This is a story of two women, one American, the other from China. Both are pregnant and live in a home where they are slated to have their babies. Chinese women arrive at the facility because their babies will be born American citizens. Both women in this story flee the center.

The book covers page after page after page of their trials and travails. I confess that I lost interest because the writer rambled on and on about the same situation.

One lady looking for the father of her baby. The other woman, is fleeing the boss of the factory in China where she labored for little money and lots of work. The boss man is the one who impregnated her. He already has three daughters. While an original scan showed an image of a baby boy, a follow up test in America showed the baby was actually a girl. Thus, if boss man finds her, he will not want another daughter.

Both babies are delivered in a hospital. Both women bond throughout their many experiences.

I learned a lot about the Chinese culture that I did not know.

One and 1/2 Stars ( )

Engaging story but a little long. Made me think about some aspects of Chinese culture I had not previously considered. ( )

I'm 55% in and I just can't be bothered anymore. I'm a tiny bit morbidly curious about what happens to Scarlett and her baby; but, it just shouldn't take this long for so little to happen. Moving on. . . . ( )

At Perfume Bay, women are getting ready to give birth. It is a facility specifically for women from China who want to have their babies in America, for to be born in America gives their babies citizenship.

Scarlett is one of the twelve pregnant women, sent there by her lover Boss Yeung, a powerful man with lots of guanxi and gets her the best room in the house.

But at an ultrasound, Scarlett discovers that the baby boy she’s been expecting is actually a girl. Another daughter for Boss Yeung. She worries about the future of her daughter, and when she learns that Boss Yeung wants to pay her to hand over the baby, whom he still thinks is a boy, she decides to run away. Another Perfurme Bay inhabitant, Daisy, a teenager whose parents sent her away to have her baby, takes off with her too.

The two pregnant women head to San Francisco’s Chinatown where they struggle to figure out how to support themselves and their two babies. Meanwhile, Boss Yeung continues to search for his son, and Daisy begins to search for the father of her baby. Scarlett’s tourist visa is expiring and while desperately trying to scrounge for money for rent and necessities, she also has to worry about how to stay on in the US.

A solid story about motherhood and the American dream. The desperation and struggles that the two women go through is honest and moving.

(Spoiler alert!)









The women’s stories were compelling but the men in this story seem rather uneven. Boss Yeung, I can’t really tell sometimes whether we are meant to dislike him or not. At times he’s heartless or is he really just in pursuit of his true love? But for me, the part that doesn’t seem to sit well with the rest of the book is the super-sweet ending that Daisy receives. Maybe if her ending turned out different, I would have rated this higher. Maybe if the book had kept more of its focus on the two women? It bothered me, this saccharine ending. Maybe I am just too skeptical… ( )

When Scarlett's boss knocks her up and he finds out that the boy, he sends her from her home in China to a maternity home in California. With her in the home is Daisy, an American Born Chinese teenager, who desperately wants to find her boyfriend. When Scarlett finds out that boy is really a girl, she takes the first opportunity and flees from the home. Daisy hides away in the van, determined to escape also. The pair end up in San Francisco's China town, where they are forced to survive on their own.

This was a quick read with interesting characters. The relationship between Scarlett and Daisy was extremely well done, and kept the story vibrant and exciting. Overall, well worth picking up. ( )