This novel examines the accumulation of history’s impact on Leimei and her daughter Lin, exploring how major Chinese historical events ripple through generations. It reminded me of Do Not Say We Have Nothing by Madeleine Thien and the mother-daughter dynamics in Amy Tan’s The Bonesetter’s Daughter. Similarly, it weaves personal stories with accounts of major historical Chinese events over the past century, showing how these events shaped the present.

While I enjoyed the book overall, some sections felt a bit dry, particularly the political commentary woven into character dialogue. Additionally, the time and location jumps were occasionally jarring and confusing.

Leimei’s story, and even Wei’s side story, stood out as the most compelling. Their pasts clearly informed their behaviors and choices, creating layered and understandable characters. In contrast, Lin was harder to grasp; her motivations and issues often seemed disconnected from the context of the story, making her feel less developed.

The writing style was a highlight, with natural, engaging dialogue that felt authentic and grounded.

The book also explores themes of otherness and identity, particularly Chinese identity, in a nuanced way. It examines the shift in attitudes around cultural heritage—moving from assimilation as the perceived path to opportunity, to embracing one’s heritage as a point of pride. This evolution is captured thoughtfully, especially in the contrast between Lin and Dali’s experiences at university, where they face discrimination, and Lin’s later life, when cultural heritage becomes more celebrated. The author fleshes out this theme with clever examples throughout.

Overall, this is a well-written and thought-provoking book that skillfully blends history and identity.

Wow, this was quite the read. You can’t help but feel for the characters - the family starts in a difficult position, and attempts to make their lives better somehow seem to make things worse. In the context of real historical events, the way that this story plays out can only be described as horrifying. I’m thankful and privileged to not have experienced any5ing close to what Lemei and Lin dealt with.

This book is compelling, but a bit dense. There is a lot of politics at play, as the story takes place in the context of political events in China’s history. It was difficult at times to get through the story without being overwhelmed by my lack of understanding or background knowledge of these events.

If you get past that initial hurdle, you’ll find that this story is a devastating story about history repeating itself. You’ll see just how toxically one generation’s suffering can bleed into the next. You’ll see daughters losing themselves, even rejecting themselves, for the sake of their family. You’ll painfully follow along with generations of mistakes, wrongdoings, and resentment.

The beginning of the read is a bit confusing. The synopsis led me to believe that the main character is Lin. On the contrary, this story is as much Lemei’s as it is Lin’s. The first 30% of the book is entirely about Lemei’s life before she has Lin. It’s a lot of background to take it, but it’s all necessary to understand just how severely Lemei’s experiences will proceed to torment her daughter.

Overall, this was an impactful story - one that needs to be told. It is a heavy, dark, and emotional read. It’s not for everyone. However, if one of your reading objectives is to live and learn about others’ experiences, this book tells of one that is heart-wrenching and life-altering if you are courageous enough to experience it.

Su Chang was able to weave a generational story that I was hooked from the first page and glad it was so well done. The characters were everything that I was looking for and it worked with sharing a story going on. It was written well and had that overall story that I was looking for.