- Paperback: 304 pages
- Publisher: Penguin Canada; 5th edition (Mar 22 1995)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0140126023
- ISBN-13: 978-0140126020
- Product Dimensions: 20.6 x 13.5 x 1.5 cm
- Shipping Weight: 249 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #235,039 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
This superbly told saga of family loyalties and disaffections reads more like a novel than an actual chronicle of Chan Sam, a Chinese peasant who left his family in 1913 to seek his fortune in the "Gold Mountain" of western Canada. There, though always planning to return to them, he set up a second family with the beautiful, headstrong concubine he brought with him from China. The story is narrated in the third person by his granddaughter, a Canadian economist, who creates an unsentimental portrait of both families: of Huangbo, the patient "home-wife" who raised their son and the two children the concubine, May-ying, left behind, and survived the Japanese occupation of China and the rule of Mao Tse-tung; of May-ying, whose earnings as a waitress in west coast teahouses often supported the struggling Chan Sam, his family in China and her own two Canadian-born children. And we learn of the fate of all the children, especially May-ying's daughter Hing, the author's mother. Although Chan Sam never fulfilled his dream of returning to his home-family, after his death, Hing and the author made the pilgrimage to China to embrace the relatives they had never known. Photos.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
Formerly a senior economist for Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, Chong also is a writer of essays and articles. The subject of his first book is a true-life family history, beginning in about 1920 and ending in 1980. Its main character is Chong's maternal grandmother, May-ying, described as an unusually beautiful woman who came to Vancouver, Canada, to serve as a concubine. While May-ying's life was determined for her (i.e., to make money to send back to her "husband's" family in China), in the process she became an alcoholic, a gambler, and a prostitute. Her vices had a tremendously negative affect on her relationship with her husband, who eventually divorced her, and her daughter, Chong's mother, who grew up in rooming houses with no one to care for her. Told in a compassionate and forthright manner, this book makes sense out of the lives of many Chinese who came to the West to search for gold. In this respect, it is even better in form and content than the fictionalized works of Amy Tan. Recommended for all collections.
Peggy Spitzer Christoff, Oak Park, Ill.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Peggy Spitzer Christoff, Oak Park, Ill.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent Reading!,
By
This review is from: The Concubine's Children: Portrait of a Family Divided (Paperback)
Story Description:To me, China was what was left behind when the boat carrying my grandmother, pregnant with my mother, docked in Vancouver. China was the soil underfoot in the photograph of the two sisters who, as I thought then, would never meet the third, my mother. China was where you'd find yourself if you dug a hole deep enough to come out the other side of the Earth. THE CONCUBINE'S CHILDREN is the story of a family cleaved in two for the sake of a father's dream. There's Chan Sam, who left an "at home" wife in China to earn a living in "Gold Mountain" North America. There's May-ying, the wilful, seventeen-year-old concubine he bought, sight unseen, who laboured in tea houses of west coast Chinatowns to support the family he would have in Canada, and the one he had in China. It was the concubine's third daughter, the author's mother, who unlocked the past for her daughter, whose curiosity about some old photographs ultimately reunited a family divided for most of the last century." My Review: This was an exceptional work of family history that was well researched and well written. The story was utterly amazing, gripping and held my attention from the first page on. It took a great deal of courage for Denise Chong to pen this fictional memoir of her family and she made the story come alive against the backdrop of two widely different countries. It had a narrative flow that captured the essence of the truth. This was an intriguing journey that crossed all cultural boundaries. I'll be keeping this book as part of my permanent collection. Excellent!
5.0 out of 5 stars
True story of one man's plight. - *Spoiler Alert*,
By
This review is from: The Concubine's Children: Portrait of a Family Divided (Paperback)
This book tells the true story of a Chinese immigrant named Chan Sam who lived in a small village in China, married and then eventually moved to America referred to as 'Gold Mountain'. He worked hard to make money so he could send it back to his wife and acquire more land in his village. He traditionally takes a concubine and marries another much younger Chinese girl who eventually bores him children. She moves to America too and works as a waitress in the Chinatowns in Vancouver and Nanaimo, B.C.I really enjoyed this book...not only because the setting is local but you really get a sense of what life was like for many Chinese immigrants in the 1930's.
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Captivating Read,
By "fonz0r" (Windsor, VT USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Concubine's Children (Paperback)
I may be a white, teenaged, american male, but I still can appreciate the value and hard work that went into this book.This book was absolutely wonderful in that it covered the family history so well, leaving out very few details, even though it was all put together by word of mouth, letters and photographs! This must have been an extremely difficult book to write for all parties involved, and for that the author and her relatives have my deepest respect. This book is absolutely beautiful and represents Chinese culture very clearly and in an interesting manner. I would recommend this book to ANYBODY
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