I loved The Third Son. I didn't know much about Taiwan's history and as I followed the story I found myself remembering stories from friends and classmates whose families were Taiwanese American.

The Third Son starts by telling us about Saburo at as a child. Saburo is born into a wealthy and well connected family but as the third son he is disregarded, bullied, underfed, excluded from the academic opportunities that are given to the other elder sons. He's "the least favored child" out of seven and has been blamed for the death of his younger brother from pneumonia. We learn of the small injustices throughout his childhood and how he finds ways to learn, to overcome and to succeed despite the bullying and unfairness in his home.

I wavered between staying up late reading and dreading what bad thing would happen next. The Third Son is the sort of book that draws you in and lingers in your head long after you've finished it. Julie Wu weaves in details that make the story so compelling and disturbing. Saburo's move to the USA gives the opportunity to see America from another perspective. Jim Crow, the taking of treaty lands to make Mt Rushmore on sacred mountains.

I grew up partly in Asia and partly in the US, so it may be that the story resonated particularly well because of my own experiences. While Saburo has much greater conflict and filial piety, the issues and questions that Wu raises are shared by many of us. I am delighted to have read The Third Son and look forward to reading more by Julie Wu.

I did not have a chance to read this book, but it is effecting my feedback rating. I am giving books 5 stars that I haven't read to improve my feedback rating. I am not recommending the book for my classroom or students since I have not read the book. There needs to be a better system of leaving feedback for books not read.

Featured in O magazine when it was released in 2013, I appreciate ebook readers for making it easy to keep a book like this "in print." When the third son, runs away from his Taiwanese family who seem to persecute him, he finds in the forest an amazing friend. Taiwan, like every other nation is battling enemies in World War II and finding a friend like Yoshiko is life changing.

I received a free copy from NetGalley. Set in a time many would like to forget, it still addresses so many modern issues that it is still relevant as well as historical. The struggle of things both in and out of your control and the what happens as a result of choices that are made as a result make this more then a coming of age story.

My review is at the link below--I thought I reported this a long time ago!