Book set in Vancouver, Canada. Reviewed on 2019/04: https://www.instagram.com/p/BwSDONIHw6x/
I really wanted to like this book more but I just couldn’t. There are without a doubt a few interesting #historicalfiction and #familysaga elements embedded in this story. However the overall feeling of the book seems flat and overtly complicated for no reason. The plight of an #immigrant #chinese family takes center stage in #disappearingmooncafe and #skylee makes a point of shedding light on the different #generations before and after as if to draw a cohesive tale. It sounds promising but I just didn’t feel it on the text. The overabundance of characters, in my opinion, kill any possibility to link all these stories and it prevents the reader from engaging closely or empathizing with any of them. This book feels too ambitious and at the end it just doesn’t hold up to any of its promises. #family sagas are very tricky because writers tend to love the endless possibilities the generations and characters seem to provide. But that it’s all a mirage. For a family saga to work out, it needs to have a strong epicenter from which the characters and the subsequent generations radiate. That is simply not what’s happening here. The book does present issues specific to #chinesecanadians which I would like to read in perhaps another and more enticing story. #vancouver#goldmountain#cityofvancouverbookaward#chineseimmigrants #chinesefamily#makingyourownchoices#newestpress #blendingin#canadianliterature#chineseexclusionact #itsok #wong
hebdo_readings 