Traci’s review of Daughters of the Bamboo Grove: From China to America, a True Story of Abduction, Adoption, and Separated Twins > Likes and Comments
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I disagree with everything you said. We must have read different books.
Huh?!? No way. It was very evenly done.
I agree with the other commenters. I thought the author was rightfully negative about the adoptions (though she understood the adoptive families came into it in good faith), and having lived in China for years, had a lot of understanding and respect for the culture.
I agree with your points whole heartedly. While the book was well informed and researched, there were many personal opinions interjected in the books and value judgements made that were very denigrating. Same goes for the exoticism.
I read your review before I read the book and was curious about it, but I completely disagree.
Also disagree. It was a book that benefitted from the personal insertions, and I definitely did NOT come away feeling negative about China or thinking that the twin in the US had a better life. Demick did a good job making clear that the twin adopted to the US might have actually lived a better life in China, although she had a very lovely family in the US.
Same. Disagree fully. Didnt get thse feelings at all
Disagree. I don’t know how one could say she exoticizes/romanticizes China, she really portrays the facts. Also, not sure how it can exoticize China and have an anti Chinese sentiment? All the insertion of herself into the story was relevant. It’s a unique non fiction book, where the author really was part of the story too, and she did that as ethically as she could.
How come a government and a system that sold babies for money, forced women to abort, drove courtless people to die of starvation and political prosecution, and torn families apart, any better than the American system?
I am not a fan of America, but still.
Mizuki— you are not a fan of America? Have you lived for more than a year in a different country— on your own dime (without a fortune behind you) and without family there?
Disagree. You couldn’t tell this story fully and honestly without the author’s voice. She lived many years in China so has a clear-eyed view of both countries and regularly questions ‘assumptions’ about US and Chinese upbringings… I found it fair and balanced.
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Kim
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Aug 03, 2025 03:05PM
I disagree with everything you said. We must have read different books.
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Huh?!? No way. It was very evenly done.
I agree with the other commenters. I thought the author was rightfully negative about the adoptions (though she understood the adoptive families came into it in good faith), and having lived in China for years, had a lot of understanding and respect for the culture.
I agree with your points whole heartedly. While the book was well informed and researched, there were many personal opinions interjected in the books and value judgements made that were very denigrating. Same goes for the exoticism.
I read your review before I read the book and was curious about it, but I completely disagree.
Also disagree. It was a book that benefitted from the personal insertions, and I definitely did NOT come away feeling negative about China or thinking that the twin in the US had a better life. Demick did a good job making clear that the twin adopted to the US might have actually lived a better life in China, although she had a very lovely family in the US.
Same. Disagree fully. Didnt get thse feelings at all
Disagree. I don’t know how one could say she exoticizes/romanticizes China, she really portrays the facts. Also, not sure how it can exoticize China and have an anti Chinese sentiment? All the insertion of herself into the story was relevant. It’s a unique non fiction book, where the author really was part of the story too, and she did that as ethically as she could.
How come a government and a system that sold babies for money, forced women to abort, drove courtless people to die of starvation and political prosecution, and torn families apart, any better than the American system?I am not a fan of America, but still.
Mizuki— you are not a fan of America? Have you lived for more than a year in a different country— on your own dime (without a fortune behind you) and without family there?
Disagree. You couldn’t tell this story fully and honestly without the author’s voice. She lived many years in China so has a clear-eyed view of both countries and regularly questions ‘assumptions’ about US and Chinese upbringings… I found it fair and balanced.