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The Jade Peony Wayson Choy 9781590512166 Books

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The Jade Peony Wayson Choy 9781590512166 Books

Thanks for responding quickly. I have been reading the Author Wayson Choy's writing for a few months. I was happy to find my purchase in the mail and have enjoyed the story.


Tags : The Jade Peony [Wayson Choy] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. <B> Beautifully written….It renders a complex and complete human world, which by the end we have learned to love. —<I>The Boston Book Review</I></B><BR><BR>Chinatown,Wayson Choy,The Jade Peony,Other Press,1590512162,Literary,Brothers and sisters;Fiction.,Chinatown (Vancouver, B.C.);Fiction.,Chinese;Canada;Fiction.,Brothers and sisters,Canada,Chinese,Fiction,Fiction - Historical,Fiction General,Fiction Historical,Fiction Literary,General & Literary Fiction,Historical - General,Modern & contemporary fiction,Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945),Modern fiction,Poor families

The Jade Peony Wayson Choy 9781590512166 Books Reviews

The Jade Peony reads as though Choy had been mulling it over in his mind for a few decades, slowly developing each line, scene, emotion, description and nuance. It reads a dream; it's heartfelt; it takes you authoritatively into Vancouver's Chinatown before and during the war -- a world most of us don't know very well. Really a set of connected short stories rather than a novel, the book lets us slowly discover the nature of relationships in one family. Nuclear, it isn't.

By comparison, Choy's later work, All That Matters, felt rushed despite its length, and somewhat thin and repetitive.

But The Jade Peony is a gem, and not to be missed. Four stars.
Wayson Choy's beautifully written debut novel, The Jade Peony, is a poignant examination of the Chinese immigrant experience in Vancouver's Chinatown before and during the Second World War, and its consequence on collective ideals, as well as the immigrants' personal identities. It is a representation of a proud, dignified people struggling to regain autonomy from the constraints of history, intolerance, destitution, and cultural heritage.

True to memoir-like fashion, The Jade Peony consists of three individual manuscripts, written from different perspectives. Three siblings in the same household of Chinese immigrants, eking out a meager living in Vancouver's Chinatown, combine their accounts in one volume, to compile a narrative of different acculturation effects within the family and the Chinese community itself. These three very different life experiences and vantage points, bestow an accurate sampling of a new generation desperate to adjust and assimilate the new world culture, often at the sacrifice of the "old ways"...much to their elders' dismay.

Little sister Jook-Liang, who longs to be a performer like Shirley Temple, befriends family friend Wong Bak, a deformed elderly man from the old country. As the two of them form an unlikely friendship, Jook-Liang ambitiously dreams of escaping the unyielding old ways, while grappling with the old Chinese convention of elevating the life of a boy above that of a girl.

Second brother Jung-Sum, taken from a neglectful family in China, is sent to live with his new adoptive family in Vancouver's Chinatown. Besieged by childhood trauma of what he had to endure at the hands of his biological parents, he ultimately feels a sense of belonging amongst his new family, and finds his niche in boxing.

Third Brother Sekky, often plagued with illness (and as a result, coddled by Poh-Poh), never quite comes to terms with the plethora of complex Chinese dialects he is forced to study. Overwhelmed, he often retreats into himself, inducing visions of Poh-Poh after she is gone, and filling the void with an obsession for war games. When a forbidden relationship flourishes between Sekky's Chinese babysitter and a Japanese boy, the lines between friend and foe are blurred by fear of frightful events happening a world away, with devastating consequences.

At the heart of each account is Poh-Poh (respectfully known as the "Old One", or Grandmother). the mainstay and matriarch of the family, who passes down vivid reminiscences of her life experiences to the children. Not unlike the jade peony, which she bestows to them as an inheritance, Poh-Poh also confers them a more valuable inheritance -- their cultural heritage as a people, and the necessity and importance of holding on to a measure of "old way" attitude.

Though discrimination and poverty predominated the early immigrants' experience, Choy tempers his story with a caustic wit and a gritty humor that brings a certain hope to the often-heartrending chronicle. Given its candor and lucid voice on an important topic, it is no surprise that The Jade Peony has gained many accolades and awards, and has won its way to many readers' hearts.
As most people know, the 1930s were as difficult for Canadians as they were for the rest of the world. But in Vancouver's Chinatown, times were especially tough for new immigrants struggling to survive economically, socially, and psychologically. THE JADE PEONY is the story of one particular family told from the viewpoints of the three youngest children (each child has a section). By using this technique, author Wayson Choy gives readers an intimate glimpse into the psyche and family life of Chinese immigrants over the span of a decade.

To those who don't know the history of Canadian Chinese immigrants, the characters might appear irrationally suspicious, wary, and racist. For those who know about the treatment of Chinese laborers brought over to work on the railway, the government head tax that permanently separated men from the families they'd hoped to bring over from China, and the attitudes of white folks in general, you'll understand where the characters' animosity comes from. Unfortunately, there's far too little back story to help readers unfamiliar with those events to fully appreciate the sentiments of people trying to cope in a world they don't know or understand and ultimately fear. Small wonder they stay in Chinatown as much as possible.

By the time WWII is well underway, Chinatown residents are learning about the atrocities Japanese soldiers are committing against people in China. The immigrants' resentments are absorbed by their children and its sad to see the youngest child, Sekky, slowly turn against his Japanese classmates.

Since the book is a collection of reminiscences from children who are now adults, the story isn't heavy on plot, yet this family's story is exquisitely told. I was puzzled that the book didn't include the fourth and oldest childest's point of view until my husband (also raised in Chinatown) reminded me that four is an unlucky number for the Chinese. Whether this is the reason or not, it's clear that some things, in all cultures, are slow to change.
good
This was a moderate read in my opinion very little depth I read it for my book club recommendation but I dont think Iwill be recommending it as a good read
Thanks for responding quickly. I have been reading the Author Wayson Choy's writing for a few months. I was happy to find my purchase in the mail and have enjoyed the story.