These short stories are about Chinese families after the Chinese revolution. Families who are married by their parents, who immigrate to the USA, who have children there. Stories of generation gaps, exported traditions, longings for connection, couples trying to get to know each other and invent love, children trying to understand their origins and identities. The writing is beautiful, subtly nuanced, revealing the range of emotions we can feel when we don’t understand where we belong. Very moving.
“My mother’s refusal of anything but the truth extended even into the imagination, so that for her, dreams were their own ugly little lies, as harmful as the ones that came out of our mouths. If life had made her this way, then by the time she had me it had become genetic, a Lamarckian feat. In lieu of dreams she and I had expectations, and to us the two couldn’t be more different. Expectations you could work toward, be held accountable for. Dreams, on the other hand, existed in that realm of possibility in which there were variables beyond our control. Expectations demanded honesty. Dreams, deception.”
Content
The Subject / The Sorrows of Others / Propriety / Silence / One Day / Julia / Any Good Wife / Sister Machinery / Knowing / Compromise