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Water Ghosts
A mesmerizing debut novel that weaves history and mythology around a community of Chinese immigrants and the ghosts that haunt them
Locke, California, 1928. Three bedraggled Chinese women appear out of the mist in a small Chinese farming town on the Sacramento River. Two are unknown to its residents, while the third is the long-lost wife of Richard Fong, the handsome manager of the local gambling parlor. As the lives of the townspeople become inextricably intertwined with the newly arrived women, their frightening power is finally revealed.
A lyrical imagining of what happens when a Chinese ghost story comes true, Water Ghosts is a rich tale of human passions and mingling cultures that will appeal to readers of Lisa See, Anchin Min, and Gail Tsukiyama.
Locke, California, 1928. Three bedraggled Chinese women appear out of the mist in a small Chinese farming town on the Sacramento River. Two are unknown to its residents, while the third is the long-lost wife of Richard Fong, the handsome manager of the local gambling parlor. As the lives of the townspeople become inextricably intertwined with the newly arrived women, their frightening power is finally revealed.
A lyrical imagining of what happens when a Chinese ghost story comes true, Water Ghosts is a rich tale of human passions and mingling cultures that will appeal to readers of Lisa See, Anchin Min, and Gail Tsukiyama.
259 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 2008
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2166 people want to read
About the author
Shawna Yang Ryan
4 books176 followersSHAWNA YANG RYAN is a former Fulbright scholar and the author of Water Ghosts (Penguin Press 2009) and Green Island (Knopf 2016). She is the Director of the Creative Writing Program at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa. Her writing has appeared in ZYZZYVA, The Asian American Literary Review, The Rumpus, Lithub, and The Washington Post. Her work has received the Association for Asian American Studies Best Book Award in Creative Writing, the Elliot Cades Emerging Writer award, and an American Book Award.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 113 reviews
August 16, 2012
With Ghost Month starting this week, this is the perfect time to take a look at Water Ghosts. This book was originally published under the title Locke 1928, and until I neared the end of the book, I would have said Locke 1928 was a better title than Water Ghosts. This is one of those novels in which the town becomes a kind of character, similar to Empire Falls by Richard Russo. And indeed, author Ryan paints the town with sensory-rich detail. I visited the tiny delta hamlet of Locke, CA, still extant with wooden sidewalks and narrow storefronts and Chinese gentlemen presiding over all.
In creating Water Ghosts, the author peoples this unique location with quirky characters such as the psychic brothel owner who employs white prostitutes for Chinese men.
Through such characters, Ryan explores the tug of old world traditions against new world desires. First wives in China feel abandoned, losing face. Their husbands in Locke forge new lives and turn away from the old ways. Everyone suffers. Unrequited love and unfulfilled dreams abound.
Much of the novel follows Richard whose life intertwines with those of three women: Ming Wai, his China wife who becomes a water ghost; Poppy See, the psychic madam; and Chloe Howell, Richard’s lover and prostitute barely out of her teens who, in turn, loves the preacher’s daughter. If it sounds complex, it is, and the writing is further complicated by multiple viewpoint characters and confusing time shifts. Actually, I began this novel in an audio format, which I don’t recommend. There was just no way I could change lanes, merge into traffic and make any sense of the narrative. As a printed book it works much better though it tends to drag in the middle. The story-telling is so interior, so though-rich that not a lot happens for a very long time. If the author had eliminated just one narrator (I vote for Chloe), the novel would have benefited.
Yet, that said, the ending coalesced with a magnificently rich weaving of myth into story. The repeating water motif is both symbolic and literal and adds wave upon wave of thematic significance. The prose is beautiful and lyrical as in this sample of Richard musing about one of the water ghosts: “The sadness of Tuesday’s song still lingers, drawing up curiosity about what luck or misfortune brought Ming Wai here…When wisps of the song drift through his head, he feels like he’s crouched in the woods without the will to scream, watching a retreating trail of lanterns bob over hills and disappear into valleys” (215).
If you’re in the mood to explore folklore such as The Hungry Ghost Month and Dragon Boat races (a celebration which continues in California to this day), to delve into the ways in which centuries-old Chinese tradition is braided into 20th century western reality, or to mine the history of Chinese American levee workers, you would do no better than to read Water Ghosts.
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July 27, 2011I'm still not exactly sure how I feel about this book. When I first started it, the writing style seemed very strange. Present tense, and no quotation marks when people were clearly speaking, almost like one long run-on sentence. But I actually got used to it surprisingly quickly, and helped the book flow so that I seemed to read it faster. Then I was slightly put off and confused by jumping back and forth between years, but after a few times it fit the story as memories shaped the characters. Halfway through I was glad I had given it a chance, and thought it would promise revelations at the ending. And that's where it lost stars. The ending was kind of a let down for me. I get that it may have been making a point about the state of all their lives, the banality and often hopelessness of them, and didn't expect everyone to suddenly win the lottery and ride off on unicorns, but I just wanted something more. A little more closure, I suppose. It was definitely an interesting read; I just wish I felt like I was finished with a good book when it was over, rather than feeling like a read a pretty good middle.
January 4, 2020
One of the most haunting books I've ever read. The ghosts of our regrets are woven into each word until they have wrapped themselves around the souls of the living. I drowned so many times reading this. So much truth and beauty that it exquisitely hurts to breathe it in and I wanted to breathe it all in.
December 9, 2015
This book was wonderful to read for a class--it's the perfect introduction to Asian-American (and more specifically, Chinese-American) history and literature. Also, lesbians.
August 24, 2010
I really hate to give this book only three stars because it is truly beautifully written. I love the haunting mood of the novel and the use of Chinese mythology and stories. However, I have to add into my rating how enjoyable I found it to read. I tend to love novels that give me characters that I come to care about or at least find fascinating and this novel really didn't provide that. The story was also very hard for me to get into which would have been ok if in the end I felt it had a large impact but for me it did not. That said, I would still recommend this book to those who appreciate beautiful writing.
July 2, 2010
(Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com:]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted illegally.)
One of the biggest pleasures of running this website is the chance to discover new books recommended to me by other writers I admire; take for example California author Jason Riley, who earlier this year sent along to me the novel Water Ghosts by hisbuddy acquaintance Shawna Yang Ryan, under the belief that I would enjoy it too. And enjoy it I did, although I should warn you off the bat that it's a very academic style of novel, and that you will need to be at least partly a fan of academic fiction to have even a chance of enjoying it yourself. It's essentially the tale of a small Chinese-Amerian town in California called Locke in 1928, after the gold rush but before World War Two; and like all good academic fiction, instead of being based around a fast plot, it's much more a deep examination of the various people who live in this town, including the salty female owner of the local brothel, the slick gambling-hall manager who is her biggest client, the two prostitutes who he is in love with, one of whom is half-white, the preacher's daughter who the half-white woman in turn is in love with, and more. When, then, a mysterious refugee ship shows up out of the blue, carrying three emaciated women including the merchant's wife from back in China, the subsequent reverberations turn the town into turmoil; and indeed, also in good academic fashion, Ryan uses this development to examine in a poetic, magical-realism way whether these refugees are in fact the anciently superstitious "water ghosts" of the book's title. A delicate work full of beautiful prose, this is exactly the ticket for those who are existing fans of, say, Joyce Carol Oates or Amy Tan; but if you're not a fan of these other authors, it'd probably be best just to skip this title altogether.
Out of 10: 8.4
One of the biggest pleasures of running this website is the chance to discover new books recommended to me by other writers I admire; take for example California author Jason Riley, who earlier this year sent along to me the novel Water Ghosts by his
Out of 10: 8.4
February 27, 2017
DNF - Part 2, Chapter 12.
This is the 3rd time I tried to "read" this story but I cannot get through it.
I'm not sure why, I cannot connect with the story. I cannot say it was for the lack of trying.
This is the 3rd time I tried to "read" this story but I cannot get through it.
I'm not sure why, I cannot connect with the story. I cannot say it was for the lack of trying.
October 4, 2022
There's a good story here, but I think reading in print vs. audio would have made it a much more enjoyable read for me. It took me most of the book to work out who was who and which characters were related to each other in some way or other - but this is my strength as a visual vs. auditory learner, so no fault of the book or author. I noticed in the reviews though, that I am not the only reader with this opinion.
The setting and place are unique, and the characters are all interesting, although it would have been nice to get to know them all a bit more in depth. However, the author did a good job with character development considering the brevity of the novel.
After reading this, I'm interested to learn more about the Chinese Ghost Month holiday tradition and the Water Ghosts superstition.
The setting and place are unique, and the characters are all interesting, although it would have been nice to get to know them all a bit more in depth. However, the author did a good job with character development considering the brevity of the novel.
After reading this, I'm interested to learn more about the Chinese Ghost Month holiday tradition and the Water Ghosts superstition.
October 20, 2020
3.75 ⭐️s it was a very interesting story! And now I would love to do more research into water ghosts — it appears they appear often in folklore.
March 2, 2023
Oh my god, I loved this book. Let me start by saying Water Ghosts will not be everyone, and the negative reviews here reflect incapability on the reader’s part to understand this style of writing, not bad writing from the author. Water Ghosts focuses on the town of Locke as a whole, not a single character or two. Shawna Yang Ryan also excludes the use of quotation marks to indicate dialogue. However, this book is written in third person and really is not difficult to differentiate between prose and dialogue when the reader pays attention. I thought it was an excellent decision on Ryan’s part because it blurs the lines between thought and speech with each character, making no single individual more valuable than any other, and I loved it.
I also really appreciated Ryan’s focus on seemingly arbitrary details throughout the story. It makes me feel more grounded in what’s happening and keeps me hooked inside the author’s world. Here’s a quote from chapter 3:
“She is battered, no doubt. Skin the color of a fading bruise, blues pushing through yellow. Her clothes seem to consist wholly of frayed thread; the tears and splits reveal the pale skin beneath. Her small bound feet peek out from under the hem of her pants. The soles of her slippers have split down the middle from the swell of her feet. She holds out her hands before her and they are brown from the sun. A sharp line at her wrist demarcates where the cloth protected her. Her hair falls from her shoulders in snags, knotted like lost nets at the bottom of the sea.”
These kinds of visuals are peppered throughout the story in a way that doesn’t distract from the intensity of a scene but rather keeps us there, waiting. Ryan holds us in this space and time and says, just hang on, look at what I’m showing you, feel it, see it. The line at Ming Wai’s wrist seems like such an unimportant detail, but I absolutely applaud Ryan for using moments like this to make the reader pause and truly feel the scene as deeply as possible.
-Spoilers here about Chloe and Sophia -
Also, the way she writes Chloe and Sophia’s relationship is just perfect. This is 1928, after all, and a queer relationship between two women certainly couldn’t just be out in the open. I love the choice to keep most of their interactions near the orchard by the huge tree. This kind of symbolism reads to me like Ryan is saying this relationship is safe, nurturing, different from all the pain inside this town. I was afraid that safety would be ripped away when Corlissa tries to follow Chloe out of the orchard thinking Sophia has been with a man. And when Poppy See has the vision of two women being hung from a tree, I read that as Chloe and Sophia, and I genuinely was worried the author would make the mistake of hurting these queer women even though it wouldn’t have contributed to the story at all, but I was wrong to think that might happen. I liked how subtle the author keeps the relationship. It’s a simple break from the chaos and pain, a safe place for both the characters and the readers. The complexities of the relationship just don’t matter, and as a queer woman I really appreciate that. We need more queer characters just existing without their queerness being scrutinized.
I normally don’t write reviews for books that I like, but I thoroughly enjoyed Water Ghosts so much that I just had to sit down and give my thoughts.
I also really appreciated Ryan’s focus on seemingly arbitrary details throughout the story. It makes me feel more grounded in what’s happening and keeps me hooked inside the author’s world. Here’s a quote from chapter 3:
“She is battered, no doubt. Skin the color of a fading bruise, blues pushing through yellow. Her clothes seem to consist wholly of frayed thread; the tears and splits reveal the pale skin beneath. Her small bound feet peek out from under the hem of her pants. The soles of her slippers have split down the middle from the swell of her feet. She holds out her hands before her and they are brown from the sun. A sharp line at her wrist demarcates where the cloth protected her. Her hair falls from her shoulders in snags, knotted like lost nets at the bottom of the sea.”
These kinds of visuals are peppered throughout the story in a way that doesn’t distract from the intensity of a scene but rather keeps us there, waiting. Ryan holds us in this space and time and says, just hang on, look at what I’m showing you, feel it, see it. The line at Ming Wai’s wrist seems like such an unimportant detail, but I absolutely applaud Ryan for using moments like this to make the reader pause and truly feel the scene as deeply as possible.
-Spoilers here about Chloe and Sophia -
Also, the way she writes Chloe and Sophia’s relationship is just perfect. This is 1928, after all, and a queer relationship between two women certainly couldn’t just be out in the open. I love the choice to keep most of their interactions near the orchard by the huge tree. This kind of symbolism reads to me like Ryan is saying this relationship is safe, nurturing, different from all the pain inside this town. I was afraid that safety would be ripped away when Corlissa tries to follow Chloe out of the orchard thinking Sophia has been with a man. And when Poppy See has the vision of two women being hung from a tree, I read that as Chloe and Sophia, and I genuinely was worried the author would make the mistake of hurting these queer women even though it wouldn’t have contributed to the story at all, but I was wrong to think that might happen. I liked how subtle the author keeps the relationship. It’s a simple break from the chaos and pain, a safe place for both the characters and the readers. The complexities of the relationship just don’t matter, and as a queer woman I really appreciate that. We need more queer characters just existing without their queerness being scrutinized.
I normally don’t write reviews for books that I like, but I thoroughly enjoyed Water Ghosts so much that I just had to sit down and give my thoughts.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 28, 2010
I feel bad because I know Shawna and my 4 star review seems to have brought her average down. So let me clarify what I mean by 4 stars.
I think this is an excellent book. It does a fantastic job of touching on interpersonal relationships within a specific historical context and invoking emotional responses to spiritual/fantasy possibilities. I would recommend this book wholeheartedly to anyone. It is not my type of writing, along the lines that Toni Morrison is not my type of writer. Which is to say, anything this good goes beyond type.
Shawna Yang Ryan evokes complex emotional responses with simple words, simple interactions; her characters intrigue, seem complete, and in what is left out they must be followed. And when they are followed, as they must be, what comes is what Borges stated was necessary for a story's ending: it is inevitable yet surprising.
This is a beautiful book, driven by characters, plot and setting.
So, and this is by no means derogatory, just what it would take for a book to go from 4 stars to 5, a list of 5 star books:
Crime and Punishment
The Trial
Labyrinths
1984
Grapes of Wrath
Beloved
You know, that sort of thing. Not an easy list to make, and it probably takes more than one reading to stay there.
One of the things Water Ghosts has going for it is I look forward to rereading it. And like fellow Berkeley-ite Ken Kesey, I'm hoping Shawna will dramatically improve from her excellent first novel (and yeah, Sometimes A Great Notion would be on the five star list, whereas One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest would not.)
I think this is an excellent book. It does a fantastic job of touching on interpersonal relationships within a specific historical context and invoking emotional responses to spiritual/fantasy possibilities. I would recommend this book wholeheartedly to anyone. It is not my type of writing, along the lines that Toni Morrison is not my type of writer. Which is to say, anything this good goes beyond type.
Shawna Yang Ryan evokes complex emotional responses with simple words, simple interactions; her characters intrigue, seem complete, and in what is left out they must be followed. And when they are followed, as they must be, what comes is what Borges stated was necessary for a story's ending: it is inevitable yet surprising.
This is a beautiful book, driven by characters, plot and setting.
So, and this is by no means derogatory, just what it would take for a book to go from 4 stars to 5, a list of 5 star books:
Crime and Punishment
The Trial
Labyrinths
1984
Grapes of Wrath
Beloved
You know, that sort of thing. Not an easy list to make, and it probably takes more than one reading to stay there.
One of the things Water Ghosts has going for it is I look forward to rereading it. And like fellow Berkeley-ite Ken Kesey, I'm hoping Shawna will dramatically improve from her excellent first novel (and yeah, Sometimes A Great Notion would be on the five star list, whereas One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest would not.)
August 28, 2010
I'm still not exactly sure how I feel about this book. When I first started it, the writing style seemed very strange. Present tense, and no quotation marks when people were clearly speaking, almost like one long run-on sentence. But I actually got used to it surprisingly quickly, and helped the book flow so that I seemed to read it faster. Then I was slightly put off and confused by jumping back and forth between years, but after a few times it fit the story as memories shaped the characters. Halfway through I was glad I had given it a chance, and thought it would promise revelations at the ending. And that's where it lost stars. The ending was kind of a let down for me. I get that it may have been making a point about the state of all their lives, the banality and often hopelessness of them, and didn't expect everyone to suddenly win the lottery and ride off on unicorns, but I just wanted something more. A little more closure, I suppose. It was definitely an interesting read; I just wish I felt like I was finished with a good book when it was over, rather than feeling like a read a pretty good middle
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May 30, 2010Shawna Yang Ryan’s beautifully written and evocative debut is splendid and I am looking forward to her continued career.
Water Ghosts is an exquisitely crafted insight into a Californian community of Chinese immigrants in 1928. Three spectral women emerge on a dilapidated boat out of a mist on the Sacramento River, one the wife of Richard Fong, manager of a local gambling saloon and two who are not known but their presence casts a strange shadow over this male dominated Chinese community.
The appearance of Richards’s wife confuses his relationships both past and present with two prostitutes, Poppy the psychic madam, who is still deeply in love with him, and Chloe a young woman who depends on him but who has eyes for the local preachers’ daughter Sofia.
The lives of the community become intertwined with Chinese folklore; the characters are cleverly woven with longing and unfulfilled immigrant dreams. The weather is unpredictable and affects the town with spiritual emotions.
Water Ghosts is an exquisitely crafted insight into a Californian community of Chinese immigrants in 1928. Three spectral women emerge on a dilapidated boat out of a mist on the Sacramento River, one the wife of Richard Fong, manager of a local gambling saloon and two who are not known but their presence casts a strange shadow over this male dominated Chinese community.
The appearance of Richards’s wife confuses his relationships both past and present with two prostitutes, Poppy the psychic madam, who is still deeply in love with him, and Chloe a young woman who depends on him but who has eyes for the local preachers’ daughter Sofia.
The lives of the community become intertwined with Chinese folklore; the characters are cleverly woven with longing and unfulfilled immigrant dreams. The weather is unpredictable and affects the town with spiritual emotions.
August 25, 2010
"I'd give my breath to you." A beautiful line from an absolutely beautiful book.
Water Ghosts is the story of Locke, California, 1928, when three Chinese women appear on the river out of the fog and disrupt the town. Who are these women? Where have they come from? Why have they come? These women become entwined with the lives of the townspeople as the story unfolds. It is a story of love, passion, ambition, and betrayal that feels almost dream-like.
I appreciate the style in which the book was written, although it did take me a few pages to get past the lack of quotation marks. I see now that the quotation marks would have broken up the writing instead of making it dreamy hazy as the writing is now. I also appreciate the development of the characters, and how the development was no more than was necessary for the story. I felt so satisfied with the ending, I closed the book and simply exhaled.
Thank you to Goodreads First Reads for my copy of this book.
Water Ghosts is the story of Locke, California, 1928, when three Chinese women appear on the river out of the fog and disrupt the town. Who are these women? Where have they come from? Why have they come? These women become entwined with the lives of the townspeople as the story unfolds. It is a story of love, passion, ambition, and betrayal that feels almost dream-like.
I appreciate the style in which the book was written, although it did take me a few pages to get past the lack of quotation marks. I see now that the quotation marks would have broken up the writing instead of making it dreamy hazy as the writing is now. I also appreciate the development of the characters, and how the development was no more than was necessary for the story. I felt so satisfied with the ending, I closed the book and simply exhaled.
Thank you to Goodreads First Reads for my copy of this book.
December 21, 2022
They say that a man died and went to Hell, then had the opportunity to be reborn in Sacramento. Well, he pleaded to be sent back to Hell, because Sacramento was too damn hot!
Set in Locke, California in 1928, the arrival of three Chinese women on a boat causes chaos among the townspeople.
I almost DNF'd this but I really wanted to finish it and like it, as it’s set in Sacramento, not too far from where I just got married.
But the style was nearly indecipherable for me. We are constantly jumping forward and back in time and I could never quite get a handle on who everyone was until the last 25% of the book, and I didn’t particularly care for any of the characters, because we spent so little time with them. It looks as though this problem persists on the page, as well, with a lack of quotation marks. I listened on audio, so the dialogue was clear, but with the time jumps, I struggled to ever really get into the story.
Set in Locke, California in 1928, the arrival of three Chinese women on a boat causes chaos among the townspeople.
I almost DNF'd this but I really wanted to finish it and like it, as it’s set in Sacramento, not too far from where I just got married.
But the style was nearly indecipherable for me. We are constantly jumping forward and back in time and I could never quite get a handle on who everyone was until the last 25% of the book, and I didn’t particularly care for any of the characters, because we spent so little time with them. It looks as though this problem persists on the page, as well, with a lack of quotation marks. I listened on audio, so the dialogue was clear, but with the time jumps, I struggled to ever really get into the story.
August 28, 2010
I really enjoyed this book! I didn't expect to, because I did get it for a dollar and the last few Borders $1 books have been awful to mediocre at best. This multi-ethnic cast and intriguing concept are enough to keep you hooked even through the slightly anti-climactic and unsurprising ending. It ended a little too abruptly for my taste, and I feel like the author didn't know how to end it, but it is definitely one of the better books I've read recently.
June 27, 2013
I had to read this book for a class on the American Gothic, and I am so glad I did. This is truly an amazing work, unlike anything I've read before. Stylistically it is as jarring as the three boat women -- there are no quotation marks, leading to a lyrical sort of reading with multiple interpretations. The mixing of cultures and traditions leads to a unique setting during a difficult time in American history.
July 19, 2017
Read this with a book group at work and just could not get into it. Some individual snippets of writing are beautiful and intriguing, but overall, I found this novel to be too atmospheric. I felt like I was swimming through fog most of the time. The lack of quotation marks didn't help. Normally I like books that jump around in time, but in this book, the jumping only caused more confusion and disconnection.
August 22, 2010
Mystical elements are combined with the historical setting of Locke, California in the 1920s - a chinese settlement near San Fransisco. Yang Ryan presents a wide cast of flawed characters, each with their own selfish ambitions and desires. While at times both lyrical and haunting, this novel moves slowly through its forced prose.
July 13, 2011
An interesting and well-written book, if a bit explicit. The writing style is intersting. The author doesn't use quotation marks, which was weird at first, but gave the story almost a dream-like quality. The story switches between different charcters often. It was a quick read.
December 8, 2015
Historical fiction that takes place in the Sacramento Delta when Chinese were first immigrating to Cali. It has a slow rhythm like everything is under water. It's about water images and power, women's roles and the body, agency through spirit.
March 24, 2022
This novel was an okay read...not fantastic but just okay. An acceptable read with an interesting ending, and I’m glad I read it, but I struggled through it a bit. It’s one of those books that some readers will love and others will not get too excited about.
December 24, 2015
Magical writing. Enjoyed this story and the history.
October 18, 2017
Didn't finish
June 8, 2017
I'm not sure what to say about this book. I listened to it and I read another reviewer that said she had to stop listening to it and switch to the book. I felt like, if I switched to the book, I would have never finished it. The book has no quotations marks, etc... when the characters are talking. That would probably drive me crazy. It is beautifully written; I will give it that. But, it was hard to follow at times. I found myself just focusing on 4 characters and listening for their names to come up and I kept track of those 4 characters' story lines. (Poppy, Sophia, Chloe, and Richard).
I was excited to read it since it takes place in the Sacramento Delta, but it was a hard "listen" at times. Perhaps I should have switched to reading it, to see if that would have made a difference. I really did want to know what happened to the characters; especially Chloe.
If you want to try it.....read it, don't listen to it.
I was excited to read it since it takes place in the Sacramento Delta, but it was a hard "listen" at times. Perhaps I should have switched to reading it, to see if that would have made a difference. I really did want to know what happened to the characters; especially Chloe.
If you want to try it.....read it, don't listen to it.
July 15, 2018
The writing has a dreamy and poetic feel to it. It is relatively descriptive at times but not in a monotonous way. The characters are intriguing and I found it quite an immersive read. It mentions (if but briefly) about some old Chinese myths - myths and superstitions are relevant themes I'd say.
It is quite sexual at times, which I hadn't really expected, so its not for younger readers. For reference, affairs and prostitution are mentioned in the plot. I thought it was a good read overall, a bit (inevitably) sad at times and a bit bleak but good. I believe the author based this fiction on research she made in to the true story of the town of Locke in the early 1900s, which made me more intrigued to read it, knowing that. At the back of the book, after the novel finishes, there are some URLs/references provided for places you can find out more about the Chinese immigrants in the US at that time.
I'd say overall this is worth a read.
It is quite sexual at times, which I hadn't really expected, so its not for younger readers. For reference, affairs and prostitution are mentioned in the plot. I thought it was a good read overall, a bit (inevitably) sad at times and a bit bleak but good. I believe the author based this fiction on research she made in to the true story of the town of Locke in the early 1900s, which made me more intrigued to read it, knowing that. At the back of the book, after the novel finishes, there are some URLs/references provided for places you can find out more about the Chinese immigrants in the US at that time.
I'd say overall this is worth a read.
May 2, 2021
NYPL #34
Having read Green Island first, and then traveling back to this was really illuminating. I love the undercurrent of all of Shawna Yang Ryan's characters and her dedication to exploring some really grey places in every day human morality.
Weaving the dialogue directly into the narrative without notation is a hit or miss for me in any book, and here was no exception. Sometimes I found myself frustrated by it, but in other seemingly stream of consciousness passages I thought it eloquent. I think the effort made to straddle genre here threw me a little as well. I'm generally a fan of magical realism, but I think this could have leaned harder into either the fantasy elements or the historical elements to make a stronger narrative.
Overall, I thought this was solid for an author's debut, especially given how much research went into the novel. I now have another research wormhole to dig myself into as well.
Having read Green Island first, and then traveling back to this was really illuminating. I love the undercurrent of all of Shawna Yang Ryan's characters and her dedication to exploring some really grey places in every day human morality.
Weaving the dialogue directly into the narrative without notation is a hit or miss for me in any book, and here was no exception. Sometimes I found myself frustrated by it, but in other seemingly stream of consciousness passages I thought it eloquent. I think the effort made to straddle genre here threw me a little as well. I'm generally a fan of magical realism, but I think this could have leaned harder into either the fantasy elements or the historical elements to make a stronger narrative.
Overall, I thought this was solid for an author's debut, especially given how much research went into the novel. I now have another research wormhole to dig myself into as well.
January 6, 2025
Enjoyable if a bit confusing. The text is written to convey the overall sad, regretful, nostalgic vibe of the book. While beautifully done, this does add to some difficulty in following the different characters and connecting one scene to another. I had no issues with the way the dialogue was written, I actually quite liked it, and thought it flowed well in the story.
The book kept skipping between characters, and then skipping between those characters timelines in no apparent order. This made it REALLY difficult to not only follow, but also connect with each character, however did make them as transient as the flood itself.
Overall
Written as foggy as the when the boat sailed in, this book is more of prose than actual substance, but still is a quite beautiful read that leaves you thinking.
The book kept skipping between characters, and then skipping between those characters timelines in no apparent order. This made it REALLY difficult to not only follow, but also connect with each character, however did make them as transient as the flood itself.
Overall
Written as foggy as the when the boat sailed in, this book is more of prose than actual substance, but still is a quite beautiful read that leaves you thinking.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 8, 2019
A beautiful moving story that is lyrically told and flows like water. It is a story of the intertwining lives of the people of Locke Sacramento, a community built by Chinese Americans. It moves back and forth through time revealing the often harrowing experiences that brought them all here.
Many immigrated to California believing it to be a land of promise and opportunity but often only hardship was discovered. The characters of this book seek to make the best life for themselves as they can when their ambitions and dreams did not always come together.
The love, relationships, and desires of the characters are complexly interwoven.
Many immigrated to California believing it to be a land of promise and opportunity but often only hardship was discovered. The characters of this book seek to make the best life for themselves as they can when their ambitions and dreams did not always come together.
The love, relationships, and desires of the characters are complexly interwoven.
September 23, 2019
While it tries to channel Beloved, it pales in comparison.
Enough ghost puns. But overall, it did feel that this book aimed high and fell a bit short. I would have loved to see more fleshed out characters, more transparent motivations, and more solid world-building.
Okay, now I am done with ghost puns.
Enough ghost puns. But overall, it did feel that this book aimed high and fell a bit short. I would have loved to see more fleshed out characters, more transparent motivations, and more solid world-building.
Okay, now I am done with ghost puns.
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