Book
The jade peony / Wayson Choy.
"Chinatown, Vancouver, in the late 1930s and ï??40s provides the setting for this poignant first novel, told through the vivid and intense reminiscences of the three younger children of an immigrant family. They each experience a very different childhood, depending on age and sex, as they encounter the complexities of birth and death, love and hate, kinship and otherness. Mingling with the realities of Canada and the horror of war are the magic, ghosts, paper uncles and family secrets of Poh-Poh, or Grandmother, who is the heart and pillar of the family."--Provided by the publisher.
Record details
- ISBN: 9780312155568 (hc.)
- ISBN: 9781550544688 (trade pbk.)
- ISBN: 1550544683 (trade pbk.)
- ISBN: 0312155565 (hc)
- Physical Description: 238 p. ; 20 cm. 278 p. ; 23 cm.
- Publisher: Vancouver : Douglas & McIntyre, 1997, c1995.
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Available copies
- 19 of 19 copies available at BC Interlibrary Connect.
- 1 of 1 copy available at Fernie Heritage Library. (Show)
Holds
- 0 current holds with 19 total copies.
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Show Only Available Copies
| Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Holdable? | Status | Due Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fernie Heritage Library | FIC CHO (Text) | 35136000068966 | Adult Fiction | Volume hold | Available | - |
| 100 Mile House Branch | CHO (Text)
Legacy Use Count: 6 |
33923003743618 | General Fiction | Volume hold | Available | - |
| Beaver Valley Public Library | F CHO (Text) | 0035743 | Adult Fiction | Volume hold | Available | - |
| Bridge River Branch | AF CHO (Text) | 35180200036951 | Paperbacks | Volume hold | Available | - |
| Castlegar Public Library | FIC CHO (Text) | 35146001763614 | Fiction | Volume hold | Available | - |
| Elkford Public Library | FC CHO (Text) | 35170000129338 | Adult Fiction | Volume hold | Available | - |
| Gibsons Public Library | FIC CHOY (Text) | 30886000733846 | Adult Fiction | Volume hold | Available | - |
| Grand Forks | FIC CHO (Text) | 35142002473451 | Adult Fiction | Volume hold | Available | - |
| Hazelton Public Library | Fic (Text) | 35154000015077 | Adult Fiction - Main Floor | Volume hold | Available | - |
| Interlakes Branch | CHO (Text)
Legacy Use Count: 2 |
33923003708322 | General Fiction | Volume hold | Available | - |
- Kirkus Reviews : Kirkus Reviews 1997 March
This eloquent, confident debut, co-winner of Canada's 1995 Trillium Prize, offers a complex view of family life among Chinese immigrants living in Vancouver as social pressures from within and without have a lasting effect on three children. In the years before WW II, with Japan already invading China, life in Vancouver's Chinatown is hard but seemingly safe for Liang, Jung, and young Sekky. Each of them has a special friend, one who, taking the place of their endlessly working parents, can give them precious memories. For Liang, her attachment to the monkey-faced, crippled Old Wong, veteran of the railroad-building camps in the Rockies, is amply rewarded: He pampers her, encouraging her to tap dance and emulate her idol Shirley Temple. For the adopted Jung, brutal abuse at an early age has made him tough and wary, drawing him to boxing and the incomparable example of Joe Louis, but also to a role model closer to home: supertough Frank Yuen, the best boxer around, who nurtures Jung's talent and also makes him aware of his sexual difference. Finally, Sekky, ailing but alert, finds himself with two powerful guides: his Old China Grandmama, who gives him back his health and whose belief in ghosts keeps her with him after her death; and his beautiful teenage neighbor Meiying, whose love for a Japanese boy in the midst of rising anti-Japanese hysteria moves Sekky to doubt the wisdom of the prevailing hatred. But for each child, the joy of sharing also comes with the pain of leaving, as Old Wong returns to China, Frank Yuen joins the US Marines, and, like Grandmama, Meiying dies, the entrenched racism that forced her from her boyfriend also keeping her from receiving emergency medical care. Childhood lessons are quietly, powerfully drawn here, with Choy's evocation of harsh immigrant reality nothing short of masterful. Copyright 1998 Kirkus Reviews - Library Journal Reviews : LJ Reviews 1997 April
Told through the eyes of three Chinese Canadian siblings, Choy's first novel gives readers a historical glimpse at life in Vancouver's Chinatown during the 1930s and 1940s. Jook-Liang, the only sister in a family of three boys; Jung-Sum, the second adopted son; and Sek-Lung (Sekky), the sickly youngest son are searching for their identities, each presenting a moving account of love and loss that combine to tell the story of their family. Although Choy's work is fictional, it realistically echoes the difficult life struggles of early Chinese Cantonese immigrants as captured in such biographical works as Denise Chong's The Concubine's Children (LJ 11/15/94) and Ben Fong-Torres's The Rice Room (LJ 4/1/94). This book was a number-one best seller in Canada and co-winner of the Trillum Prize for the best book of 1995. Highly recommended for medium and large fiction collections. Shirley N. Quan, Orange Cty. P.L.., Garden Grove, Cal. Copyright 1998 Library Journal Reviews - Publishers Weekly Reviews : PW Reviews 1997 March #4
Choy's first novel, a bestseller in Canada, where it won the 1995 Trillium Award, is related by three young siblings who tell of their family's move from China to Vancouver's Chinatown in the 1930s. Cherishing yet bridling against the customs of their elders like Poh-Poh, the matriarchal grandmother who insists that they call their birth mother (their father's concubine) "Stepmother," Jook-Liang, her adopted younger brother, Jung-Sum, and youngest brother, Sek-Lung, struggle to adjust to their uneasily hyphenated Chinese-Canadian lives. Divided into three parts, the novel describes the formation of each child's identity. Jook-Liang, declared a "useless" girl-child by Poh-Poh, aspires to tap dance like Shirley Temple and to otherwise thrive in her new home. Yet she is enthralled by her grandmother's folk tales and her beautiful "Old China" ways. Jung-Sum tries to vanquish the demons of his past by boxing, even as he discovers a disturbing sexual attraction to a male friend. Frail Sekky helps the family heal after the death of Poh-Poh, who was their vital link to the past and the spiritual center of the family. Choy, who teaches English at Humber College in Toronto, adds a heartfelt, beautifully expressed new voice to the growing literature of the Chinese immigrant experience. Readers, however, will wish that he had developed each sibling's destiny further. Did Jung-Sum, for instance, ever express his homosexuality? Perhaps we will find out in a sequel. Meanwhile, Choy's three children, and the details of their lives in the New World, stand for the universal immigrant experience and aren't easily forgotten. (May) Copyright 1998 Publishers Weekly Reviews