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MBC book club book may 2026

BOBS book club choice for May 2026

Liz gave this to me to read — I gave it to her. Heavy Native American themed. Lots of characters that I’m not quite keeping straight. I think I like it but maybe too much effort. We’ll see

I’m not necessarily keeping up either who’s who of all the ASCAN trainees. The relationship between Joan & Vanessa is unclear — will they become a couple?

Not believable. By themselves each story line I could accept but the pig slaughter is too much and the fantasy with Graxina is too contrived.

The writing is exceptional. The descriptions of the despair - of the town of East gladness - are so dense and rich that in most cases Ian reading paragraphs twice to soak it all in

Devouring this book

Liz gave me an autographed copy for Christmas and looking forward to digging into this. Seems a long read, and just right for deep winter nights.

Read it lightning quick. Really enjoyed this epic tale. Her relationship with B was tragic. Her imprisonment was cruel and tragic. Her sister coming once a month to see her over the wall was a tender act of love. Very moving.

A true heroine. Will do anything for her art and for those she loves. The egg plays such a vital role throughout her life.

Her description of running over the neighbors cat — interwoven either such superiority as in when she describes his neat as a pin house making her sad. Also when she scolds her suitor for the choice of restaurant and selects a completely different place and time.

Great opening act for a story. Very rich. Steeped in history I’m unaware of — stateless Jews, Shanghai’s split up governance after the fall of the Quin empire in the early 1920’s ( check this date?) with French area, Russian, Chinese, and gangs.

Listening on audiobook at 85 speed
Her letter about seasons of life and grief to Joan Didion was masterful and very moving.
Is it too much work to try to understand a character through their letters?

. Readers should be more mired than I was about the naming of pavilions and festivals for part 1. Did not know this would be about Chinese death rituals and beliefs. Interesting but not my favorite Lesa see novel. Pretty graphic foot binding which you would expect from the author. The end of the book where she binds the girls feet to raise her life prospects and make her an inside girl was eye opening for me

Too long. Unrealistic plot
Violet dislikable
Wouldn’t recommend

I’ve had to read the first 10 pages twice. The mom has 4 daughters: why are the introduced in the order: 2rd eldest, eldest, youngest then 3td. I realized they were reverse alpha and keep referring to that to keep track of who’s who. Wendy Violet Liza Grace

Part 2 is a better read but more ghost story

Difficult to read. Too much jargon of the ancient Chinese variety — names of times of the year or of pavilions or of what women do.

Fascinated