From the time she was a child Jasmine has known she was leftover. Born in a small village in China during the years of its restrictive One Child Policy she wouldn’t even be alive if her twin sibling hadn’t been a boy. Marriage could have been her way out, but instead, in Jean Kwok’s new novel, A Leftover Woman, her husband makes it clear that her only value is in providing him ... Read More...
Searching for Sylvie Lee by Jean Kwok
All her life Amy has looked up to her older sister Sylvie. She is the opposite of how Amy sees herself—pretty, intelligent, with a handsome husband, and fabulous job. She glows with success while Amy feels like lead—an inert, grey blob who still lives with her parents and has yet to make up her mind about what to do with her life. Add to this that Sylvie lived with their ... Read More...
Mambo in Chinatown
Jean Kwok is back with Mambo in Chinatown, another tenderly crafted novel about the assimilation process for Chinese immigrants in America. This time we’re absorbed into the life of Charlie Wong, a twenty-two year old woman, who, as the novel begins, is working as a dishwasher in a restaurant where her father is the master noodle-maker. When she has the opportunity to take ... Read More...
