Tag Archives: Female Protagonist

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Ahhh…Summer, the Time of Beach Reads!

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish.

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Just link back to The Broke and the Bookish on your own Top Ten Tuesday post AND add your name to the Linky widget so that everyone can check out your list! If you don’t have a blog, just post your answers as a comment. Have fun with it! It’s a fun way to get to know your fellow bloggers.

Today’s Top Ten Tuesday Topic:
Ahhh…Summer, the Time of Beach Reads!

1.  The Blue Bistro by Elin Hilderbrand.  Set on Nantucket Island, as many of her books are, this is a sweet story involving (primarily) the restaurant staff of this popular eatery.  Perfect for a quick summer read.

2.  Home to Italy by Peter Pezzelli.  This is the first book I read by Pezzelli, and I was not disappointed.  It starts in Rhode Island with the death of Anna, Peppi’s wife, but it quickly transitions to Italy as he returns to the land of his birth, reconnects with an old friend, and falls in love again.  It’s predictable, but after a but of a herky-jerky start, Pezzelli settles into a quick & easy style that is perfect for a day at the beach.

3.  Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons by Lorna Landvik.  As with most (or all?) of her books, this one is set in Minnesota, and centers around a group of women living on the same street who decide to start a book club.   It evolves to much more than that, of course, and though the arc of the story is fairly predictable, it is well written and has a lot meat on the bones.  Landvik has an writing style that makes for a fast, easy and enjoyable read, perfect for the beach.

5.  Bitsy’s Bait and BBQ by Pamela Morsi.  I was drawn to this book by the eye-catching title, and found it to be exactly the right thing for a summer read.  It is set in the South, a setting I love, and it has the predictable love story.  However, the writing is engaging and the characters are loveable, so it makes for a delightful read.

6.  Between, Georgia by Joshilyn Jackson.  This was Jackson’s debut novel, but the unusual title suggested right away that it would be a book worth reading.  I was not disappointed.  This is a Southern author whose works I love, and because characters reappear from time to time in different books, this first novel is the ideal place to start.  It is a quick and easy read, but truly enjoyable on every level.

7.  The Last Beach Bungalow by Jennie Nash.  A beach setting, which (obviously) is a great beach read.  I think I picked this up because of the cover art, and it was a lovely, if predictable, summer read.  Great for relaxing in the sun.

8.  The Wednesday Letters by Jason F. Wright.  I love epistolary novels, and this is no exception.  It is the story of a 39 year marriage, documented in a letter written each Wednesday by Jack to Laurel, and it plays out for their children, who are home to attend their funeral.  Though it sounds like a downer, it is not, and it is rich with all the elements of a classic love story.  Worth the time, and great for the beach despite the subject matter because it is quick and easy to read.

9.  Sweetgrass by Mary Alice Monroe.  I have read several of Monroe’s novels over the years, but I particularly loved this one.  I love the Southern setting of South Carolina, the typical “Southern” way (even in the way Monroe writes), and the cultural issues that she included.  It has an authentically Southern feel.  It also deals with some heavy subjects, but Monroe does not have a heavy hand, which makes it a lovely summer read.

10.  Hearts on a String by Kris Radish.  A story that illustrates a grandmother’s anecdote about the thread that connects all women, it is sweet and fun and easy to read.  Radish always has some fairly implausible element to her story lines, but in the end it doesn’t matter, because she touches you, entertains you, and lets you escape from regular life for a bit.  You will not be disappointed.

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The Body Odd – You are what you read, study suggests

By Linda Carroll

Novels may have a lot more power than we think.

When you identify with a literary character, like Katniss Everdeen of the “Hunger Games” books, there’s a good chance you’ll become more like her, new study shows.

Researchers have found that when you lose yourself in a work of fiction, your behavior and thoughts can metamorphose to match those of your favorite character, according to the study published early online in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

The researchers believe that fictional characters can change us for the good.So, if you bonded with Atticus Finch in “To Kill a Mockingbird,” you might become more focused on ethical behavior, says the study’s lead author, Geoff Kaufman, a post-doctoral researcher at Tiltfactor Laboratories at Dartmouth College.

But the fiction-effect can have a dark side. “Think of ‘American Psycho,’” Kaufman says. “The character is very likable and charismatic. But he’s a serial killer. To the extent that you connect with him, you may try to understand or justify the actions he’s committing.”

Kaufman and his co-author Lisa Libby of Ohio State University suspected that when people read a fictional story they vicariously experience their favorite character’s emotions, thoughts and beliefs in a process that’s been dubbed “experience-taking.”

Kaufman and Libby found that experience-taking can lead to real changes in the lives of readers. What the researchers can’t say yet is whether those changes are brief or long-lasting.

Kaufman suspects novels can sometimes be life-changing. “If you’ve got a deep connection with the characters, it can have a lasting impact,” he says. “It can inspire you to re-read something. And then the impact can be strengthened over time.”

The researchers ran several experiments to look at how we react to fiction. In one, they found that people who strongly identified with a fictional character who overcame many obstacles in order to vote were significantly more likely to vote in a real election days later than volunteers who read a different story.

In another experiment, the researchers compared two groups of volunteers who read different versions of a story in which the protagonist was gay. In one version, readers didn’t learn till the end that the character was gay. In the other, they learned that detail right at the beginning.

Study volunteers who learned about the sexual orientation of the hero at the end of the story expressed more positive feelings towards gay people when they were questioned later on.

That’s because they got to know the character and connect with him before they had a chance to cloud their impression with gay stereotypes, Kaufman explains. Those who learned about the character’s sexual orientation early on didn’t relate to him as much because their stereotypes put distance between them and the character.

Kaufman believes that the fiction-effect only comes with written works. “When we watch a movie, by the very essence of it, we’re positioned as spectators,” he explains. “So it’s hard to imagine yourself as the character. I suspect that if you read the screenplay it would be more powerful as far as experience-taking goes.”

So, who is Kaufman’s favorite fictional personality? Anna Karenina, the protagonist in Leo Tolstoy’s novel of the same name.

“My identification with her might have inspired my research,” Kaufman muses. “It’s the connection with a female character and understanding her struggles and difficulty in adapting to life and society. Looking back, I think a lot of my favorites are strong, complex female characters struggling in society.”

What literary character do you most identify with, and why? Let us know in the comments here, or over on our Facebook page — we may use you in an upcoming msnbc.com post!

via The Body Odd – You are what you read, study suggests.

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REVIEW: Body Surfing by Anita Shreve

Format:  Audio CD
Genre:  General Fiction
ISBN:  1594838747
Published:  April 2007
Setting:  New Hampshire

Rating:  4 of 5 stars

Back of the Book Blurb:

At the age of 29, Sydney has already been once divorced and once widowed. Trying to regain her footing, she has answered an ad to tutor the teenage daughter of a well-to-do couple as they spend a sultry summer in their oceanfront New Hampshire cottage. But when the Edwards’s two grown sons, Ben and Jeff, arrive at the beach house, Sydney finds herself caught up in a destructive web of old tensions and bitter divisions. As the brothers vie for her affections, the fragile existence Sydney has rebuilt is threatened. With the subtle wit, lyrical language, and brilliant insight into the human heart that has led her to be called “an author at one with her metier” (Miami Herald), Shreve weaves a story about marriage, family, and the supreme courage it takes to love.

My Thoughts:

I really enjoyed this book very much, despite the fact that I have a sort of love/hate relationship with Anita Shreve.  She is a really good writer, but her books so often have characters that are utterly infuriating, and it is really difficult to see beyond them to actually enjoy the story.  This book is no exception, but (thankfully) Sydney Sklar, the protagonist, is a sympathetic character from the start, easy to like and easy to root for.  Having a divorce behind her, and then having endured the unexpected death of her second husband, she is somewhat emotionally bruised when she comes to New Hampshire to tutor Julie.  I appreciated her from the beginning, especially as she not only embraced her role as Julie’s tutor, but connected with her  in a personal way as well.  She was observant of Julie’s struggles and her abilities, and once she recognized what shewasable to do – and do exceptionally well – she tapped into it immediately, providing her with the supplies she needed and encouraging her to pursue it passionately.

It was hard not to fall a little in love with Mr. Edwards as Sydney did.  He was a thoughtful, kind man who had a soft spot for his daughter, and for Sydney as well as their friendship blossomed over the summer.  It was equally hard not to loathe Mrs. Edwards, and to wonder what exactly drew Mr. Edwards to her, because it was certainly evident that he loved her.  She was unexplainably cold & distant to Sydney, from the very start, and as the summer progressed, with the dramas of relationships ending & beginning, her chilly attitude toward Sydney grew more pronounced.  She offered such a shallow, pitiful explanation of this at the end that it left me a bit miffed that I, the reader, was deprived of any substantive reason why she behaved as she did.

Without completely giving away the plot, I will say that it was a brilliant move on Shreve’s part to have a number of unexpected circumstances occur throughout the novel.  I loved that when I was expecting one thing, something just outside the box was happening instead.  I also loved that the history of both the family and the house was a substantial part of the story, because it beautifully enhanced the reading experience.

In the end, this was an satisfying, enjoyable and nice crafted novel.  I liked the balance of characters, and while I would have enjoyed having more character development in some cases, I thought the mix was exactly right for the book.

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REVIEW: The Breakdown Lane by Jacqueline Mitchard

Format:  Audio CD
Genre:  General Fiction
ISBN:  0060759275
Published:  2005 (audio)
Setting:  Sheboygan WI

Rating:  4.5 of 5 stars

Back of the Book Blurb:

Where can a woman turn when her own life threatens to overwhelm her ability to keep her children safe? New York Times bestselling author Jacquelyn Mitchard takes the readers of her newest novel on a wry and moving journey of loss and healing. Giving advice is what Julieanne does for a living — every Sunday she doles it out in a column in her local Wisconsin paper. But when it comes to her personal life, Julie herself seems to have missed some clues. Having worked creatively to keep her twenty-year marriage to Leo fresh and exciting and to be a good mother, she is completely caught off guard when he tells her he needs to go on a “sabbatical” from their life together, leaving Julie and their three children behind. But it soon becomes clear that his leave of absence is meant to be permanent. Things take a turn for the worse when Julie is diagnosed with a serious illness and the children undertake a dangerous journey to find Leo — before it’s too late. As the known world sinks precariously from view, the clan must navigate their way through the shoals of love, guilt, and betrayal. Together, with the help of Leo’s parents and Julie’s best friend, they work their way back to solid ground and a new definition of family. No one illuminates modern love, marriage, and parenting better than Jacquelyn Mitchard. Written with her trademark poignancy, humor, and insight, The Breakdown Lane is her most moving, eloquent, and life-affirming work yet.

My Thoughts:

I wasn’t sure about this book when I started it.  I read another Mitchard book last year, and while I enjoyed it, I wasn’t overwhelmed with its greatness.  And truthfully, the first few chapters of this book were hard going because of my utter lack of connection with any of the characters.  Truth be told, I actually could not stand either Leo or Julieanne.  Both were so utterly shallow and superficial, and Leo especially had such a superiority complex toward Julieanne that it made me want to punch him between the eyes.  That much did not change throughout the book.

However, watching Julianne become more multi-demensional, and actually developing some depth as she traversed the difficulties of multiple slerosis, was a really satisfying reading experience.  I really began to appreciate her as she learned how to live with dignity in the wake of Leo’s duplicity, her disease, and looming financial disaster.  I liked that she stripped her life down to what was important, that she really leaned on those family & friends who proved their worth, and that she took her therapist’s advice to get out and get a life rather than living as a victim.  These are not small things, and to emerge from such a life implosion as a reasonably stable and immeasurably stronger person is good stuff – in fiction or in life.

What was perhaps the most enjoyable (for me) was having her reconnect with a childhood love, and having that reignite for her.  I liked that it happened slowly, and that she recognized that it was a good thing…that he was the real deal…and that she didn’t second guess herself into rejecting him.  Why?  Because sometimes that is exactly how life happens, and it is good to celebrate the good, solid, steady relationships…those that might not have fireworks, but prove their mettle just the same.

All in all, this book was a winner for me.  The storyline was good, the writing was good, and together they were something really special.

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REVIEW: The Red Thread by Ann Hood

The Red ThreadFormat:  Hardback
Genre:  General Fiction, Adoption Lit
ISBN:  0393070204
Published:  May 2010
Setting:  Providence RI, China

Rating:  4 of 5 stars

Back of the Book Blurb:

“In China there is a belief that people who are destined to be together are connected by an invisible red thread. Who is at the end of your red thread?”

After losing her infant daughter in a freak accident, Maya Lange opens The Red Thread, an adoption agency that specializes in placing baby girls from China with American families. Maya finds some comfort in her work, until a group of six couples share their personal stories of their desire for a child. Their painful and courageous journey toward adoption forces her to confront the lost daughter of her past. Brilliantly braiding together the stories of Chinese birth mothers who give up their daughters, Ann Hood writes a moving and beautifully told novel of fate and the red thread that binds these characters’ lives. Heartrending and wise, The Red Thread is a stirring portrait of unforgettable love and yearning for a baby.

My Thoughts:

This isn’t a great book, but it gets an extra star for what would otherwise be a 3-star read for me because of content.  I really enjoy literature about and/or set in Asian cultures, and this is no exception.  However, due to my own interest in adoption, as well as our undertaking the process of adopting a child ourselves, I was keenly interested in the story of Chinese adoption.  While this will very likely NOT be part of our adoption story, it was extremely interesting to get a sense of how families come to decisions about adoption.

Ms. Hood didn’t really spend a lot of time on the “why” of choosing Chinese adoption, as opposed to other options, and I would have liked to have more focus on that.  However, her story writing is not usually heavy handed, and she stayed in keeping with her traditional style here as well.  Learning after the fact that she adopted a child herself leaves me hoping that she has written that story, which (I am sure) have far richer detail and history.

Finally, I love the Chinese legend that a red thread connects a baby girl with her parents (all of them).  That is such a beautiful way to describe the providence of God, and to show that even in a predominately non-Christian culture, God’s providence still brings the families together as He has planned.

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REVIEW: Family History by Dani Shapiro

Format:  Trade Paperback
Genre:  General Fiction
ISBN:  1400032113
Published:  December 2007
Setting:  Massachusetts

Rating:  4 of 5 stars

Back of the Book Blurb:

Rachel Jensen is perfectly happy: in love with her husband, devoted to their daughter Kate, gratified by her work restoring art. And finally, she’s pregnant again. But as Rachel discovers, perfection can unravel in an instant. The summer she is thirteen, Kate returns from camp sullen, angry, and withdrawn. Everyone assures Rachel it’s typical adolescent angst. But then Kate has a terrifying accident with her infant brother, and the ensuing guilt brings forth a dreadful lie—one that ruptures their family, perhaps irrevocably. Family History is a mesmerizing journey through the mysteries of adolescent pain and family crisis.

My Thoughts:

This was definitely a compelling read, and I found the entire family situation to be terribly sad.  What was most interesting, however, is how oblivious everyone seemed to be to signs that something bad was wrong with Kate.  From the outset, I found it unsettling that no one seemed more disturbed over her very sudden and very obvious behavior change after camp.  My immediate thought, of course, was that something terrible, personal and devasting had happened to her at camp, but that avenue was hardly even given a thought.  I thought Shapiro was shortsighted in introducing Kate’s mental illness in such a way, and then failing to follow through on such an obvious avenue…first.  I wonder how many of her readers had the same initial reaction…that something bad happened, and because she was teetering on the brink of a full-blown psychotic episode, this would have certainly tipped the scales.

Once it was evident that Kate had serious issues, I had such a difficult time sympathizing with Rachel, who seemed ridiculously resistant to pursuing real, effective treatment for her.  Further, why did it take incidents beyond the accident with her infant brother to convince Rachel of the need for intervention?  Kate’s mental & emotional unraveling was occurring right in front of her face, in a way that was putting her baby at risk, and she seemed almost paralyzed until the lie make sit clear that inpatient treatment is immediately necessary.  Rachel frustrated me profoundly because of her lethargy and sort of helpless inability to cope.

Frankly, though, her husband frustrated me as well.  To have a happy marriage, to witness a daughter descend into mental illness, and then to find himself incapable of allowing his wife a moment of self-doubt when faced with the impossible situation of choosing to believe either her husband or her daughter – a moment before fully supporting him and fully comprehending that her daughter had lied and needed professional help – made me furious.  He chose to leave, to move out, to virtually abandon his wife and baby.  Sure, the situation was unbelievably difficult.  His daughter told an almost unforgivable lie.  His wife almost completely broke apart under the stress, and he flaked.  I know, I know…I’m unsympathetic.

Overall, I suppose it was Shapiro that frustrated me.  She’s a good writer who wrote a good story about terribly flawed people who allowed their weaknesses to take over.  Thankfully, though, she saw them through those months to a reconciliation that emerged not only from love, but from finally & clearly understanding their daughter’s illness and either other’s needs.

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REVIEW: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Format:  Kindle
Genre:  Sci-Fi / Dystopian
ASIN:  B002MQYOFW
Published:  September 2009 (Kindle)
Setting:  Post-Apocalyptic US

Rating:  4.5 of 5 stars

Back of the Book Blurb: 

In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV.

Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister’s place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before—and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that will weigh survival against humanity and life against love.

My Thoughts:

I assiduously avoided this series when it first came out, as I am typically not a fan of science fiction, it is not my habit to read a lot of YA fiction, and the dystopian genre that has become so popular is not something that interests me in and of itself.

However…

These books have met with huge success and almost instantaneous popularity.  There again, a reason I tend to shy away until something proves not to be a flash in the pan.  But they continue to be bestsellers – all three in the trilogy – and with such rave reviews, I finally broke down and read The Hunger Games.  And I loved it.  Were it not so widely known to be YA fiction, I would not have immediately recognized it as such.  Certainly the two protagonists are teenagers (which is a huge giveaway), but the story itself is not necessarily YA subject matter.  Couple that with some tightly crafted writing, and it is easy to see why these books have been such hits.

It is not as though post-apocalyptic settings are particularly new.  They’re not.  Neither is it a particularly new twist on the socialist, totalitarian government construct.  What Collins does here is take old, time-tested themes and weave them into a beautifully constructed story of commitment and love in the face of almost certain death.  And it truly is a story of life or death, because the penalty for losing (or being outsmarted) is death…public, (hopefully) gruesome, and brutal.  This is not light subject matter for anyone, let alone young adults, and yet it is gripping, captivating, and utterly moving.  The more I read, the harder I rooted for Katniss.  Collins made me believe she was the angel among demons.  She was the bright spot in the dark.  She was the one to love…and the one to beat.

This story reminded me so much of The Running Man by Stephen King.  A game, set up by a central government, where the penalty is death, and in order to win…to live…cunning and brutality are required.  The difference, of course, is that in The Running Man, the game is “voluntary.”  In The Hunger Games, it is a part of life, a payback required from the government as a reminder of who had power and who didn’t.  I am always amazed, in the dystopian settings, how easily controlled the populations are, but then I am reminded of how most fiction contains elements of truth, and dystopian fiction is no different.  We have only to look back in history a few years to Hitler to see the parallels.

All this to say that this is a book worth reading.  It is thought provoking, infuriating (in ways), mesmerizing, and in the end, rewarding.  I’m looking forward to the second  & third installments.

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REVIEW: The Bonesetter’s Daughter by Amy Tan

Format:  Audio CD, 10 disks
Genre:  General Fiction, Asian/Am Lit
ISBN:  1597770760
Published:  January 2006 (audio)
Setting:  San Francisco CA / China

Rating:  4.5 of 5 stars

Back of the Book Blurb:

Ruth Young and her widowed mother, LuLing, have always had a tumultuous relationship. Now, before she succumbs to forgetfulness, LuLing gives Ruth some of her writings, which reveal a side of LuLing that Ruth has never known. . . . In a remote mountain village where ghosts and tradition rule, LiuLing grows up in the care of her mute Precious Auntie as the family endures a curse laid upon a relative known as the bonesetter. When headstrong LuLing rejects the marriage proposal of the coffinmaker, a shocking series of events are set in motion — all of which lead back to Ruth and LuLing in modern San Francisco. The truth that Ruth learns from her mother’s past will forever change her perception of family, love, and forgiveness.

My Thoughts:

There are so many things about this book to love – the setting (China, in particular); the vast scope of the story; the deft way that the author ties together the present and the past; the commitment and love between LuLing and Ruth, LuLing and GaoLing, LuLing and Precious Auntie; how Tan’s writing style and word choices seem to exude the culture she is writing about, including a subtle but still noticeable shift in tone in section two (LuLing’s story).

I connected with the story immediately, and particularly with Ruth.  I related to her inability to feel confident, to believe that she actually had something to say, to think that anyone would be interested in her words.  I got how she allowed herself to “disappear” in her relationship, never seeming to require anything concrete or real from Art, not even sure he really loves her, yet continuing on in a sort of hazy mediocrity.  I understood her choice to do the work she did – behind the scenes, anonymous or very nearly so (even if, in the end, she tended to resent the lack of credit), and risk free, meaning any criticism of the work would be directed to the author of record, not her (a “ghostwriter,” but in reality the actual author of all the books she worked on).

Perhaps more than any of the above, I had a visceral and immediate connection to her relationship with her mother.  Their conflicted, competitive, critical and volatile relationship was as familiar to me as the back of my hand.  I was transported time and again back to my own experiences as a child, an adolescent, and a young woman as I read the arguments & struggles between Ruth &  LuLing.  I found LuLing controlling, irrational, hypercritical, and impervious to reason.  I felt the frustration that Ruth felt right along with her, and when time & again she allowed herself and her own desires to be eclipsed by her mother, I wanted to shake her out of her lethargy.

And then came Section 2.

Once again, I felt like shaking someone and screaming “Wake UP!”  But this time, it was LuLing herself.  As I progressed through this middle section, I began to understand LuLing in a completely different way, and while I still didn’t (and don’t) understand the necessity of incessantly criticizing and insulting one’s daughter, I did ultimately comprehend the enormous suffering that LuLing endured & overcame.  I understood how it shaped her and hurt her, how it gutted her and made her strong.  She was so much more than Ruth’s experiences, GaoLing’s interactions or Precious Auntie’s recollections.  It was clear that Ruth needed to know her mother’s history and understand where she came from in order to appreciate her strengths, weaknesses & eccentricities.  She needed to know those things to also heal herself, to recognize that despite herself she had a good partner, and to allow herself the luxury of committing fully to the relationship, loving with reserve, and being likewise loved in return.

Amy Tan weaves this exotic, timultuous, and ultimately cathartic story in such a way that it leaves you wanting more…to continue on with the story, to find out what happens next with the characters you’ve come to love.  That’s good writing…really good writing, and it’s worthy of a place on everyone’s bookshelf.

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REVIEW: Sweetgrass by Mary Alice Monroe

Audio CD – 11 disks (13 hours)
Published May 1st 2010 by Brilliance Audio on MP3-CD Lib Ed (first published 2005)
ISBN:  1441852778 (ISBN13:  9781441852779)
3.5 stars overall / 4 stars audio narration
Goodreads Synopsis:
Sweetgrass is a historical tract of land in South Carolina that has been home to the Blakely family for eight generations.  But Sweetgrass — named for the indigenous grass that grows in the area — is in trouble. Bulldozers are leveling surrounding properties. and the Blakelys could be forced to sell the one thing that continues to hold their disintegrating family together. For some of the Blakelys, the prospect of selling Sweetgrass is bittersweet — for others, it is completely unimaginable. But as they find the strength to stay and fight, they realize that their bond as a family is all they need to stay together.
“Mary Alice Monroe is helping to redefine the beauty and magic of the Carolina Lowcountry.  Every book she has written has felt like a homecoming to me.”  – Pat Conroy, author of The Prince of Tides and Beach Music
My Thoughts:
I really enjoyed the story, but it wrapped a little too prettily even for me.  I do agree with Pat Conroy’s compliment regarding Mary Alice Monroe, as she definitely has an intimate knowledge of and love for the Carolina lowcountry that comes through in her writing.  And while I thoroughly enjoy her novels, the often find the endings a bit too neatly tied up.  She is a good & interesting writer, perfect for an enjoyable, quick & relaxing read.  If you are looking for a challenge however, there are many (better) authors to choose from, Pat Conroy among them.
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REVIEW: Dreams of Joy by Lisa See

Kindle Edition, 336 pages
Published May 31st 2011 by Random House
ASIN  B004J4WKXS
4.5 stars
After having listened to Shanghai Girls by Lisa See, and learning that this sequel existed, I could not wait to dive into it.  I loved Shanghai Girls, and Dreams of Joy is equally mesmerizing.  See does a wonderful job of building on the foundation of Shanghai Girls, and moving the story forward in a believable and beautifully rendered way.

The research she has done in advance of writing about Communist China is evident in her descriptions, and in her accentuation of the disparity between the masses (peasants) and the elite (leaders).  As a reader I was heartbroken when Joy could not see through the propaganda, but I understood that as a headstrong daughter who believed she had been lied to about Red China, she had to see for herself.  Like so many young adults, she thought she was so much smarter and more savvy than her parents, when in reality she was impressionable and easily manipulated.  She thought she understood the world better because she was getting a college education, and she didn’t realize (until much later) that real education comes from one’s experiences.  I thoroughly appreciated Lisa See’s ability to create in Pearl Chin a woman (a mother) who goes after her daughter in spite of her fears, but after finding her, understands that forcing her back to the United States will never work.  This understanding does not come easily to Pearl, especially in the wake of her own life experiences, but it is gratifying that facing the demons of her past allows her to understand her daughter in a way she never would have otherwise.

There are wonderful, satisfying conclusions at the end of Dreams of Joy, and yet there are hints of a future story still to be told, and I hope the author will one day indulge us.