of book you need to read twice to really wrap your mind around. I think I'll be pondering this one for a while.
October 16, 2025
If you enjoy Chinese immigrant history in Canada- this is an insightful read that encompasses the culture of old and new with 4 generations of Chinese women living on the west coast. It makes you wonder the type of secrets that have been kept over time in families.
April 16, 2021
Sometimes struggled to follow how it all linked, but drew me in nonetheless and I liked thr naught bits...
December 6, 2021
I am so confused...
January 22, 2023
i really enjoyed reading it, it was hard to follow at certain points but i think that made it more interesting. very immersive, and definitely an important piece of literature.
June 2, 2025
Sometimes hard to follow p.ov’s and storyline…lots of heartache and pain due to bitterness and pride.
December 2, 2025
Very well-crafted, read almost like a mystery.
May 11, 2021
Definitely a roller-coaster of a book, with a lot of lows. The story of a Chinese family over many generations living in Vancouver throughout the 1900s, and how everything they did in the past came back to haunt and hurt their children.
A bit hard to follow all the story lines and relationships between the characters in each timeline. Also pretty sad...
A bit hard to follow all the story lines and relationships between the characters in each timeline. Also pretty sad...
August 24, 2021
I’m giving this a four because the author is so good with words!
This was an audio book that did not have the family tree the written version has. The story traveled back and forth in time, from one generation to next and back again. This made it very hard to follow. I would recommend reading this book not listening to it.
This was an audio book that did not have the family tree the written version has. The story traveled back and forth in time, from one generation to next and back again. This made it very hard to follow. I would recommend reading this book not listening to it.
May 2, 2021
I enjoyed the story though sometimes I found it hard to follow because of the names and the time jumping around. I w old have loved to hear more about Chinatown Vancouver. I also wanted to learn more about the prejudice against Chinese in Canada and the impact that had in the characters even in a fictional way.
June 20, 2023
The best word I can use to describe this book is erratic - particularly the sections set in the 80s. It was all over the place, moving quickly between multiple characters without feeling like we got to know them well enough, and throwing out random events and then backtracking to see how we got there. The secrets weren't hard to figure out, and the storytelling wasn't deep enough to get me to care about any of them much. No one was really all that likeable, except a character that shows up in the end as an aside and plot device, more or less. Maybe it was groundbreaking and revelatory in its time, but it hasn't aged as well from a storytelling perspective.
February 5, 2017
Ah. English novels. What fun.
This was an interesting kind of book. Although...I can't say for sure if it was the good kind or the bad. This book was set in Vancouver and written in chunks...or, unchronologically. And this just made reading the book plain weird. Or, confusing.
Kae, the narrator of the story...has a very messed up and complicated family history, and this novel follows her as she tells of her ancestors' troubles.
Frankly, not all the stories were interesting, but I did like Fong Mei's (FM) parts quite a bit.
So...let's see...if I could summarize the problems here...
We have a girl, FM, specially brought over from China so that she could have a kid with this other guy (CF)...but it's been five years, and still no kid. So the mother (ML) of the guy (CF) decides FM is infertile and arranges for another woman (SA, who has had kids before) to secretly try to have kids with CF. But months have passed...and STILL NO KIDS. CF finally comes to the conclusion that HE is the one that can't have kids, so he tells SA to secretly have babies with someone else (W). Meanwhile, FM decides that she won't just stand by idly, and decides to have babies with a friend of hers (TA)...which happens to be a half-brother of her husband (CF). And if that isn't messed up enough for you, their kids know next to nothing of this...and they fall in love with each other.
HAVE I SUCCEEDED IN MESSING IT UP ENOUGH YET?
It's crazy, I know...
And I had to read it. And answer more than a hundred questions on it.
FUN.
Aaaanyways....
I liked the swearing...no, don't look at me weird. The swearing in this book came as a pleasant surprise to me, because just the other day, my mom taught me some swear words in Foochow...and they sounded eerily similar to the swear words spoken in this book. Awesome, right?
Reading about the tragic history of this family was also fascinating because...I'm Chinese, too. My English teacher has made me read novels on Aboriginals, on Vietnamese, but this is the very first novel about CHINESE! Yay!
And surprisingly, the order of how the stories didn't confuse me as much as I thought it would. But...what DID confuse me a little...was the narrator. I was almost always questioning who was narrating the story....*sigh*
And another thing...there were a few parts where I found myself unimaginably bored with the events taking place...or I had no idea what I was supposed to be taking from the actions going on between the characters...the questions didn't help, either. Ah wells.
BUT! I'm really looking forward to the 20 paged personal narrative I'm going to have to write! Yay!
All in all...not my kind of book (obviously), but not bad...I enjoyed the Chinese aspects of it.
This was an interesting kind of book. Although...I can't say for sure if it was the good kind or the bad. This book was set in Vancouver and written in chunks...or, unchronologically. And this just made reading the book plain weird. Or, confusing.
Kae, the narrator of the story...has a very messed up and complicated family history, and this novel follows her as she tells of her ancestors' troubles.
Frankly, not all the stories were interesting, but I did like Fong Mei's (FM) parts quite a bit.
So...let's see...if I could summarize the problems here...
We have a girl, FM, specially brought over from China so that she could have a kid with this other guy (CF)...but it's been five years, and still no kid. So the mother (ML) of the guy (CF) decides FM is infertile and arranges for another woman (SA, who has had kids before) to secretly try to have kids with CF. But months have passed...and STILL NO KIDS. CF finally comes to the conclusion that HE is the one that can't have kids, so he tells SA to secretly have babies with someone else (W). Meanwhile, FM decides that she won't just stand by idly, and decides to have babies with a friend of hers (TA)...which happens to be a half-brother of her husband (CF). And if that isn't messed up enough for you, their kids know next to nothing of this...and they fall in love with each other.
HAVE I SUCCEEDED IN MESSING IT UP ENOUGH YET?
It's crazy, I know...
And I had to read it. And answer more than a hundred questions on it.
FUN.
Aaaanyways....
I liked the swearing...no, don't look at me weird. The swearing in this book came as a pleasant surprise to me, because just the other day, my mom taught me some swear words in Foochow...and they sounded eerily similar to the swear words spoken in this book. Awesome, right?
Reading about the tragic history of this family was also fascinating because...I'm Chinese, too. My English teacher has made me read novels on Aboriginals, on Vietnamese, but this is the very first novel about CHINESE! Yay!
And surprisingly, the order of how the stories didn't confuse me as much as I thought it would. But...what DID confuse me a little...was the narrator. I was almost always questioning who was narrating the story....*sigh*
And another thing...there were a few parts where I found myself unimaginably bored with the events taking place...or I had no idea what I was supposed to be taking from the actions going on between the characters...the questions didn't help, either. Ah wells.
BUT! I'm really looking forward to the 20 paged personal narrative I'm going to have to write! Yay!
All in all...not my kind of book (obviously), but not bad...I enjoyed the Chinese aspects of it.
January 14, 2009
January 2009
I have finished reading this book for the second time and am contemplating it more this time in the manner of maps/genealogy/cartography - basically ways that people have solidified and legitimized their existence, place and by extension identity. However, maps hardly represent the true story behind their creation. I'm looking into some theory dealing with the legitimizing but also fictionalizing aspects of mapping out your existence.
Book is more interesting from this standpoint.
August 2008
I'm not sure how I feel about this epic story of 3 generations of Chinese women living in Chinatown in Vancouver. I guess I found it interesting in that I always kind of wonder about other cultures.
p. 254: Do you mean that individuals must gather their identity from all the generations that touch them - past and future, no matter how slightly? Do you mean that an individual is not an individual at all, but a series of individuals - some of whom come before her, some after her?
Inscription (August 2008):
Living authentically may be an impossible task when the whole of society is bent on creating the false reality of a career centric life as the most meaningful. Every person, then, is a slave to money. To wake up to humanity inside means forsaking a main stream existence and all of its superficial values. You must pursue the anti-American dream. You've got to somehow "keep it real".
Being real in this way is not an easy thing to do as we live in a culture that often shows us images of physical and material perfection. As a result, we all want to look younger, thinner, wealthier, and more successful. We are rewarded externally when we succeed at this masquerade, but people who are real remind us that, internally, we suffer. Whenever we feel that who we are is not enough and that we need to be bigger, better, or more exciting, we send a message to ourselves that we are not enough. Meanwhile, people who are not trying to be something more than they are walk into a room and bring a feeling of ease, humor, and warmth with them. They acknowledge their wrinkles and laugh at their personal eccentricities without putting themselves down.
The people around me on the street are not necessarily bad people, only more or less sucked into the deception.
I have finished reading this book for the second time and am contemplating it more this time in the manner of maps/genealogy/cartography - basically ways that people have solidified and legitimized their existence, place and by extension identity. However, maps hardly represent the true story behind their creation. I'm looking into some theory dealing with the legitimizing but also fictionalizing aspects of mapping out your existence.
Book is more interesting from this standpoint.
August 2008
I'm not sure how I feel about this epic story of 3 generations of Chinese women living in Chinatown in Vancouver. I guess I found it interesting in that I always kind of wonder about other cultures.
p. 254: Do you mean that individuals must gather their identity from all the generations that touch them - past and future, no matter how slightly? Do you mean that an individual is not an individual at all, but a series of individuals - some of whom come before her, some after her?
Inscription (August 2008):
Living authentically may be an impossible task when the whole of society is bent on creating the false reality of a career centric life as the most meaningful. Every person, then, is a slave to money. To wake up to humanity inside means forsaking a main stream existence and all of its superficial values. You must pursue the anti-American dream. You've got to somehow "keep it real".
Being real in this way is not an easy thing to do as we live in a culture that often shows us images of physical and material perfection. As a result, we all want to look younger, thinner, wealthier, and more successful. We are rewarded externally when we succeed at this masquerade, but people who are real remind us that, internally, we suffer. Whenever we feel that who we are is not enough and that we need to be bigger, better, or more exciting, we send a message to ourselves that we are not enough. Meanwhile, people who are not trying to be something more than they are walk into a room and bring a feeling of ease, humor, and warmth with them. They acknowledge their wrinkles and laugh at their personal eccentricities without putting themselves down.
The people around me on the street are not necessarily bad people, only more or less sucked into the deception.
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