November 29, 2021
Spanning eight decades, Fu’s poignant debut opens in 1938, as recently widowed Meilin and her three-year-old son, Renshu, flee their home in the Hunan Province of China during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Initially traveling with relatives to avoid Japanese bombings, Meilin and Renshu get separated from the group. After the war, as Communism takes hold of China in the late 1940s, the mother and son escape to Taiwan, where Meilin works as a maid and Renshu focuses on his education. In 1960, Renshu leaves Taiwan and his mother behind for graduate school at Northwestern University, entering this new chapter as “Henry.” He builds a life in America, starting both a career and family. Meanwhile, Meilin reconnects with her brother-in-law, who tries to woo her into marriage. Fu spends the first half of the novel ping-ponging between mother and son, shuttling them through 20 years of tragic struggle. As their stories diverge, the author devotes long sections to each protagonist, slowing the frenetic pace to focus more on character development, which yields a stronger second half. The result is an affecting if somewhat scattershot tale of love, loss, estrangement, and heritage. Agent: Clare Alexander, Aitken Alexander Assoc.
February 15, 2022
When Longwei returns to Hunan Province in 1938 after fighting the Japanese, he reports that his younger brother, Xiaowen, husband to Meilin and father to Renshu, has been killed in action, spurring the events in this multigenerational novel. The first part of the book depicts Meilin's harrowing struggle to protect and care for her young son while fleeing war, ultimately making a narrow escape to Taiwan. Meilin is written with tremendous appeal. She emerges as a hero, resourceful and clever, personable enough to make friends, smart enough to recognize danger, and capable of making a home, no matter the scarcity. The novel does a good job examining her ongoing relationship with Longwei, which grows increasingly complex over the course of the story. The author effectively transmits the chaos and dislocation of war, from losses that will never heal to chance encounters that save lives. In the second part of the book, Renshu transforms to Henry Dao as he immigrates to America and raises a daughter. Despite having been educated and living the bulk of his life in America, Henry is tenuous in his work and family life. He is haunted by childhood traumas that he cannot or will not share and never overcomes his sense that he and Meilin are under threat from Communist surveillance. His failure to fit in and his daughter's brushes with racism provoke important questions about how America treats immigrants. Henry and his mother, their relationship frayed by distance and politics, reflect the concerns of generations of people forced by war to maintain family ties across continents. It is a weakness that the plot moves so fast, causing action to take precedence over suspense and nuance. The author plumbs the immigrant experience, illuminating a key slice of Chinese history from Japan's invasion to Mao's rise.
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Starred review from January 1, 2022
The year 1938 marks a great disruption for the Dao family in Changsha, China. Meilin, her son, Renshu, and their relatives escape a burning city during the Japanese invasion, forced to leave behind other loved ones. Meilin and little Renshu travel to various cities searching for safety, navigating the ever-changing political climate. Eventually, they flee to Taiwan and settle there to escape the growing Communist regime. Years later, Renshu moves to the midwestern U.S. to attend Northwestern University. He assimilates into American culture, changing his name to Henry and raising his own family. When his daughter, Lily, begins asking questions and begs to learn more about her heritage, Henry refuses. While his surname and history were everything to his family in China, Henry completely disassociates with the Chinese culture, language, and people in the U.S., leaving Lily to explore her Chinese identity on her own. Fu's heartfelt debut is captivating as she examines the traumas of war and the sacrifices survivors feel forced to make for a brighter future. Following three generations of one family, readers will be moved by Fu's sincere and tender prose and the struggles her characters face in looking for a safe place to call home.
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