"Peach Blossom Spring" by Melissa Fu

 

Peach Blossom Spring by Melissa Fu

400 pp

Peach Blossom Spring covers the years 1938-2005 in the lives of a family.  The story starts in China during the war with Japan (the early days of WWII) and follows his wife and son as they travel through China to meet his brother to find safety from the Japanese bombers.  Meilin (the wife) has a valuable scroll that her husband took in trade so that she and he could have their own business someday.  She uses this scroll to tell her son stories through much of the book.  Meilin and her brother-in-law and his family come together for some time, but when one of the nieces dies, Meilin is blamed and she decides to sever ties.  They make their way to other parts of China eventually coming to settle in Taiwan.  Her son goes to school and is a good student.  He goes through high school and college in Taiwan, but gets the opportunity to go to the US for his master's degree.  Meilin sees her brother-in-law while she is working at a party and gets him to help her son qualify to go to the US.  The story then mainly follows the son who takes the Americanized name Henry when he goes to the US.  Henry eventually marries an American woman and they have a child named Lily.  The story they follows Lily after she goes to college, but has brief interludes with Henry and Meilin.

This was an excellent story.  I particularly liked the stories from the scroll that were native to China. There is also a part set in St. Louis since the woman the son marries family is from here. The author is a woman with a background from China and the US Southwest, but who lives in Great Britain now.  Were I to give it stars, it would definitely make four our of five for me.

 

Cry Wolf

Cry Wolf: A Political Fable by Paul Lake, 215 pages

After the farmer died, the animals of Green Pastures Farm managed to keep things going.  It wasn't always easy - they couldn't reach the fruit on the higher branches of the trees, and the mouths of lambs proved to be poor substitutes for hands when it comes to milking cows - but the community managed to come together under the Laws left by the farmer and not only survive, but thrive, even defeating an invading bear.  Until, that is, more sympathetic outsiders present themselves, and the clever owl uses the magic of words to bring down the laws and plunge the farm into a spiral of chaos from which it may not recover.

Cry Wolf is a straightforward reimagining of Animal Farm, not only updated for the 21st century - as if such a thing was necessary - but with a revised set of anthropological assumptions, so that it bears little more than a conceptual resemblance to Orwell's original.  Where it does more deeply echo Orwell is in Lake's awareness of the power of words, particularly as they are defined and redefined so that they become tools for confusion rather than communication, and in the ease with which slogans can evoke the power of sentiment to overthrow reason.  What Lake most memorably adds is his exposure of late modern decadence, particularly the unwarranted conviction that a very precarious situation is, in fact, the natural state of things, the unmerited confidence that any disruptions are merely manageable exceptions, and the baseless belief that there are no higher desires than comfort and peace.

The Last Story of Mina Lee

The Last Story of Mina Lee by Nancy Jooyoun Kim 384 pages

First-time novelist Nancy Jooyoum Kim tackles some tough subjects in this novel: the power of language, immigration, death and the meanings of family and home.

Margot Lee has lived in Portland, Oregon, for the last few years while her mother, Mina, lives in Los Angeles. Her friend, Miguel, is moving to LA and Margot offers to drive him.  She plans to surprise her mother, but in reality, she is going to check up on her. Mina hasn’t answered the phone in two weeks.  Upon their arrival, Margot and Miguel find Mina dead in her Koreantown apartment.

Margot feel guilty that she didn’t follow up sooner, but the two weren’t close, yet they weren’t estranged. Margot hated talking to her mother as her mother spoke mostly Korean, but Margot barely speaks that language so phone communication is strained at best. Although Mina appears to have died from natural causes and the police do not suspect foul play, Margot has an intuition that murder is more likely and begins to look into her mother’s life.

The story alternates between 1987, when Mina came into the United States as an illegal immigrant, and 2014, the time of Mina’s death.  The 1987 version is told from Mina’s point of view, while the 2014 is from Margot’s.

The plot is rather slow-moving, but I enjoyed it. As Margot digs, she learns Mina’s secrets, rather shocking secrets that were the highlights of the novel.  I believe that Author Kim did this on purpose---while the secrets are nothing that hasn’t happened to others before, the slowness of the plot makes them stand out.

There were lots of mentions of Korean food and other words that I could never really figure out what exactly Author Kim meant. That also slowed the plot a bit. Every time I thought this would be a 3-star book, a secret was revealed elevating it to a 5-star read.  Therefore, The Last Story of Mina Lee receives 4 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

 

Disorganize Me

 

Disorganize Me by Sandra Hutchison  366 pages

 

I always look forward to a new Sandra Hutchison novel, and they are always worth the wait.  I have read Hutchison’s three previous novels.  I count her as one of my favorite novelists; she never disappoints. Her characters are well developed and human.  When I read a Hutchison novel, I always feel I could meet these people in real-life if I traveled to the town/city where they life.

 

I love the play on words created in the title. Protagonist Kathy White’s world is anything but organized. Things may be in there place, but the emotional aspect of her life is so cluttered that even her beloved Aunt Lucy wouldn’t have been able to straighten it. When she inherits a professional organizer’s business from Aunt Lucy, her life is completely turned upside down.

 

Along with the business, Kathy also inherits one of two of the novel’s antagonists: Diego, a day laborer who often helped Aunt Lucy when she needed extra muscle. She hires Diego to help her at the second antagonist’s, John’s, house. A hoarder, almost every inch of his home and garage are full. When Diego breaks his ankle at the job site, Kathy must deal with a whole different set of problems.

 

Since Diego cannot return to his third-floor apartment (reachable only by stairs), Kathy feels she must offer him her couch. She couldn’t bear the thought of him trying to live in his truck. The situation is uncomfortable for the pair, and gets more and more uncomfortable as they negotiate such simple things as going to the bathroom, eating and sleeping.  The situations are so human that they were often hysterically funny.

 

And then there is John, a grouchy old man who knows he needs her help, but refuses to acknowledge it. Before readers know it, John has taken up residence in Kathy’s tiny house with her and Diego.

 

At the core of this warmly comfortable novel, is the issue of immigration and roots. Diego is proud of his Puerto Rican heritage but finds his looks deter him from getting ahead…along with a felony conviction.  Kathy also discovers a secret her family has been harboring her entire life  that only adds to the complexity of the story.  I loved this novel and “Disorganize Me” receives 6 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

American Street

American Street by Ibi Zoboi, 324 pages

“On the corner of American Street and Joy Road, Fabiola Toussaint thought she would finally find une belle vie--a good life. But after they leave Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Fabiola's mother is detained by U.S. immigration, leaving Fabiola to navigate her loud American cousins, Chantal, Donna, and Princess; the grittiness of Detroit's west side; a new school; and a surprising romance, all on her own. Just as she finds her footing in this strange new world, a dangerous proposition presents itself, and Fabiola soon realizes that freedom comes at a cost. Trapped at the crossroads of an impossible choice, will she pay the price for the American dream?” I liked this book but not as much as I wanted to.  This is a good book for teens who want gritty, realistic fiction.

A Handful Of Stars

A Handful Of Stars by Cynthia Lord, 184 pages

Lily is determined to save enough money top get her dog, Logan, cataract surgery.  Logan, partly because of his blindness, leads Lily to a meeting with Salma, a migrant worker who is helping her family pick blueberries.  Salma and Lily end up becoming friends.  Salma helps Lily paint mason bee houses, which Lily is selling to make money for Logan's operation.  Lily ends up helping Salma when Salma decides to enter the Downeast Blueberry Queen contest.  Between all of their activities, Lily and Salma help each other understand the meaning of true friendship and even manage to help Logan along the way.  I really enjoyed this book.  Kids who like realistic fiction should definitely pick this one up.

Land of Careful Shadows

Land of Careful Shadows by Suzanne Chazin
340 Pages

"When the body of an unidentified Latina turns up in a reservoir in the town of Lake Holly, near New York, the tranquility of the community is shattered. A note in her purse says, Go back to your country. You don't belong here. Detective Jimmy Vega, a Puerto Rican who works for the local county police, is very aware of the prevailing attitude toward undocumented immigrants, and this case ensnares him in a web of conflicting emotions, forcing him and others in the town to face dark secrets and unpleasant truths about friends and family."

A good mystery combined with the immigration issue.  

Book of Unknown Americans

Book of Unknown Americans by Cristina Henriquez
285 Pages

Arturo and Alma Rivera come to the United States legally to enroll their daughter in a special school in order to help her recover from brain damage she sustained in a fall.  The story follows their immersion into American society as well as a budding romance between their daughter Maribel and Mayor, the boy who lives next door.  Interspersed throughout the story are narratives from other Hispanic Americans who came from several different countries to American.

The novel is well seated in its storytelling and the reader is quickly immersed into a world similar and yet different from their own.   As with any successful novel, you quickly feel empathy for the characters and their predicament and it disabuses of common preconceptions fostered by the American media and politicians.