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Jump to navigationJump to searchCanton Elegy: A Father's Letter of Sacrifice, Survival and Love by Stephen Jin-Nom Lee and Howard Webster (view source)
Revision as of 08:34, 17 September 2020
, 08:34, 17 September 2020no edit summary
Stephen's a wonderful narrator - truthful, factual and with an instinct for the telling phrase. Occasionally you suspect that he's teaching his children - across the years - by example, but it's done so genuinely and with such obvious love that you can only admire him for his concern. Above all though he's the master of the telling image, such as the procession when his grandfather returned to the village - what stuck in my mind was not the leather cases or the number of porters, but a crate of apples. The one which struck me most though is of young Stephen who would spend time as a boy on a ferry and if it rained he would use an old, black, gentleman's umbrella to shelter from the rain. It's a striking, almost filmic image and a compelling metaphor for the boy's life in the new country.
I very nearly didn't read this book as the title ''Canton Elegy'' suggested something sad or mournful but whilst the story has its share of loss and tragedy it's life -affirming and impossible to read without somehow feeling better for having done so. I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to the Bookbag.
From a slightly later period , we can recommend [[The Death of Mao: The Tangshan Earthquake and the Birth of the New China by James Palmer]]. You might also enjoy [[Burying the Bones: Pearl Buck in China by Hilary Spurling]] and [[No Wall Too High by Xu Hongci and Erling Hoh (Translator)]].
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