June 2018

(Images are taken from the Goodreads website link attached to the title of the book)
(Included are my ratings and my personal descriptors of the book.)

 

June 2018:

Total Novels Read: 4

Total Pages Read: 1203 pages (40 pages/day)

 

1) The Joy Luck Club ~ Amy Tan (332 of 332 pages) (5/5 Stars) (Chinese History and Identity, Clash Between the Old and New Ways, A Classic Read About the Struggle Between Generations)

 

 

After working on my feature article of Disconnect and being intrigued about the melting pot that occurs with children born in the West from Chinese immigrants, I had heard about The Joy Luck Club, and I am blown away by Amy Tan’s beautiful work, based on the way she crafted the characters and plotline to explore this topic. I found the use of the mother-daughter relation and narration throughout the novel as effective, where each shift between narration created unity and complemented all the stories contained in the novel. The relation also provided an accurate portrayal of the inevitable “melting pot” process that occurs between generations, and the rich backgrounds of each mother that the daughters do not value or see. The hardships, the journeys, the sacrifices, the lessons, all build up to a climax to a point where each mother is compelled to tell their stories, and it is a similar journey of each daughter acknowledging their heritage amidst growing up and adopting the American way of life. I also must applaud Ms. Tan for using Jing-Mei’s journey back to China to drive the plot forward because it is difficult to find a way to progress a story with this format of a novel. Near the end of the novel, Ms. Tan concludes each unique and nuanced story so well, creating a satisfying ending with every pair in this novel. Ms. Tan also was amazing at dropping in little one-liners that left me breathless and possessed a truth to them, such as “It’s hard to keep your Chinese face in America” (Tan 294).

 

2) The Secret Life of Bees ~ Sue Monk Kidd (336 of 336 pages) (4/5 Stars) (Finding a Place to Belong, Uncovering the Past, Effortless Incorporation of the Concept of Bees in Plotline)

 


When I first started out reading Sue Monk Kidd’s novel, The Secret Life of Bees, I found that it started out a bit slow, but I felt that as we progressed, there was a lot more things happening that kept my attention to the novel. In terms of establishing the turbulent relationship between Lily and her father, her journey of running away from home, and the ethnic tensions that occurred within the novel, made this story a realistic and captivating plot to follow. I enjoyed the interesting characterization with all the characters in the novel, such as with Lily, Rosaleen, May, June, and August. There was great incorporation of interesting information and facts about bees that opened each chapter, and I found that I had a 
connection with the setting of the novel, in terms of the idea of being in the Southern US, the description of the fields, and the land around the pink mansion. 

 

3) The Jade Peony ~ Wayson Choy (278 of 278 pages) (4/5 Stars) (Chinese History and Identity, Progressive Adaptation to Western Society, Effective Choice of Novel’s Time Period)

 

 

Just as howA Tree Grows In Brooklyn was formatted, The Jade Peony also follows the separation of the novel into parts, where I found its purpose was to illustrate the struggle children of Chinese immigrants face when attempting to balance the desires of following the Old Ways of living and the desire to assimilate and adapt to the Western ideals and Western society that they live in, along with the crisis of Chinese-Canadian identity and the desire for belonging. This can be seen through Wayson Choy’s development of the relationships and interactions between characters, such as with Poh-Poh and Sek-Lung, where the conflict between the old and more traditional Chinese ways of living and the new and more Western way of living was evident. With Mr.Choy’s decision to set this novel during a time close to the Bombing of Pearl Harbour and where racism against aliens, such as the Chinese, Japanese, and other minority groups was evident, I felt that it made this story come more alive and more meaningful since we can see the distinct differences between how society was then to the present. As I have read two novels this month regarding similar topics, I personally felt more connection with The Joy Luck Club because of the way it immerses us into the juxtaposition between the history of the mothers and the daily lives of the daughters; however, The Jade Peony also does a phenomenal job addressing this issue of Chinese history and the obstacles that the children of immigrants face as they adapt to their new environment.

 

4) Reality Boy ~ A.S. King (5/5 Stars) (353 of 353 pages)
(The Aftermath of Reality TV, Self-Reflection and Development, Comedic and Realistic Characterization)

 

 

I have not picked up a Young Adult novel in a while, but I chose this book while I was browsing the shelves at my local library because of the novel’s interesting concept. In the novel, Gerald is a teenager who was once a reality TV star. As he is in his teenage years, we follow the aftermath and the ironic reality of what happens to individuals after a reality show has ended, leading Gerald to figure out ways to combat his anger and his identity as an individual. I found this novel very interesting and fun to read, as the characterization of Gerald was done really well, such as his paranoiac and self-deprecating thoughts of others knowing who he was, his withdrawal from others, and his lack of trust in those around him. A.S. King also effectively used Gerald’s internal thoughts and Gersday to complement the plotline of the story and created a sense of sympathy for him as we learn about his childhood throughout the novel in switches between time periods every few chapters. Overall, I found this novel to be a refresher for me, and it is a novel that I do recommend others read.

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