Cecily Wong

I probably should have known that this novel that purports to be a multi-generational family epic was going to fall a bit short when I noticed that the page count was just over 300. To really do justice to a story like the one Cecily Wong is trying to tell, she would have needed about another 200 pages at least. When we meet the Leong family in mid-1960s Hawaii, they are gathered for a funeral. Bohai, son of Frank and Lin, husband to Amy, and father to Theresa, has died. Despite the family’s wealth and glamour, things are amiss. Patriarch and shipping magnate Frank Leong is long dead, Lin hasn’t been seen in public in over a decade, Amy is withdrawn and disconnected, and teenage Theresa is heavily pregnant. Each woman’s story is told and examined through the lens of Chinese folklore around the “red string of fate” that connects lovers. Besides the relatively abbreviated page length, there are some other structural issues that set the book back, including the choice to tell the women’s stories through short alternating chapters and inconsistent use of first and third person, which can make it challenging to keep track of which narrative is which. And each of the women feels a little stock, a little flat, more “types” than people. I feel like there’s a really powerful story about generational trauma and the power of maternal love that could have come out of this, but while it’s decently-written and reasonably compelling it never gets there.… (altro)

audio historical fiction (~13 hrs, multiple narrators), beginning in Honolulu (Oahu), Hawai'i, 1964, and alternating time periods to tell the stories of previous generations back to 1890s Guangdong, Guangzhou/Canton, China (1899-1901 Boxer Rebellion), connecting past to present with tangled mystical threads that connect people to their intended loves and that can also punish them for not honoring those bonds.

I enjoyed this--the storytelling (and excellent narration) pulls you in immediately, and even though I usually struggle a bit when there are more than a handful of characters to keep track of, I'm found the story relatively easy to follow without getting bored. I do agree that it just sort of ends without much happening and I think there was opportunity for a lot more development in the relationships between the women, but overall I liked it. I would read more from this author.… (altro)

I'm ambivalent about this one.

What I liked: The story centers women's voices. Each woman is a fully realized character with a complete backstory. They're all interesting and the audiobook narrators portraying them were excellent!

What I didn't like: The women's lives revolve around men and the men are kind of flat one-dimensional characters, especially Bohai. I never understood what his deal was.

What I liked: The story stretches from the 1890s to the 1960s, spanning three generations, showing how each woman is impacted by her relationship to her parents -- and also how they're impacted by the Boxer Rebellion and the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The story moves around in time, putting the pieces of the puzzle together in a mostly satisfying way.

What I didn't like: Sometimes the writing was on the florid side and seemed to meander. Some of the revelations were not so satisfying to me and ultimately the story doesn't offer a lot of hope (at least not the way I read it), particularly when it came to the theme of finding your "fated match."

Overall, I was a little disappointed but I still liked it.… (altro)