The Fortunes
Book - 2017
"Sly, funny, intelligent, and artfully structured, The Fortunes recasts American history through the lives of Chinese Americans and reimagines the multigenerational novel through the fractures of immigrant family experience. Inhabiting four lives--a railroad baron's valet who unwittingly ignites an explosion in Chinese labor; Hollywood's first Chinese movie star; a hate-crime victim whose death mobilizes the Asian American community; and a biracial writer visiting China for an adoption--this novel captures and capsizes over a century of our history, showing that even as family bonds are denied and broken, a community can survive--as much through love as blood."--Back cover.
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Publisher:
Boston ; New York : Mariner Books/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2017
Edition:
First Mariner books edition
Copyright Date:
©2017
ISBN:
9781328745484
1328745481
1328745481
Branch Call Number:
F Dav
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From Library Staff
From Library Staff
The Historical Fiction Book Group meets on Wednesday, February 12 from 6:30 - 8:00 p.m. at Updike Farmstead, 354 Quaker Road, Princeton. This discussion will be led by Beth Lew-Williams, Assistant Professor of History at Princeton University. Registration is requested: https://princetonhistory.... Read More »
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Add a CommentAn insightful range of stories of Chinese-Americans from the hopefuls arriving for the gold rush, to modern issues of race and identity. While seemingly disconnected upon their initial expositions, the four parts work beautifully together to weave a narrative of identity and what it means to be Chinese and American.
A lovely read, highly recommended for history enthusiasts.
Davies chronicles the Chinese American experience from the mid-19th century to the present day through four stories. The first three are imaginative re-imaginings of the lives of three Chinese orphans - a railway worker, a film star and a young man whose murder brings together the American Asian community. The final story is of a writer who has gone with his wife to China to adopt an orphan and who, it is revealed, has written the other stories. An interesting, timely and enjoyable book about disconnection.
In the stories of 4 Chinese Americans, Peter Ho Davies has create a story of the Chinese in America. The stories can be read as stand-alone books, as there is no relationship between the characters, but by picking and choosing what you read, the meaning of the books will be missed, that of not fitting in.