Customer Reviews

On Gold Mountain: The One-Hundred-Year Odyssey of My Chinese-American Family

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I had to read this for a history class, and I was surprised that it was quite enjoyable. Usually the novels that are picked for a history class are slow, monotonous and dull. I could relate to the feelings of the more recent generation of children where they have a traditional asian background but grew up in American society. This book makes me want to go out and research my own family and put it all together in a book.

Born into a predominately Cantonese family, Lisa See is surprised when as a young girl, her chinese uncles point at her and describe "white ghosts, like you". Surprised, she realized she appeared white, but felt chinese. Surrounded by her older relatives, she listened to their stories and became determined to capture their memories. Approached by her elder female aunties, they expressed a desire to document the family history. As the primary family members became aged, Lisa took up the rewarding challenge to pen the history of the incredible See family.

This is truly a beautiful book. Ms. See has an obvious talent for research and her efforts were rather astonishing when one reads the history of her ancestors. Not only does she historically account for chinese immigration to the states, but details the events and cultures of life in China. Tracing back to the time of her grandfather See-Bok's early years, Ms See writes about her family that turns out to be more than a page turner.

The family is entertaining, intelligent, strong and industrious. Her grandmother is the star of the novel. A pioneer white christian woman, she is abused by her own family and escapes a life of servitude forced on her by them. In a central californian town, she talks herself into a job at a chinese underwear factory that caters to prostitutes. The chinese owner eventually proposes to her despite significant social complications. This is the beginning of one of the most important chinese families in America and their contributions to the art world and their personal tales of challenge and love in the early Los Angeles years.

The story is fascinating, but the writing was not. Contantly intertwining facts with the story, it was hard to focus on the primary elements. Too much of the feelings and thoughts were imagined, and not "real", even with all of the research that was done. The end got long-winded with all of the names that were before secondary. As this review is coming from a high schol senior, many would not trust the judgment here, but in defense of that, read it for yourself. This is a good story that could have been handled differently, and than gotten more literary attention, as it deserves.

As a Chinese American myself, I've read "China Boy" (Gus Lee) and Joy Luck Club (Amy Tan) before picking up this book without too much expectation, what happened next was two days of non-stop reading, after the first few pages, I simply couldn't put it down, the pages turned themselves.

As a Chinese American myself, I've read "China Boy" (Gus Lee) and Joy Luck Club (Amy Tan) before picking up this book without too much expectation, what happened next was two days of non-stop reading, after the first few pages, I simply couldn't put it down, the pages turned themselves.

At the center of it, there was the meandering main plot of Fong See and Ticie See's beautiful and complex interracial love story
spanning three quarter of a century with cultural, traditions, prejudices (on both sides) racism, entrepreneurship, minority immigrant experience weaving together to form a compelling and surprisingly optimistic epic and quintessential "American" story.

All through the book, author's family pride, heartwarming optimism comes through like a ray of sunshine lighting up the struggles, the failures and failings, the successes as well as heart wrenching losses of three generations illuminating the See family's incredibly enduring love and support for each other.

The only thing that could've made this book even better is some of the extraneous details could've been left out, they were a little long winded (especially the last scene of Lisa's visit to China) and at times distracting from the main plot. But I understand what Ms. See was trying to accomplish with this book are two fold, first and foremost it is an autobiographic family history book and there is the temptation to include all the researched details to preserve as family history, on the other hand she probably wanted to write it in a novel style to make it an easy and enjoyable read. Short of split the writing into two books, there is no easy way to accomplish both objectives without two styles interfering, but I have to say Ms See has done an admirable if not remarkable job considering the epic nature of the story itself.

Ms. See deserves major accolades for this fascinating and moving historical book.

I read "Gold Mountain" because I am a novelist who has used her family as the basis for my work. I wanted to compare technique.

See's book is based on stories about her own family; it is full of characters who are as big as life because they are drawn from life. There is a grandfather who is, well, a deadbeat. There is a Caucasion woman and Chinese man who fall in love at a time when society was not as forgiving as it now is. There are successes and failures.

See succeeds admirably because she does not dance on egg shells. She tells the story as she sees it. That includes the part about how her family had entered the USA illegally, an aspect of that family's history that is still uncomfortable for them.

Great stories are stories that are told honestly. Lisa See succeeds admirably.

(Carolyn Howard-Johnson is the author of the award-winning novel, "This is the Place." It is a coming-of-age story based on her own family's history. That history was deeply rooted in tales of the pioneers and their own genealogy.

Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of "This is the Place"

I have read several dozen books on Asian-American culture, and this rates in the top three. Her unflinching recollection of her family history is captivating. I found it especially meaningful, because my family frequented several of the places mentioned in the book.

I must admit that I was a little (all right, very) skeptical when I first saw this book several years ago. I resisted buying or reading it only because I didn't believe that a part-Chinese (1/8 to be precise)American could do a good job in telling the story of "the" Chinese-American experience. In many ways, I was stereotyping the idea of what Chinese-American is. I was thinking of a Chinese-American as one who is ethnically 100% Chinese but is culturally American and that would preclude someone like See. Well, I was wrong. This author, Lisa See, convinced me that her family story is truly a Chinese-American one. No, let me rephrase, her story is an "American" one.

Now that I've read and enjoyed the book, I am especially surprised, pleasantly, at how honest and real her portrayal of the characters are. I know these are real people and the stories are real but to me their stories read like fairy tales an so they become characters. Their stories are so unusual that had See not done such a good job in writing it, they would have been unbelievable.

One of the reasons that it is a really good book is the way the author presented the facts -- with stories and photographs. It is a well documented, well researched, and well written book.

I could also attest to the veracities of the historical events and personal dramas that were described in the book because my own family's history had very many of the same events, trials and tribulations are similar to hers. And since I do read and speak Chinese and I am knowledgable about the customs of the Southern China district where her great-grandfather came from, I can also say that her description of the cultures (including family practices, language, etc...) are extremely accurate. And they are accurate not to the point of patronizing or insulting, but straight forward in the way it happened. This style of writing I admired enormously.

I think Ms. See did a great service not only to her own family, but to the Chinese-American experience as well. This book really does serve as a documentary to all of the Chinese American immigrants who had come to the country in the last 100 years or more. It is a record of history. It can probably be used as text book for a history class.

The book is well written in many ways. One of the way is that is very personal and yet readable, even for people not from her family. It is about people, culture, history, family, love, triumph, politics, business, relations, and much more. I highly recommend it.

This biography of the author's family history back to China is enjoyable and complex. She traces her large family from one of her ancestors who came to America during the 1860's. She handles the numerous story lines well and the pedigree chart at the beginning is very valuable in helping the reader keep track of her family. The author also does a good job of incorporating her family into the times they lived in. We see her family not in isolation from the world, but as part of world and local events. This adds humaness and closeness to the people in her story. She is non-judgemental and attempts to handle "family skeletons" with tact, although you get the feeling that her version of some events isn't what some family members believe, And she seems to have the "I'm grandpa's favorite grandchild" attitude which doesn't neccesarily hurt the book, but you wonder how her relatives felt about the book. Although the book is long, the story keeps you interested. Defintley a must read.

Unlike most "biographies with detailed historical descriptions", See was able to weave an interesting storyline with a detailed historical background. She does not bore you to death with details of historical facts. I enjoy her unbiased intepretation of the family events and the unfolding of the characters and their distinct personalities. The photos were fantastic. Considering that she is 1/8 Chinese and has lived in a western culture, her interpretation of the Chinese culture is most admirable.

I really enjoyed this book, and thought that Lisa See did an admirable job of weaving all those complicated threads together into one strong strand. I am of a European backround, and so couldn't say it related to me or my family, other than that it was about family ties and cultural differences. I found it hard to put down! One of my favorite things was how after the first introduction to Fong See and his "history" she went on to say that he had MANY histories, depending on the narrator! Very nice book!