(Untitled)

[bookelfe]

Of all the books in Laurence Yep's long, generation-spanning, loosely-linked historical fiction series about a Chinese family's relationship with America, I'm pretty sure that The Serpent's Children and Mountain Light are the only two that directly follow the same characters - Cassia, the mom of the protagonist from Dragon's Gate, is the narrator

Comments

[zumie_ashlen]

oh my god I am buying all of these immediately.

[bookelfe]

>:D >:D Deciding to read everything Laurence Yep ever wrote was one of the best decisions I made this year!

[kindness_says]

Ha, this dude sounds pretty delightful.

Hmmm, yeah, I'm not sure this book would fly in the Motherland proper. Do they specify the minority group?

[bookelfe]

Yep calls them "the Strangers," unhelpfully - at least unhelpfully to me since I have no idea what it would translate to.

[lacewood]

I read Dragon's Gate recently and I am glad to know Otter's mother is TOTALLY as badass as she seemed from what little we saw in the other book! In fact, so badass she gets TWO books. (Now if only Yep's earlier books weren't ridiculously difficult to find)

If I'm not wrong, the minority group in question are the Hakkas, which can also be translated to Guest People. I think Yep might have mentioned this somewhere in the intro for Dragon's Gate? I don't know enough about them to say much on his portrayal either way.

Though on the subject of monoliths, it was certainly nice in Dragon's Gate to actually have Yep mention that, oh, you know, people from different parts of China often speak DIFFERENT DIALECTS, something that people apparently forget all the time.

[bookelfe]

Hahaha, my reaction when I read Dragon's Gate was basically "TELL ME MORE ABOUT OTTER'S MOM," so it was extremely exciting to me that Laurence Yep telepathically and timebendingly divined my wish in time to write two books about her and have them ready for me! :D

Oh, that sounds vaguely familiar - there's no helpful notes in The Serpent's Children or Mountain Light, but there may well have been in Dragon's Gate.

AND YES THAT IS A PLUS. I always get way too excited when he talks about the different dialects and the cultural clashes, because this is not something I ever see in USian non-Laurence-Yep books that talk about people from China.

[lacewood]

I would also totally read the book about Otter's mom being a BADASS INVESTMENT BANKER and rebelling against the Manchus with, I don't know, BUSINESS POLICIES, but I realise this is... not exactly children's book material. XD

This could be because the majority of Chinese Americans are Cantonese, so to them, Chinese = Cantonese, and they sometimes forget that there are other kinds? Or so I've assumed.

(One day I would like to see a historical/fantasy China where people mentioned language barriers when they travelled between, say, provinces. But then I am a crazy worldbuilding geek so I am probably in the minority here)

[bookelfe]

I ALSO WOULD READ THIS. Maybe if Laurence Yep ever decides he wants to write another adult book? (You can do it, Laurence Yep! Not that I don't love your kids' books because I do.)

(MORE AGREEMENT. I can think of lots of other people who would like this I think . . . but perhaps we are all in a depressing minority. :()