Wooden Fish Songs

"Wooden fish songs" were the laments sung by Chinese women left behind by husbands, sons, and brothers who, in the nineteenth century, sailed to America in quest of the good life - and found instead years of indentured servitude and racial discrimination. This novel focuses on Lue Gim Gong, a real-life Chinese pioneer, who seized the opportunity to go to America's "Gold Mountain." The story of his attempt to assimilate the new culture, his few successes and his frequent setbacks, is told not by himself but by the women who cared most about him: his mother in China, a New England spinster who loved him, and a friend and co-worker who was the daughter of slaves. Ruthanne Lum McCunn brings her characters to life against a backdrop that ranges from China, with its deep roots in tradition, to the stern imperatives of a New England mill town and to 1870s Florida, where Lue developed the new species of frost-hardy oranges for which he is today remembered.

ISBN 0295987146   DEWEY edition DC21 ISBN13 9780295987149 (What's this?)   Pages 408 Publisher University of Washington Press   Volumes 1 Imprint University of Washington Press   Weight (grammes) 549 Format Paperback   Published in Washington Publication date 15 Aug 2007   Height (mm) 227 Writer of introduction King-Kok Cheung   Width (mm) 155 Library of Congress 2007003401   Spine width (mm) 24 DEWEY 813.54   Academic level Professional / Scholarly

"Rich and beautiful storytelling, full of cultural nuance and finely crafted characters." Booklist "Impressively researched and richly portrayed... An inspiring story." San Francisco Chronicle "Tells an affecting story of a lonely, dedicated life." Publishers Weekly "The author's remarkable literary achievement here is that she has created the distinct voices of three very different characters who belong to, and who express, the traditions and values of their own rich cultures." Santa Rosa Press Democrat "Perhaps the most amazing thing about this remarkable story is the extensive, wide-ranging, thorough research...Lue Gim Gong's life seems almost too remarkable to be true, but it is clear that McCunn has recreated a culture and an era faithful to reality." Kliatt

 Be the first to write a customer review